Lecture 11

Electronic Mail Basics

 What is an Email
Email is a service which allows us to send the message in
electronic mode over the internet. It offers an efficient,
inexpensive and real time mean of distributing information
among people.

E-Mail Address
Each user of email is assigned a unique name for his email
account. This name is known as E-mail address. Different
users can send and receive messages according to the e-mail
address.

An e-mail is generally of the form username@domainname.

For example, tani.schmidt@ictuniversity.org is an e-mail
address where tani.schmidt is username ictuniveristy.org is
domain name.
NOTE:
 The username and the domain name are separated by @ (at)
symbol.
 E-mail addresses are not case sensitive.
 Spaces are not allowed in e-mail address.

E-mail Message Components

E-mail message comprises of different components:

 E-mail Header,
 Greeting,
 Text,
 Signature.

These components are described in the diagram below:

 Different Sections of and Email Account

The different sections of an email account are as follows:

From: The From field indicates the sender’s address i.e.

who sent the e-mail.

Date: The Date field indicates the date when the e-mail was
sent.

To: The To field indicates the recipient’s address i.e. to

whom the e-mail is sent.

Subject: The Subject field indicates the purpose of e-mail.

It should be precise and to the point.

CC: CC stands for Carbon copy. It includes those recipient

addresses whom we want to keep informed but not exactly
the intended recipient.
BCC: BCC stands for Black Carbon Copy. It is used when
we do not want one or more of the recipients to know that
someone else was copied on the message.

Greeting: Greeting is the opening of the actual message.

Eg. Hi Sir or Hi Guys etc.

Text: It represents the actual content of the message.

Signature: This is the final part of an e-mail message. It

includes Name of Sender, Address, and Contact Number.
 Advantages of Using and Email

E-mail has proved to be powerful and reliable medium of

communication. Here are some benefits of using E-mails:

Reliable: Many of the mail systems notify the sender if

e-mail message was undeliverable.

Convenience: There is no requirement of stationary and

stamps. One does not have to go to post office. All these
things are not required for sending or receiving an mail.

Speed: E-mail is very fast. However, the speed also

depends upon the underlying network.

Inexpensive : The cost of sending e-mail is very low.

Printable: It is easy to obtain a hardcopy of an e-mail. Also
an electronic copy of an e-mail can also be saved for
records.

Global: E-mail can be sent and received by a person sitting

across the globe.

Generality: It is also possible to send graphics, programs

and sounds with an e-mail.
 Disadvantages of Using Emails

Apart from several benefits of E-mail, there also exists some

disadvantages as discussed below:

Forgery: E-mail doesn’t prevent from forgery, that is, someone

impersonating the sender, since sender is usually not authenticated in
any way.

Overload: Convenience of E-mail may result in a flood of mail.

Misdirection: It is possible that you may send e-mail to an

unintended recipient.

Junk: Junk emails are undesirable and inappropriate emails. Junk

emails are sometimes referred to as spam.

No Response: It may be frustrating when the recipient does not read

the e-mail and respond on a regular basis.
 E-mail Protocols

E-mail Protocols are set of rules that help the client to

properly transmit the information to or from the mail server.
There are three main protocols used during and e-mail
communication. They include:

1. SMTP

2. POP

3. IMAP
 SMTP
SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It was first
proposed in 1982. It is a standard protocol used for sending e-mail
efficiently and reliably over the internet.

Characteristics of SMTP:

 SMTP is application level protocol.

 SMTP is connection oriented protocol.

 SMTP is text based protocol.

 It handles exchange of messages between e-mail servers over

TCP/IP network.

 Apart from transferring e-mail, SMPT also provides notification

regarding incoming mail.
 More Characteristics of SMTP
 When you send e-mail, your e-mail client sends it to your
e-mail server which further contacts the recipient mail
server using SMTP client.

 These SMTP commands specify the sender’s and

receiver’s e-mail address, along with the message to be
send.

 The exchange of commands between servers is carried

out without intervention of any user.

 In case, message cannot be delivered, an error report is

sent to the sender which makes SMTP a reliable protocol.

 SMTP operates on port 25

SMTP works closely with something called the Mail
Transfer Agent (MTA) to send your communication to the
right computer and email inbox.

SMTP spells out and directs how your email moves from
your computer's MTA to an MTA on another computer, and
even several computers.

Using that "store and forward" feature mentioned before,

the message can move in steps from your computer to its
destination.
A message transfer agent (MTA) is a software application
used within an Internet message handling system (MHS). It
is responsible for transferring and routing an electronic mail
message from the sender’s computer to the recipient’s
computer.

The basic platform for an MTA is an exchange system with

client/server architecture. A message transfer agent
receives incoming emails and forwards the messages to
individual clients/users.

