What are Email Headers?

Emails have become an integral part of our personal and professional lives. While we usually focus on the content of an email, there’s a wealth of information hidden in its header. Email headers contain crucial details about the email’s origin, delivery path, and authenticity.

Head, what?

Email headers, also known as message headers, are a block of text at the beginning of an email that provides essential metadata about the email’s journey. To view an email’s headers, you can usually find an option like “View Message Source” or “Show Original” in your email client.

Here is an example of a RAW header from a pretty bogus-looking message:

Delivered-To: phishandchips.io@gmail.com
Received: by 2002:a05:7000:704c:b0:518:6939:5a47 with SMTP id t12csp2267847mat;
Wed, 20 Sep 2023 20:27:49 -0700 (PDT)
X-Google-Smtp-Source: AGHT+IFlYgh6cSUYc5vF0uwuiA/TjmWnfkjBIWVaaOrJm2Fnkjt4x668N5PScciUJJrH8ex14K77
X-Received: by 2002:aa7:c614:0:b0:530:f880:ca74 with SMTP id h20-20020aa7c614000000b00530f880ca74mr3610809edq.28.1695266869411;
Wed, 20 Sep 2023 20:27:49 -0700 (PDT)
ARC-Seal: i=2; a=rsa-sha256; t=1695266869; cv=pass;
d=google.com; s=arc-20160816;
b=XXXXX
ARC-Message-Signature: i=2; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=google.com; s=arc-20160816;
h=feedback-id:precedence:subject:cc:message-id:list-unsubscribe:from
:list-id:list-id:date:mime-version:to;
bh=f9JKLxsmxVEDS8HfdQZuiBvO3txjQarfOuTylLcMQdw=;
fh=e69IIXWAFhL7Gv60vfGA8nV4JOjkyr9JYr37FBPFklI=;
b=XXXX
ARC-Authentication-Results: i=2; mx.google.com;
arc=pass (i=1);
spf=pass (google.com: domain of postmaster@eur01-ve1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com designates 2a01:111:f400:7e01::207 as permitted sender) smtp.helo=EUR01-VE1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com
Return-Path: <>
Received: from EUR01-VE1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-ve1eur01lp20207.outbound.protection.outlook.com. [2a01:111:f400:7e01::207])
by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id bm17-20020a0564020b1100b0052e9eff1e61si384400edb.395.2023.09.20.20.27.49
for <phishandchips.io@gmail.com>
(version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128);
Wed, 20 Sep 2023 20:27:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of postmaster@eur01-ve1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com designates 2a01:111:f400:7e01::207 as permitted sender) client-ip=2a01:111:f400:7e01::207;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
arc=pass (i=1);
spf=pass (google.com: domain of postmaster@eur01-ve1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com designates 2a01:111:f400:7e01::207 as permitted sender) smtp.helo=EUR01-VE1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com
ARC-Seal: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; s=arcselector9901; d=microsoft.com; cv=none; b=XXXXX
ARC-Message-Signature: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=microsoft.com; s=arcselector9901; h=From:Date:Subject:Message-ID:Content-Type:MIME-Version:X-MS-Exchange-AntiSpam-MessageData-ChunkCount:X-MS-Exchange-AntiSpam-MessageData-0:X-MS-Exchange-AntiSpam-MessageData-1; bh=XXXXXX
ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1; mx.microsoft.com 1; spf=softfail (sender ip is 45.79.81.156) smtp.rcpttodomain=gmail.com smtp.helo=notes.io; dmarc=none action=none header.from=eafdvcsdvc.onmicrosoft.com; dkim=none (message not signed); arc=none
X-MS-Exchange-Authentication-Results: spf=softfail (sender IP is 45.79.81.156) smtp.helo=notes.io; dkim=none (message not signed) header.d=none;dmarc=none action=none header.from=EAFDVCSDVC.onmicrosoft.com;
To: <phishandchips.io@aol.com>
MIME-Version: 2.0
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2023 05:25:05 +0200
X-Feedback-ID: 1781223:SG
List-ID: <7202588.xt.local>
List-ID: <.7289367.xt.local>
From: SolarBill <infoygwszzlnyhfpvdjvpztee@eafdvcsdvc.onmicrosoft.com>
X-Mailer: BM23 Mail
List-Unsubscribe: <maiANlto:1cxmbtz2tak6wbt21fgmhn8rshqzt5f-u@comms.teamsnap.com>, <http://comms.teamsnap.com/public/webform/render_form/default/XXXXX>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="_36adda4e-755a-4bf6-b3f6-570ea8903171_"
X-campaignID: bm23_bbmqysfahtjioxvqkuvfgymqygehbfg
Message-ID: <e01f7ce7-c7fb-47fb-rnfvdyarenbsmngcvrw-743d24f27996@atl1s07mta2411.xt.local>
Cc: <phishandchips.io@gmail.com>
Subject: Re:
Precedence: bulk
Feedback-ID: 325-anexp#nret-fa:account-notifier
X-EOPAttributedMessage: 0
X-MS-PublicTrafficType: Email
X-MS-TrafficTypeDiagnostic: DB5PEPF00014B9E:EE_|PA4PR02MB6861:EE_
X-MS-Office365-Filtering-Correlation-Id: 51d4ce3b-3f03-4ef4-9595-08dbba52ba9a
X-MS-Exchange-SenderADCheck: 1
X-MS-Exchange-AntiSpam-Relay: 0
X-Microsoft-Antispam: BCL:0;
X-Microsoft-Antispam-Message-Info: [block]
X-Forefront-Antispam-Report: CIP:45.79.81.156;CTRY:US;LANG:en;SCL:5;SRV:;IPV:CAL;SFV:SPM;H:notes.io;PTR:45-79-81-156.ip.linodeusercontent.com;CAT:OSPM;SFS:(13230031)(376002)(39860400002)(346002)(136003)(396003)(1800799009)(451199024)(1690799017)(7200799017)(5400799018)(82310400011)(46966006)(83380400001)(70206006)(42186006)(336012)(19810500001)(110136005)(26005)(70586007)(42882007)(82740400003)(3480700007)(166002)(47076005)(35950700001)(40480700001)(33964004)(41320700001)(17440700003)(40140700001)(34070700002)(46730400001)(508600001)(9686003)(81166007)(2906002)(84970400001)(8400799017)(8676002)(4326008)(8936002)(78352004)(41300700001)(5660300002)(7116003)(1406899027)(5006899006)(104086003)(42472002)(38122002);DIR:OUT;SFP:1501;
X-OriginatorOrg: EAFDVCSDVC.onmicrosoft.com
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-OriginalArrivalTime: 21 Sep 2023 03:27:48.1178 (UTC)
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-Network-Message-Id: 51d4ce3b-3f03-4ef4-9595-08dbba52ba9a
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-Id: 2b44a31f-6747-4f4c-ad1f-f3dad63dc557
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-OriginalAttributedTenantConnectingIp: TenantId=2b44a31f-6747-4f4c-ad1f-f3dad63dc557;Ip=[45.79.81.156];Helo=[notes.io]
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-AuthSource: DB5PEPF00014B9E.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-AuthAs: Anonymous
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-FromEntityHeader: HybridOnPrem
X-MS-Exchange-Transport-CrossTenantHeadersStamped: PA4PR02MB6861

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Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8

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What are Email Headers?

Head, what?

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