Assignment 1: Email Harassment
Suppose you are an internal investigator for a large software development company. The Human Resources Department has requested you investigate the accusations that one employee has been harassing another over both the corporate Exchange email system and Internet-based Google Gmail email.
Prepare a report in you:
1. Create an outline of the steps you would take in examining the email accusations that have been identified.
2. Describe the information that can be discovered in email headers and determine how this information could potentially be used as evidence in the investigation.
3. Analyze differences between forensic analysis on the corporate Exchange system and the Internet-based Google Gmail email system. Use this analysis to determine the challenges that exist for an investigator when analyzing email sent from an Internet-based email system outside of the corporate network.
4. Select one (1) software-based forensic tool for email analysis that you would utilize in this investigation. Describe its use, features, and how it would Help in this scenario.
5. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as quality resources.
Email Harassment
Email harassment is part of cyber-harassment caused by online accessibility of unauthorised persons. Examining email harassment accusations through corporate exchange email system and internet-based Google Gmail email. Most harassment in a working environment takes place via email and other digital form of communications. The investigation process begins with taking all complaints seriously and identify the potential source of email servers and information. The investigation process should be conducted immediately and should remain impartial throughout. Additionally, involving a third party during the investigation process will provide enough information concerning the issue. Second, create an investigation file to document all the steps and information provided. The investigating file consist of written witness testimonies, communication with witnesses, interviews conducted, report and all necessary and required documents.
Third, conduct an interview involving the complaint, the accused and the witness to analyse the whole situation. Email accusation as an online accusation requires evidence from both the accused and the complaint to show validity of the information provided. Preparing for the interview involves, setting interview questions and objectives, such as, clarification, identification of potential evidence and witnesses. Fourth, interview the complaint about the issue, what happened, the party involved and the impact of the general impact of the harassment. Also, the aim of the interview is to seek information about whether the same issue has occurred I the past, subjected to them or colleagues.
Additionally, interview the witnesses who are colleagues or close friends to the complaint. The witnesses may have witnessed the harassment of may have been subjected to the email harassment before. After interviewing the complaint and the witness, the accused should be interviewed. Interviewing the accused involves, explaining the complain about the online harassment which has been taking place through corporate exchange email system and internet-based Google Gmail email. The accused gets a chance to explain the event and introduce witnesses or any evidence supporting the claim. The aim of interviewing the accused is to get all responses and answers to the allegations. After conducting the interview, the evidences towards the accused misconduct is gathered, for instance the harassing email addresses sent which are stored electronically and under privacy and confidentiality standards. The documents are important and can be used in case of a legal process in future. Lastly weight the credibility of the interviewed parties to check consistency and variability of the information ad whether there are contradictory information.
Email headers can be used to provide information about, location, and relationship between subjects during an investigation. Email header can be categorized into, message information and X-header and 3 where X-Heders field consist of anti-viruses scanners and security protocol for internal email networks. Email header analysis is very important during investigation since, the technology reveals the accused activities. For example, the person who sent the email, timestamp of information, information concerning the device and email client and email network system. The email header is very authentic in providing information about a suspect’s email addresses. The header consist of data about data that provides the identity, time and how the sender and receiver were communicating through the server. Additionally, the email header provides information on the levels and the parties involved before the harassing message reach the receiver. The email header is very critical during collection of evidence when creating a timeline of events and a case.
The information contained in the email header can block future emails from the accused to the complaint or in identifying any suspicious information in future. Also, the header information is used to identify email sent with bas intentions known as header spoofing.
Forensic analysis in Internet-based Google Gmail email system involves identifying mails sent through cloud and emails sent using web-based Gmail accounts while forensic analysis in corporate exchange systems involves looking into organizations Gmail systems including the computers receiving and storing the emails between the employees. Forensic analysis in Internet-based Google Gmail email system go through several challenges related to storage and issues of cyber security. The internet-based Google Gmail Mail cannot read old texts or create new email while offline. The system requires internet to read emails, receive or send. Additionally, locating files in internet based Gmail email system requires a lot of time especially in processing and reconstructing information from the raw data. Analysing information from the system requires a Gmail back-up utility which requires extra cost. The challenges may affect extraction of data especially where the mail is easily subjected to glitches. The Gmail back-up system is applied in this case as an imaging tool which provides the image and content of evidence instead of the security issues around the data.
During investigation it is very challenging to trace files information about the sender, such as, the IP address and network path.
Forensic analysis is vital in identifying suspicious messages and email accounts when conducting an investigation. Use of corporate exchange systems is widely used although affects the authenticity of information. When exporting the mailbox, important information can be lost because the email settings get automatically updated with current systems date and time. To avoid loss of important information, a copy of the mailbox database can be collected and saved.
Aid4Mail is a software based forensic tool used during investigation for email analysis. The software can be effective in conducting email harassment accusation. Id3Mail is used to hold about forty email, offer webmail services and support clients programs. The software would Help in identifying sent and received mails even after the email account is disconnected. Also, AidMail software can be able to read the mails stored in the mbox file. The most important aspect of the software is that it can handle large files and folders hence can receive all the harassing messages sent between employees. The AidMail software is used to recover deleted messages, importation and exportation of mails saved in different formats additionally, the software can be used to convert the mail from PDF to HTML and vice versa. The software consist of command options, hence capable of conduct various tasks in both Linux and Mac systems. The forensic software-based tool can be used to retrieve deleted and sent mails that the accused employee has sent. The forensic tool can provide evidence concerning the harassment case faster and easier hence solving the dispute.

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