How to Use Email Forensics Software: Pros & Cons

The best way of communication is Electronic Mail, abbreviated as Email. It is cheap, fast, and convenient. With the increasing influence of mobile devices, convenience has increased. One can process them to send documents, order food, digital transactions, etc. The luxury of life has arrived at your hands. But with luxury comes threats. Frauds, phishing, scams, etc., are also maximizing every day. Law enforcement agencies have tough days to capture the culprit. But technology has forwarded its helping hands here, too. The emergence of email forensics software, mobile forensics software, digital security software, etc., is helping the police and law-keeping agencies to maintain peace.       

Email filtering is a process that saves your precious time and money. It overcomes privacy issues and helps you to collect specific emails for investigation. Going particular, you can use any of the two procedures to filter emails during digital forensics investigation. 

Here are the two procedures and their pros and cons.

First Procedure: Collect Then Filter

There is various email forensics software that first gathers email data and later filters to gain leads. This procedure follows the following methods.

• Collect all the mailboxes
• Import the mailboxes to an email forensic tool

The tool then searches and filters the required emails before processing. 

Pros 

• Having access to the entire mailbox gives you an upper hand over investigating the emails. Even after sieving the specific emails, you can add additional emails from the mailboxes when needed. You are free to execute new and revised searches anytime and gather more information.
• When you have extensive mobile forensics software, it becomes easy to perform email forensic investigation. Advanced searches with functions like Boolean Search etc., pave straightforward ways to investigate. This process is accurate and swift.   

Cons

• It takes time. Following the process of collecting the entire mailbox is time-consuming and bulky. You may exhaust hours if the investigation searches several mailboxes.
• This process violates the “privacy norms.” Acquiring the complete mailbox will gain confidential and subtle information. You may not be authorized to do so. So filtering later can create problems in some situations.

Second Procedure: Filter Then Collect

Email clients like Office 365, Outlook, Gmail, etc., offer search options. This procedure follows the following methods:

• Using the in-built search function of the email services and products, it searches the mailboxes.
• Collect relevant emails for investigation

Pros 

• If you want to save time, the second procedure is your way. It searches directly on the mailboxes and gathers only the specific emails you have wanted.
• Use this process if you have to follow the “privacy norms” and collect only limited data. The second procedure involves first filtering and then collecting data. It enables you to gather specific messages sent or received between specific dates by certain individuals. 

Cons

• Filtering first will marginalize your scope. Reacquiring the mailboxes is a tiresome job. In this, the process will take time and waste resources.
• During an investigation, using blanket keywords will limit your scope. This process will create difficulties in executing advanced searches and gathering the desired information. Missing the vital messages is not a miracle in this case.
• Learning syntaxes and commands of every email service to carry out Email forensic investigation is a tedious job. 

For best solutions on Email Forensics Investigation, come to Paraben Corporation. Emails are the essential components of communication today. Individuals to enterprises, everyone uses the service to convey information and confidential data. It is also the primary evidence in eDiscovery. Paraben Corporation is one of the elite DFIR companies in the country. Our services have benefited various enterprises and law enforcement agencies to investigate, gather evidence, and catch digital thieves. Follow the below-given thread to know more.

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