Comments for How easy is it to forge or alter email?

Comment from christine on 2012-01-27

2012-01-27T17:51:17Z

Can the date an e-mail was sent be altered? If a person did not send a reply until you bugged them about it, can they create an e-mail with a previous date to make it look like they did respond to you?

Yes and yes.

28-Jan-2012

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Comment from DavidW on 2010-12-24

2010-12-24T15:29:52Z

Burden of proof remains with the prosecution, always.

Email should never be used as evidence. I'd love someone to try and take me to court over an email. I'd have a field day editing away, and it wouldn't change a thing in the email properties. :-)

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Comment from tex on 2009-10-26

2009-10-26T12:07:18Z

can the contents of a web mail be altered ?

if emails can be altered, why are they considered as evidence (e.g., Mark Sanford email to mistress - couldn't he have said it was altered )?

I think he would have had to prove it had been altered. Quite different, but as I often say: I'm no lawyer.

26-Oct-2009

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Comment from Steve on 2009-09-16

2009-09-16T13:39:28Z

Sending an original email I can be who I like to the untrained eye. All I need to do is change "Name" under the account details and the "Reply To" address and I could be Barack Obama!

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Comment from Cedric on 2009-09-15

2009-09-15T19:18:12Z

Any email can be modified, whether in Outlook 2003, in the sent folder or not. The procedure may change depending on the email program, but it can be done. As Leo mentioned, digital signing is one of the ways to ensure what you send stays what you want it to be! This is often required in legal and government situations.

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A comment on: How easy is it to forge or alter email?

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Comment from MissInformation on 2009-09-15

2009-09-15T19:01:04Z

Could you ask the person who originally sent the e-mails to show you the original e-mail, by logging into his �sent items� folder (in his e-mail account)? What do you think Leo, would an e-mail message in the �Sent items� folder be �proof� enough of the original e-mail content, or can a person alter those also?

Those can also be altered.

16-Sep-2009

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Comment from audrey on 2009-09-15

2009-09-15T18:57:23Z

I was told that an e-mail in its electronic original has various codes that allow an expert to verifiy its origin and any alterations made after the original sender. For government disclosure requirements, and I expect any e-mail that will be used for legal purposes, the electronic version of the e-mail must be archived, not a printout.

Email can have those codes - digital signatures - but most do not.

16-Sep-2009

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Comment from Ron on 2009-09-15

2009-09-15T17:53:42Z

I use outlook 2003 and I am unable to edit emails. I have just tried to do so and when I deleted part of the email message the whole email disapeared.

That's a frustrating side-effect of how some email is encoded in HTML and how some email programs handle it. Yo may be able to make changes within only certain portions of the email, or other email programs may be able to make changes.

16-Sep-2009

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A comment on: How easy is it to forge or alter email?

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