What is email? - 99cybersecurity

What is email : email full form is Electronic Mail.  Email is digital medium of communication widely used to exchange across the internet.

It was invented by Ray Tomlison in 1972. Email is sed for sending and receiving electronic messages over the interent. You can send or receive an email using a desktop computer,  mobile phone or any other electronic gadgets that supports desktop or web-based application.

Companies such as Google and Microsoft that provide email functionality maintain huge server farms to store the large volume of data that is created.  You can send text,  audio,  and video to a recipient in a single email message.

Email Address :

For using email,  users need an email account,. Each account is assigned a unique email address . You need to use your email address for sending and receiving email messages. 

In simple terms,  it is the equivalent of the address written on the envelope of a letter that can be posted. 

An email address (for both sender and receiver) has two parts,  username and domain name.  Username is the identifies the user and domain name hosts the email account. Both are separated by '@' symbol. An email address has the form: username@domain; where the username can be up to 64 characters long and the domain can have a maximum of 255 chadacter. 

For example;  john@sample.com

Structure of an Email

There is a fixed structure for every email message.  It is accepted and follow as a standard all over the world. 

An email message is primarily composed of three parts: header,  message body and signature. 

Header: 

An email header contains detailed information about the email rather than the body text;  such as the sender's, recipient's address,  date and time when the message was send and subject of theessage. The subject line provides a brief description about the content of the email. The header provides an option to include the email address of other recipients in case the email is sent to more than one recipient.

Message body:

The message body contains the actual content of the message which is in the form of text.  It may also include attachment such as audio,  videos, sofware,  files of different format, etc. The content of the email may vary according to the different email systems used by each user. 

Signature :

Signature of email is the part that provides the information of the sender to the recipient. This part may also include signature or text generated automatically by the sender's email system. User can also set their email account to enter the signature line automatically on the emails sent. 

Email Security: A Growing Concern 

In today's world,  email has become the most prominent means of communication in every industry,  especially in business and government sectors. Consequently, the important pf email Security has increased significantly. 

Email Security refers to the protection of email content from various attackers or threats,  protection against unauthorised revelation and unauthorised modification. The architecture of the underlying network plays an important role in security emails. May organisation make use of firewalls to prevent their network form the malicious attacks.  To secure email from threats,  an understanding of its background  is important. 

It is important to secure emails beacuse of the following consideration :

Email Security Issues 

Email continues to be the apex of threat area in the field cybersecurity.  Through email,  a variety of malicious program and social engineering tactics can be prolagated. 

Malicious email attachment :

When a user receives a suspicious email attachment from an unknown sender. such attachment is referred as malicious email attachment. Compromised or cause damage to the operating system. 

Malicious user direction : 

Malicious user direction emails lure a user by promising.  The aim is to encourage the user to click a link that may redirect to another link or website hosting malware or spyware. Eventually,  the user's system is infected by the malware/spyware.

Spamming :

Slam email is the unwated junk mail that in user's mailbox such as brochures and pamlhlets. Spam emails are sent in large quantity to an arbitrary set of recipients. These are also called Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE)  or Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE). 

Snowshoe spamming :

Snowshoe spamming refers to the practice of sending spam across multiple domains and IP address to dodge fileters.  The user pf multiple domains and IP address makes it difficult to recognise and catch snowshoe spams. 

Phishing:

Phishing is the practice of obtaining private information in a fraudulent manner. Phishing emails are legitimate looking emails that makes a user believe in them.  An email may appear  under the name of trustworthy company or a website. requesting you to update your details. 

Spoof mail:

Spoof mail,  also called hoax mail, is fake email message which is propagated as a genuine email. It is basically a scam that is designed for making a monetary gain.