Electronic mail forensic algorithm for crime investigation and dispute settlement

Over the past decades, the Electronic Mail (email) has replaced the traditional postal system. Email service is ubiquitously used to transmit text and multimedia message globally. The high reliance on the email service has motivated criminals to exploit email applications for spreading malicious messages. Moreover, policing the cyberspace has been a complicated issue considering factors such as difficult to pinpoint culprits and jurisdictional complexity. Existing research publications address this problem by considering email header analysis techniques. Nevertheless, current email applications are susceptible to spoofed emails that often contain fake email header. This study presents the email investigation algorithm for criminal investigation and dispute settlement. We present the three-tiered algorithm that can be used by law enforcement and other investigation units in order to identify the culprits spreading malicious and disputed emails. Unlike existing publications, our study considers email header, email server logs, and local devices analysis in addressing email related disputes. Finally, we present a case study that shows the applicability of our algorithm.