Email Security Issues, Tools, and Techniques Used in Investigation

The email system is a globally distributed communication infrastructure service that involves multiple actors playing different roles to ensure end-to-end mail delivery. It is an indispensable method of communicating that is changing how people share data and information. As a result, it facilitates effective and efficient communication, especially in business, as well as convenience, accessibility, and replication. Today, email can send more than just text files; it can also send audio, video, photos, and other files with extensions. With email becoming ubiquitous in all aspects of our lives, enhancing its security, operating procedures, and forensic investigation has become essential. The purpose of this paper is to review some real email forensic incidents and the tools and techniques that have been proposed. A discussion of the major threats to email as well as techniques to mitigate them will also be provided. A comparison study was made of several techniques and analysis tools used in email forensics. In addition, this paper compares the available software tools for email forensics based on factors such as language interface, user interface, programming language, creation of image files, calculation of hash value, cost, and advantages.