Review of E-mail System, Security Protocols and Email Forensics

E-mail is the most common mode of communication today. E-mail not only used for sending messages/text only but also to send audio, video and other files as attachment. It is main resource for business communication. As it is most popular and common mode of communication on internet, it also attracts criminals or persons having mischievous intent. Cyber criminals misuse it for sending spam, threats, Phishing-emails, propagating malicious software like virus and worms, distributing illegitimate material like child pornography, hoaxes and also used for other criminal activities. So it is necessary to secure our e-mail system and also to identify criminal, collect evidence against them and punish them under court of law. This paper review working and architecture of current email system and the security protocols followed generally to secure our email communications and the limitations they contained, further email forensics which is a process to analyze email contents, header information, transit path for email, sender or receiver information and other details to collect evidence against culprit or to make our system more secure is discussed. It also discusses common email forensic investigation technique and tools used in email forensic process.