A buyer’s guide to an eDiscovery and Email Forensics Software 

Summary: In this blog, we have mentioned some of the key features that should be considered while purchasing an email forensics tool. Features such as, support for Multiple Email File Formats, deleted email recovery, bulk email forensics, case management during criminal investigations. We have also explained how Stellar Email Forensic is an advanced eDiscovery and cost effective tool for forensic analysis of emails.

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Cybercriminals or even employees often misuse emails for leaking sensitive data, committing fraud, and phishing attacks. In light of this growing problem, a significant expansion has occurred in recent commercial and open-source email forensic catalog tools. The problem is that with a slew of enterprise-grade email forensics tools available today, it can be difficult even for seasoned digital forensics professionals to pick the correct application that is both feature-rich and easily accessible. If you are one such individual caught in a fix on how to select the best email forensic software, then this blog is for you.

Buy email forensics software only if it has the essential features. Following are the key features that you should consider while purchasing an email forensic tool:

1.      Support for Multiple Email File Formats

One of the most critical aspects you should look for in your go-to email investigation tool is the extent of file format support. This is because companies use different email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook, Office 365, Gmail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Pocomail, etc. So, it doesn’t make sense financially and operationally to have different forensic tools for different email file formats. Instead, you should find a product that can support almost every popular email file format, including EDB, PST, OST, DBX, NSF, MBOX, OLM, TBB, EML, etc. One such email forensics software will give you the confidence to investigate any case, irrespective of the file formats involved.

2.     Speed and Efficiency

Time is of the essence when it comes to solving crimes. If you have to scan thousands of emails of all company employees to find the culprit, then you need a forensic tool that can get results fast. So, find software that has a high email processing rate and can parse large files quickly to limit unnecessary stalling.

Email forensics software can improve efficiency if it offers a wide range of tools to help you quickly search for the information you are looking for. For instance, if forensic email software offers advanced search options such as Boolean Search and Regular Expression Search, then it gives you more control over how you want to search for particular keywords and phrases in the entire email database. Also, it would be best if you had specific bookmarking and tagging features, logs support, etc., to efficiently work on multiple cases and be more productive. 

3.     Deleted Emails Recovery

Subjects of investigation usually try to cover their tracks by deleting emails or wiping out the entire email servers. However, a robust email forensic tool can help you find evidence in email logs and other sources, especially when the data is available on multiple devices (sender’s device, recipient’s device, mobile devices, etc.).

Advanced forensic tools can identify and recover deleted emails from all mailbox files. Just think about it, how empowered will you feel when you can recover lost evidence? So, if you can find a powerful tool with a deleted email recovery feature, you should not think twice about purchasing it. Just make sure that the software you pick also offers good efficacy. This is because every single email is important in an investigation, and you want the highest recovery success rate possible.

4.    Case Management during criminal investigations

Many forensics software in the market claim to offer advanced case management features. However, the actual functionality is somewhat limited. This forces you to manually document multiple cases, notes, artifacts, etc., in standard Office products, such as Microsoft Excel and Word. This approach is hardly viable for something as important and pressing as an email investigation. So, finding a comprehensive case management facility in an ideal email forensic solution would be best. Unless there is no “end-to-end” tracking functionality, a program will remain incomplete.

Old-generation email forensics solutions suffer from the glaring problem of handling every evidence and artifact separately. Working on multiple cases involving hundreds of artifacts and suspicious emails makes it challenging. On the other hand, if a forensic solution can make it possible to manage all critical details through bookmarks, tags, log management, etc., by itself, then you can investigate with few to no mistakes that are otherwise more likely to manifest when you store information in spreadsheets and documents. Also, syncing up this offline and fragmented database will pose a challenge.

5.    Court-Admissible Reports

You need email forensics software to extract case-related information from multiple mailboxes. The tool should generate customized litigation reports. However, you also need to save the results of your searches in informative and accurate reports so that these documents can be submitted in court in a legally acceptable format such as PST, MSG, HTML, PDF, EML, etc. An ideal program will allow you to create reports that bear the details of investigators, customize the layout (adding your logo, for instance), and present all the crucial details of your searches in an organized fashion. Also, there is a high chance that the after-effects of the cyberattacks have spread significantly. In that case, bulk email forensics is required to handle large-scale mailboxes.

Some important reports that your email forensics software should be able to generate are:

• Investigation report: For examination summary, case data, evidence, logs, etc.
• Evidence summary report: For evidence details, case log, bookmarked items, etc.
• Search report: For case data, search details and results, etc.

6. MD5 and SHA1 hash functions

MD5 and SHA1 are the two most popular hashing algorithms for digital forensics professionals today. MD5 or Message Digest 5 is a hashing algorithm created by Ron Rivest to replace the previous hashing algorithm Message Digest 4 (MD4). Message Digest 5 is the fifth and latest version of the original Message Digest algorithm, and it creates hash values of 128 bits. On the other hand, SHA1 or Secure Hash Algorithm 1 is modeled after SHA0 or Secure Hash Algorithm 0. It is more powerful than MD5 and produces hash values of 160 bits. Using MD5 and SHA1 hashing algorithms is a standard practice in digital forensics. These algorithms allow forensic investigators to preserve digital evidence from the moment they acquire it until it’s produced in court. 

With Stellar Email Forensic, Save your Time and Money

Email forensics tools have become more powerful, versatile, and legally helpful than they were a few years ago. However, the sheer number of options in the market should confuse you while picking a tool. The features discussed above will be able to push you in the right direction. Of course, you should also look for bonus features, like multiple file format options for export, ease of use, cost, demo availability, etc. Spending time on comparison initially can pay off later in more ways than you can imagine. 

All the above-highlighted features are present in our enterprise-grade eDiscovery forensic email investigation tool Stellar Email Forensic, which is available for a 60-days free trial. The software supports more than 25 file formats, such as EDB, PST, OST, DBX, NSF, MBOX, OLM, and many more. In addition, it offers a case management facility and allows one to perform granular searches for emails.