Email Headers, huh? by R. John Quisenberry   ...Email is an important part of the communications we all use to get things done. We may be doing work, or you may be sending a love note your favorite person. What all email has in common is what are called headers. Headers are intended to reflect where an email comes from, where it is going to, and every server that touches the message as it travels to it's destination. ...Forging headers is a common tactic of spammers. They simply manipulate their email authoring program to insert invalid and missleading information into the headers so that spam blocking software has a harder time identifying the message as spam. ...Another reason to forge the headers is to make it harder to trace spam back to the source and get their ISP to knock them off line. Most ISP's have strict anti-spam policies. If a client gets caught spamming, the ISP gets the right to keep their money and cut off thier service with no questions asked. This can be useful when you have had enouogh of the spam a given slime is sending and want your pound of flesh. It costs them money and down-time to have to move to another server. ...If you know anything about TCP/IP, you know that some addresses are supposed to be used on the internet and others are strictly to be used only in private networks. A large number of spammers will muddy the water about where their messages are coming from by putting private IP addresses into the headers of the spam. Private IP addresses are also known as unroutable addresses. Any ISP that is serious about blocking spam will already be blocking any messages that include such addresses in their headers. Educating your ISP may become something you have to do as many places have been laying off anyone who knows anything in hopes of saving money. ...Probably the most sinister reason to forge the headers of an email would be to make you think the spam came from an innocent party. They may even use forged information to send a message that seems to come from you to your friends in order to get them to follow the links. ...Read up on whatever mail client you use, they all have the ability to show you the complete header of any email message. There is plenty of information on the web that can help you puzzle out the meanings of the information to be found in the headers. With a little practice, you wil be able to easily find the valid portions of an email header and trace a spam to it's source. Then you can return the irritation they have supplied you with interest!

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