Introduction to Email, Web, and Message Forensics

Abstract

With the advent of information and communication technologies, e-mail is one of the prime tools for communication. Almost everyone uses emails for business communications as well as for sharing personal information. E-mail is vulnerable against cybercrimes. This chapter focuses on the basic concepts of web forensics and then provides an insight about the e-mailing policies, email architecture, and existing investigation techniques used by forensic investigators. Most of the organizations implement some standard e-mailing policies; however, it is not sufficient to handle and prevent the digital crimes. We need to monitor and investigate emails for proper check. This chapter discusses some prominent tools and techniques through which forensic experts can gather and analyze data about suspected email accounts for investigation and produce evidence in the court of law.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Server Investigation: Part of header analysis.

Web Forensics: Web forensics relates to any sort of crime committed over the internet. With proper knowledge and expert skills, criminal activities like child pornography.

Message Forensics: Investigation is quite obvious: there are several applications, each storing information in different areas.

Header Analysis: A detailed header analysis of a multiple tactic spoofed e-mail message is carried out.

Bait Tactics: Header analysis various other approaches that can be used for e-mail forensics include bait tactics, server investigations, and network device investigation.

Email Forensics: Email forensics refers to analyzing the source and content of emails as evidence. Investigation of email related crimes and incidents involve various approaches.

Software-Embedded Identifiers: Also a part of header analysis.