Techniques and Tools for Forensic Investigation of E-mail

E-mail has emerged as the most important application on Internet for communication of messages, delivery of documents and carrying out of transactions and is used not only from computers but many other electronic gadgets like mobile phones. Over a period of year's e-mail protocols have been secured through several security extensions and producers, however, cybercriminals continue to misuse it for illegitimate purposes by sending spam, phishing e-mails, distributing child pornography, and hate emails besides propagating viruses, worms, hoaxes and Trojan horses. Further, Internet infrastructure misuse through denial of service, waste of storage space and computational resources are costing every Internet user directly or indirectly.