Digital Forensics for Legal Professionals

Chapter 34. E-mail Evidence

Information in this chapter:

• E-mail as evidence

• E-mail storage and access: Where is it?

• Web mail

E-mail is probably one of the most prolific forms of evidence available today. It seems that everyone has an e-mail account, from children to octogenarians. With the availability of free e-mail accounts that can be set up in a matter of minutes, the number of e-mail accounts exploded in the late 1990s.

This chapter examines e-mail as evidence and how and where it is stored. Also in this chapter are some case studies of e-mail used as evidence in actual criminal and civil cases.

Keywords

E-mail, web-based e-mail, e-mail storage, free e-mail accounts, recovering e-mail.

Introduction

E-mail is probably one of the most prolific ...