Companies expend time and money to prevent fraudulent emails before they reach customers' inboxes using the DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) standard to protect from SPAM emails.
Unsolicited emails will always find their way into the inbox, no matter what one does. While some of the emails we get are clearly spam, the majority of them are difficult to identify just by looking at the content or the sender. And they're really deceiving!
This is where advanced email debugging, also known as analyzing email headers, comes in. Let's take a look at what email headers are and how they might aid in the detection of phishing emails.
Email Headers
On a typical email header, just the most basic information such as From, To, and Subject is displayed. However, there are a number of other characteristics to consider, such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, when determining the validity of emails. These authentications can sometimes fail, affecting email delivery. You may utilize EmaiAuth’s email tools to assist you to understand all of these technical characteristics and issues that are affecting your email's delivery.
The whole email header would offer far more information about an email's origin and would be a helpful tool for tracking and preventing SPAM and virus-laden email. You'll see options like View Source, View Message Header, and Show Original whenever you open an email to read it.
Elements of an Email Header
The email header is a record of an email's technical data that both the sender and receiver may see, albeit it is not as easily accessible as the email body. It comprises information that provides users with specifics on the sender, receiver, and message.
Received
The header lines begin with ‘Received:’ and give a path from the sender to your email server. It will display the email's origin as well as a list of servers that processed it before it arrived in your inbox. The ‘Received:' element in your email contains a wealth of information that might help you determine the source's validity.
Received-SPF and DKIM-Signature
Although not every sender adds these, the majority of good/big senders have made it a habit to include SPF and DKIM in their email headers. These characteristics aid in determining the email's validity.
Ways to Avoid Email Spoofing
In order to recognize and address fake emails, email authentication is essential. Authentication refers to approaches that give verifiable proof that an email has originated from a genuine source—it is the email's means of verifying the email was sent by who it purports to originate from, validating domain ownership. The top four strategies to resist spoofing attacks are the procedures listed below:
- Hover your mouse over the link to see the entire email address if you're unclear about any embedded content in the email. Don't click on it if it appears shady. Open the link in a new window to see whether it works.
- Brands take their email marketing very seriously. Legitimate emails are rarely riddled with spelling errors or grammatical errors. Spam or phishing email addresses feature odd spellings that are easily identifiable.
- Personal information is never requested by email by legitimate banks or most other businesses, so don't give it out.
- A frequent phishing method is to include viruses and malware as attachments. Malware may corrupt your computer's data, steal your passwords, and track you without your awareness. Unexpected email attachments should not be opened.
EmailAuth is working hard to rebuild and reconstruct the email ecosystem to make it 100% spam-free. Start analyzing your emails and mark unwanted suspicious emails as ‘Spam’ and stay safe from phishing.
Original source: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s373/sh/a5ca179d-2870-bca5-4f25-874d3fde6b31/bac094697969fb75be2a1bb819eba7ae
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