{"id":26609,"date":"2022-03-29T11:32:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T11:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/easydmarc.com\/blog\/?p=26609"},"modified":"2025-05-07T21:42:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T21:42:20","slug":"how-to-conduct-an-email-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/easydmarc.com\/blog\/how-to-conduct-an-email-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Conduct an Email Investigation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no doubt that emails have become one of the most common communication media. Although used for personal chats, they\u2019re primarily deployed for business-related communications. From arranging internal meetings and pitching potential clients to maintaining relations with investors, everything is done through email.<\/span><\/p>\n

But do you know about the downside? Well, cybercriminals use sensitive information for malicious activities. According to the FBI\u2019s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2020 annual report, <\/span>791,790 complaints<\/span><\/a> of suspected internet crime were recorded. Phishing scams, nonpayment\/nondelivery scams, and extortion were the top three cybercrimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

When a cyber incident occurs, companies must conduct <\/span>an email investigation<\/b> to identify the cause and take the required actions. It\u2019s just as crucial to monitor the website activity of your employees. EasyDMARC\u2019s<\/span> phishing URL checker <\/span><\/a>\u00a0is a quick and easy way to detect phishing and malicious websites.<\/span><\/p>\n

Goals of Email Investigation<\/b><\/h2>\n

Before understanding <\/span>how to investigate a phishing mail<\/b>, you should know that email investigation is a branch of digital forensic science. It combines techniques used to gather email-based criminal evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>email investigation process<\/b> locates the origin of a cybercrime by carefully discovering the history of the mail sent. This is consequently used for finding all the entities involved in the criminal activity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the latter doesn’t need to be of online origin. Sure, cybercrime like phishing and spoofing might need email investigation more, but let\u2019s say, murders that have an email component might also need investigating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email investigators typically analyze the <\/span>actual<\/span><\/i> sender (not the one whose email address has been exploited by the phisher or scammer), the recipient, and dates and times.<\/span><\/p>\n

How Do You Do an Email Investigation?<\/b><\/h2>\n

To conduct a successful email investigation you need to follow several steps and examine various components. We discuss all of them in this section.<\/span><\/p>\n

Header Analysis<\/b><\/h3>\n

The header of an email contains important information that can help in an<\/span> email investigation<\/b>. A chunk of data is kept hidden from the user, and only the subject, date, and sender’s email address are made visible. Cybercriminals often forge this bit of information to appear genuine.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, you can extract additional or hidden details with certain methods for different email applications. Once done, you\u2019ll often find extensive information about the route an email took to reach your inbox. So,<\/span> how do you do an email investigation<\/b> on a personal level? You can start by observing hidden details like:<\/span><\/p>\n