Ask Al: What is Backscatter? 2026 Version

I’ve written about backscatter before. (And so has USA Today.) And I’ll probably write about it again. Backscatter, at a high level, is deceptively simple.Somebody forges your domain.Somebody sends a bunch of junk email.A lot of that junk email gets rejected. Spam filters, unknown users, etc.The bounces go to you.It sucks.The end.But there’s more to it, and it’s been a while since I talked about it. So let’s look for the answers to these questions, through a 2026 lens: Why are you getting bounces for mail you didn’t send, what’s the current state-of-the-state when it comes to backscatter and how to prevent it, and I even touch on how DKIM2 might help prevent backscatter in the future. That’s what I cover in my latest “Ask Al” video for Valimail, which you can find, embedded above.