Multiple "Delivery Status Notification Failure" without sending any mail

Question

I have an Outlook mail address. I received many "Delivery Status Notification (Failure)‏". However I did NOT send any mail. The content of the mail "I tried to send" was an ad spam. How could the spammer try to send a mail using MY email address ? Is my account compromised or a security issue in the servers ?

Answer 1

First of all, you might have an email address. Not an Outlook mail address

Second of all, why do you think they actually used your email address to actually sent the spam? They just used your name, not your account.

To make this a bit easier to understands lets consider paper mail:

• I can type a spam/ad and put it in an envelope.
• On the front of the envelope I write the destination.
• On the rear of the envelope I write the senders (my) address, it case it can not be delivered and it has to be returned.

There is nothing which prevent me from writing your address on the back of my envelopes.

Similarly, there is nothing which prevents me doing that with electronic mail.
No security flaws or compromised servers are needed.