Free Forensic Tool

Email Header Analyzer

Paste email headers. See where the email came from, how it got to you and whether it is legitimate.

Free email header analysis tool from Sherlock Forensics. Parses Received headers into a visual hop-by-hop timeline, checks SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication, identifies originating IP and geographic route, flags sender mismatches and produces a legitimacy verdict. Used by IT admins, security teams, lawyers and HR departments to trace email origins and detect spoofing.

Paste Email Headers

Paste the full headers from the email you want to analyze. The header text is parsed in your browser and is not sent to our servers. To plot the geographic journey, the public IP addresses in the Received chain are queried client-side against ip-api.com, a public geolocation service. Public IP addresses are public by design; anyone with the headers can look them up.

Since 20064.8/5 ratingCISSP, ISSAP, ISSMP certified
Overall Assessment
Analyzing...

Authentication Results

Sender Analysis

Routing Trace (0 hops)

    Questions

    About Email Header Analysis

    How do I get email headers?
    Gmail: open email, click three dots, "Show original". Outlook: File > Properties > Internet Headers. Apple Mail: View > Message > All Headers.
    What does the analyzer check?
    Received headers (hop trace), SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication, sender mismatches, originating IP, routing delays and overall legitimacy verdict.
    How can I tell if an email is spoofed?
    Key indicators: SPF fails, DKIM fails, From address mismatch with Return-Path, unexpected originating IP location. Multiple failures strongly indicate spoofing.
    What are SPF, DKIM and DMARC?
    SPF verifies the sending server is authorized. DKIM verifies the email was not modified. DMARC tells receivers what to do when SPF/DKIM fail. Together they prevent spoofing.
    What if the analyzer says "Likely Spoofed"?
    Do not click links or download attachments. Report to IT. If it involves money or legal matters, contact Sherlock Forensics at 888.883.4550 for forensic analysis. Our incident response team can preserve evidence and trace the source.