The MTA’s operational activities are always performed on

the back end, but a user is unaware of these because he or
she will interact with an email client interface.
Fig: Showing how email works
 IMAP
The IMAP stands for Internet Mail Access Protocol.
This protocol is used when receiving an email

lMAP allows you to access your email messages

wherever you are; most of the time, it is accessed via the
Internet. Basically, email messages are stored on servers.

Whenever you check your inbox, your email client

contacts the server to connect you with your messages.
IMAP operated on port 143 on the mail server.
 Relationship Between Mail Servers,
Email Clients and IMAP
The easiest way to understand how IMAP works is by
thinking of it as an intermediary between your email client
and your email server.

Email servers are always used when sending and

receiving email messages. When you sign into an email
client like Microsoft Outlook, it contacts the email server
using IMAP.

The headers of all of your email messages are then

displayed. If you choose to read a message, it is quickly
downloaded so that you can see it
 POP
The POP stands for Post Office Protocol. This protocol is also used
for incoming emails. POP downloads the entire email into the local
computer and deletes the data on the server once it is downloaded.
This is helpful in a server with less free memory. Current version of
POP is POP3.

POP3 is a basic method of storing and retrieving email, it can work

with virtually any email program, as long as the email program is
configured to host the protocol.

Many popular email programs, including Eudora and Microsoft

Outlook, are automatically designed to work with POP3. Generally,
most email applications use the 110 port to connect to POP3.

Those individuals who are configuring their email program to

receive POP3 email will also need to input their username and
password in order to successfully receive email.
 Email Operations

a. Creating Email Account

There are various email service provider available such

as Gmail, hotmail, ymail, rediff mail etc.

Class Exercise :

 How to create and email with Yahoo and Gmail

 Browse through the various field of and email Header
 E-mail Features

Now a day, the mail client comes with enhanced features

such as attachment, address book, and MIME support. Here
in this section we will discuss all of these features which will
give you a better understanding of added feature of a mail
client program.

i. Attachment

Ability to attach file(s) along with the message is one of the

most useful features of email. The attachment may be a
word document, PowerPoint presentation, audio/video
files, or images.

In order to attach file(s) to an email, click the attach button.

As a result, a dialog box appears asking for specifying the
name and location of the file you want to attach.
Once you have selected the appropriate file, it is attached to
the mail.

Usually a paper clip icon appears in the email which

indicates that it has an attachment.

When adding an attachment it is better to compress the

attached files so as to reduce the file size and save
transmission time as sending and downloading large files
consumes a lot of space and time.
ii. Address Book

Address book feature of a mail program allows the users to

store information about the people whom they communicate
regularly by sending emails. Here are some of the key
features of an Address book:

 Address book includes the nick names, email addresses,

phone number etc.

 Using address book allows us not to memorize email of

address of a person, you just have to select recipient
name from the list.
 When you select a particular name from the list, the
corresponding email address link automatically get
inserted in to the To: field.
 Address book also allows creating a group so that you
can send a email to very member of the group at once
instead of giving each person email address one by one.
iii. MIME

MIME is acronym of Multipurpose Internet Mail

Extensions. MIME compliant mailer allows us to send files
other than simple text i.e. It allows us to send audio, video,
images, document, and pdf files as an attachment to an
email.

Suppose if you want to send a word processor document

that has a group of tabular columns with complex
formatting. If we transfer the file as text, all the formatting
may be lost.

MIME compliant mailer takes care of messy details and the

message arrives as desired.
 E-mail Etiquettes
The term etiquette refers to conventional rules of personal
behavior. But while communicating via email, we cannot
know about the body language and tone of voice etc.

Therefore Emails Etiquettes are a set of guidelines for

acceptable behavior on email. it is known as Email
Netiquette.

Here are set of guidelines that should be

followed while working with email:
 Try to make your message as short as possible. It will
make your message easy to read and understood.
 Be careful about spelling and grammar while typing a
message.
 Use emotions, smiles when required.

 Email address entered must be correct.

 The subject heading of a message should be clear and

descriptive.

 Follow the same rules as if you are writing a letter or a

memo.

 Sending a message that has already been forwarded or

replied many times may contain many angled brackets. It
is better to remove the angled brackets from the message.
 While sending mails to multiple persons, specify their
email addresses in the BCC: field so that the spammers
cannot come to know about addresses of other
recipients to whom you have sent a copy.

 Keep size of attachment as small as possible.

 Always add your signature at the end of email.

