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UNDERSTANDING EMAIL HEADERS.
What is an email header?
An email header is a notification displayed on a
message page that informs you who the sender of
the email received is (i.e. the name and address
of sender). Unfortunately not every header will
give correct information about the origins of
the message; it is for this reason that we need
comprehend headers and their functions.
Reasons for understanding email headers
It is important to recognize, that not every
person who uses the internet or sends out a
message has good intentions, with software and
internet whizzes becoming increasingly
sophisticated in their executions,
there continues to be a rise in criminal
activities such as, spamming; this is when
certain individuals or groups hound you with
unnecessary mail, these unwanted messages can be
numerous to the point that they fill up your
mail making one loose track of relevant
messages, but thanks to
certain software most of these messages are
filtered out and you remain with the important
mail. Regrettably, Spammers have found a way to
overcome the filtering with a technique known as
spoofing ; they tamper with the email headers,
concealing their identity and altering it to
look like another person sent the email, these
individuals usually want to create some sort of
chaos, for example in politics a political enemy
may send out messages with the rivals address as
the sender to try and slander his image, another
notorious exploit is one known as phishing, a
person poses as another party or company to try
and obtain vital information from users such as
their banking information, credit card
information or even their own address. Character
defamation, Identity theft, fraud all this are
very dangerous and vicious attacks on a person
and can have damaging and probably irreparable
consequences.
What to do?
If you are being harassed or suspect you are
being targeted you can take the following
measures to try and control it, you can obtain a
device that can verify or track down the origin
of messages, but the best move is to track down
the IP address of the sender, you can do this
either manually or go to an IP tracking website,
there you can type in The IP number into the
input section and submit, doing it manually
however is rather complex and would require a
user to be knowledgeable with Dos commands. The
IP address will be able to give you the identity
of the internet service provider the person is
using and an idea of the user's location
Conclusion
It is important to note that you might not
always get the persons name, ISPS only give out
such information under the request of a but you
can at least narrow down your search. Always
remember if at all someone is harassing you or
you fear for your safety and all other options
have failed to try and catch them or stop them
from doing so, then you should report it and
record a complaint with the authorities.
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