How to Analyze Phishing Email Headers? Beginners Guide
This blog post discusses how to analyze phishing email header in easy steps. Cyber forensic experts know the importance of analysing phishing email headers. So, this article is specially dedicated to students and those who have an interest in forensic email intelligence. Let’s discuss a beginner’s guide to header email analysis for phishing.
What Even Is an Email Header?
So, usually we just see the shiny part of an email — like the message, any attachments, images etc. But behind the scenes, there’s this hidden bit called the email header.
Think of it like an envelope for a letter, with postmarks showing where it came from and what route it took to reach you. It logs a whole lot of nerdy-but-useful stuff like timestamps, server info, IP addresses, and if the sender is actually who they say they are.
Basically:
Email Body = Message
Email Header = Full travel history of the email
What’s Actually Inside the Header?
So, to broke this down in a way that made sense:
From
This says who the email is from — but warning, scammers can totally fake this. It might say “paypal.com” but it’s actually not.
To
That’s you (or others CC’d). Just basic stuff.
Subject
The title of the email. Same one you see in your inbox.
Date
The time the email was sent. If it’s super off or in a weird time zone, it could be a red flag.
Return-Path
Now this one’s interesting. It’s kinda like the real address of the sender. If the email says it’s from “support@bank.com” but return-path is “abc123@gmail.com” — that’s fishy.
Message-ID
Unique ID for that email. If this is missing or looks weird, don’t ignore it.
Received
Probably the most powerful part. This shows the full route the email took, step-by-step, server-byserver. You read it bottom to top to trace the journey. This is where I usually find the sketchy stuff.
DKIM Signature
This is like a digital wax seal — it proves the message wasn’t changed mid-way and really came from where it says it did.
SPF
Basically checks if the server used to send the email is even allowed to send emails from that domain.
DMARC
The final boss. It checks if both SPF and DKIM pass. If not, we’ve got a problem.
How to Analyze Phishing Email Headers?
#1 View the Raw Header
Click on the three dots or options in your email and choose “Show Original” or something similar.
#2 Decode the Path – Received Lines
These are golden. Each server the email passed through leaves a mark. Read them bottom-up.
Ask:
- Is the first server legit? Does it match the domain it claims to be from?
- Is the sender’s IP address weird? (Like an IP from Nigeria claiming to be from a U.S. bank?)
#3 Compare From, Return Path & Reply-To
This one has saved me so many times.
If they all match — probably okay.
If From is “paypal.com” but return path is some random Gmail — that’s a big NO.
#4 Check the Auth Stuff (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
Look for a line that says: Authentication-Results:
- SPF: Did the email come from a server that’s allowed to send for that domain?
- DKIM: Was it tampered with? If the signature fails, it might’ve been changed.
- DMARC: Final judgment. If this fails, most spam filters will already treat it as suspicious.
#5 Watch Out for Fake Headers
Some scammers add fake stuff like “X-Virus Scanned: Clean” to look real. Or they’ll pretend to be sent from “Microsoft Outlook” when they clearly weren’t.
Mentioned points are most helpful to analyze phishing email headers.
Learn Next: Importance of OCR in Email Attachments
Tools for Analysing Phishing Email Headers
You just need to paste the header into one of these tools, and it is gonna tell you everything:
- MXToolbox Email Header Analyzer
- Google Admin Toolbox Messageheader
- Trustifi Email Analyzer
They break down:
- All the server hops
- IP reputation
- SPF/DKIM/DMARC status
- Suspicious stuff you might miss manually
Final Thoughts
Email headers might seem super technical at first, but once you get used to them, they actually become fun. It’s like being your own mini-cyber detective. And trust me, after going through a few, you’ll start spotting phishing emails, fake ones really fast. Always trust your gut and the header.