Friday, February 4, 2011

How to Track the Origin of an Email Message by Using an IP Address?

When an email is received with questionable content, the authenticity of the message may seem difficult to trace back. For new computer uses, the ability to trace email is out of sight in many email clients. Fortunately, there are simple advanced ways to find the IP address of the sender by viewing the headers of the message and a using an IP Locator.
All email messages have headers with data containing information of the host the mail was sent from and the IP address of the actual sender. In the header, the IP address is found as numbers. For example: 127.0.0.1. This is needed to trace email with an IP Locator, or a "WHOIS" lookup.
In an email client such as Thunderbird or Outlook, the headers can be viewed by going into the "View" option at the top of the application and clicking on "Headers" in the subtext menu. By default, "Normal" is selected that views the basic information of the sender such as the Subject, "From" address, "To" address, and the date the message with sent. Choosing "All" shows raw header data including the email server and ISP IP address.
On web-based email clients, the headers can be found in different ways by logging in and viewing the message in question.
Headers in GMail:
1. On the far right of the message, open the reply menu.
2. Choose "Show Original" to view the entire message along with the header information.
Headers in Yahoo Mail (Classic):
1. Click on "Full Headers" on the far right of the message.
Headers with the new Yahoo Mail interface (formerly "Beta"):
1. Open the Standard Headers menu on the far right of the message and select "Full Headers" from the drop-down menu.
Headers in AOL Mail:
1. Open the "Actions" menu and "View Message Source" to view the message origin.
Headers in Windows Live Mail:
1. Right click on the message in question and click on "View Source" from the context menu.
2. The entire message will be opened in a new window.
The IP address to use in the IP Locator can be found by looking at the "X-Originating-IP" in most email clients, or "Received" in GMail. Type or Copy and Paste the IP address in the WHOIS search, the actual origin of the message is returned that includes the country of origin of the address and the domain owner. In the event of email abuse, email headers can be saved in a text file or printing the information on paper.
Learn more about IP address and IP Locator

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