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Microsoft: Spammers adopt ASCII smuggling to evade email filters

#ascii smuggling#email spam#ai security#prompt injection

Microsoft reports that email spammers are now using ASCII smuggling, a technique originally developed for AI prompt injection attacks, to hide malicious instructions and evade email platform filters. The tactic exploits how different systems interpret Unicode characters, allowing spammers to conceal payloads that bypass detection.

Coverage timeline

  1. Techmeme

    Dan Goodin / Ars Technica : Microsoft says email spammers are adopting ASCII smuggling, an AI prompt injection tactic used to hide malicious instructions, to evade email platform filters — A clever technique used to hide malicious prompts in attacks on AI agents has been adopted by spammers to evade filters …

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