 Before you send, make it sure everything is fine

because you cannot call back a sent mail.
 E-mail Providers
There are several email service providers available in the
market with their enabled features such as sending,
receiving, drafting, storing an email and much more. The
following table shows the popular email service providers:
S.N. Service and Description
Gmail
1. Gmail is an email service that allows users to collect all the
messages. It also offers approx 7 GB of free storage.
Hotmail
2. Hotmail offers free email and practically unlimited storage
accessible on web.
Yahoo Mail
3. Yahoo Mail offers unlimited storage, SMS texting, social
networking and instant messaging to boot.
 iCloud Mail
4. iCloud Mail offers ample storage, IMAP access, and an
elegantly functional web application.
ATM Mail
5.
ATM Mail is a free email service with good spam protection.
Mail.com and GMX Mail
6. Mail.com and GMX Mail offers reliable mail service with
unlimited online storage.
Shortmail
7. Shortmail offers easy and fast email service but with limited
500 characters per message.
Inbox.com
8. Inbox.com offers 5 GB of free online storage. IMAP is not
supported by Inbox.com
 Email Security

What does Email Security mean?

Email security refers to the collective measures used to

secure the access and content of an email account or
service. It allows an individual or organization to protect the
overall access to one or more email addresses/accounts.

An email service provider implements email security to

secure subscriber email accounts and data from hackers -
at rest and in transit.
Email security is a broad term that encompasses multiple
techniques used to secure an email service. From an
individual/end user standpoint, proactive email security
measures include:

 Strong passwords
 Password rotations
 Spam filters
 Desktop-based anti-virus/anti-spam applications

Similarly, a service provider ensures email security by using

strong password and access control mechanisms on an email
server; encrypting and digitally signing email messages when
in the inbox or in transit to or from a subscriber email address.

It also implements firewall and software-based spam filtering

applications to restrict unsolicited, untrustworthy and malicious
email messages from delivery to a user’s inbox.
 Who is in charge of your
Email Protection ?.

i. The email account holder

ii. The email service provider

The E-mail account holder got the responsibility to ensure

her personal security by ensuring she respects basic security
policies.

Creating and using strong passwords is an important part of

your email security.
 Characteristics of a good P@$$w0rD
 At least eight characters.

 One or more of each of the following:

 lower-case letter
 upper-case letter
 number
 punctuation mark

 Included lookalike characters to protect against password

glimpses. Examples:

 O as in Oscar and the number 0.

 Lower-case l and upper-case I.
 The letter S and the $ sign.
 Things to avoid when creating a Password
 Words you can find in the dictionary.

 Personal information, such as names and birth dates.

 Keyboard patterns, like qwerty or 12345. Particularly avoid

sequences of numbers in order.

 Common acronyms.

 All one type of character - such as all numbers, all upper-case

letters, all lower-case letters, etc.

 Repeating characters, such as mmmm3333.

 The same password you use for another application.

 Memorable Password Tips

While passwords that are easy for you to remember are also less
secure than a completely random password, following these tips
can help you find the right balance between convenience for you
and difficulty for hackers.

 Create a unique acronym for a sentence or phrase you like.

 Include phonetic replacements, such as 'Luv 2 Laf' for 'Love to
Laugh.'
 Jumble together some pronounceable syllables, such as
'iv,mockRek9.'
 Password Ethics
 Never tell your password to anyone (this includes significant
others, roommates, coworkers, etc.). If you need to grant
someone access to your server, set up a separate username and
password for that person.

 Never write your password down, especially not anywhere near

your computer.
 Do not store your password in a plain text file on your computer.
 Never send your password over an unencrypted connection -
including unencrypted email.
 Periodically test your current password.
 Update your password every six months.
 Email Hacking

What does Hacking mean?

Hacking generally refers to unauthorized intrusion into a

computer or a network.

A person engaged in hacking activities is known as a hacker. This

hacker may alter system or security features to accomplish a goal
that differs from the original purpose of the system.

Hacking can also refer to non-malicious activities, usually

involving unusual or improvised alterations to equipment or
processes.
Basically email hacking can be done in on the following ways:

 Spam
 Virus
 Phishing
Virus
Some emails may incorporate with files containing malicious script
which when run on your computer may lead to destroy your
important data.

Phishing
Email phishing is an activity of sending emails to a user claiming to
be a legitimate enterprise. Its main purpose is to steal sensitive
information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.

Such emails contains link to websites that are infected with malware
and direct the user to enter details at a fake website whose look and
feels are same to legitimate one.
 Email Spam

By definition, email spam is any email that meets the following

three criteria:
 Anonymity: The address and identity of the sender can not be
identified.

 Mass Mailing: The email is sent to large groups of people

 Unsolicited: The email is not requested by the recipients

In short, spam email is any email that was not requested by a user
but was sent to that user and many others, most often with
malicious intent. The source and identity of the sender is
anonymous and there is no option to cease receiving future emails.
Why Emails Spam