Technology |  4 Minutes Reading

Gmail Email Recovery in Cyber Forensics – Retrieve Deleted Emails for Investigation

This write-up focuses on explaining Gmail email recovery in cyber forensics. It discusses different methods to recover or retrieve deleted information on Gmail.

In this digital age, email communication is integral to day-to-day activity. There are various email clients available, however, Gmail is the most-used emailing platform. As a result, most cybercriminals use this platform to execute fraudulent activities. That’s not the end, to cover their digital footprint, they often delete emails that could be valuable evidence in an investigation. But, the question is can those emails be recovered?

Before answering the above question, let’s first understand where an email in Gmail goes after deletion.

Where Can You Find Deleted Emails in Gmail?

First of all, the location of a deleted email depends on how you delete it, whether you opted for the soft deletion or hard deletion.

Note: Soft deletion refers to deleting an email by clicking on the trash bin icon. Hard deletion refers to deleting an email using the Ctrl+Shift+Del option.

Usually, when you use the soft deletion approach, the deleted emails straightly go to the Trash Bin Folder. From where you can easily recover Gmail emails for cyber forensics. However, if you don’t recover emails from the trash bin within 30 days, they’ll get permanently deleted. 

On the other hand, when you delete your emails using a hard deletion approach, recovering can be difficult. 

Anyway, from a forensics point of view, these deleted emails could play a crucial role in finding the culprit behind an incident.

Thus, let’s move ahead and discuss the methods to recover emails from Gmail for cyber forensics.

How to Recover Gmail Emails for Cyber Investigation?

In case you simply deleted the emails, then it’ll be in the trash folder. Follow the steps given below to restore them to their original location.

Note: Make sure you are attempting to restore your emails within 30 days of deletion. Otherwise, you won’t find it in the trash folder.

Step 1. Open your Gmail account and click on the Trash Folder option.

Step 2. Choose the emails that you want to recover.

Step 3. Right-click on the selected emails and select the Move-to option.

Step 4. Select the location of your choice to restore the deleted Gmail emails.

With these simple four steps, you can recover the deleted emails. However, these steps do not apply to Gmail email recovery in cyber forensics when the emails are deleted permanently.

Thus, the best solution is to use professional software i.e. MailXaminer. This tool is designed specifically for email forensic investigation. It is capable of recovering deleted and permanently deleted emails from any email client including Gmail. 

Schedule a Demo Purchase Tool

Not to mention, this tool is popular among forensic professionals and law enforcement agencies. Let’s take a look at the working steps of the software.

Use Automated Software for Gmail Email Recovery in Cyber Forensics

The UI of the tool is user-friendly. Even if you’re using it for the first time, you’ll not find any difficulties. Let’s jump on to the step-by-step procedure.

Step 1. Install and open the tool by entering the default credentials ‘Administrator’.

Step 2. Click on the Add New Evidence option to add Gmail details.

Step 3. Click on the cloud option and select Gmail.

Step 4. Select the necessary settings to customize the scanning of evidence.

Step 5. On the next screen, you’ll see all the emails on the Gmail account.

Step 6. Find the deleted emails that are highlighted in red color.

Additional Bonus: You can see the metadata of the deleted emails and perform email header forensics.

Importance of Gmail Email Recovery in Cyber Forensics

Emails contain a wealth of information that can be vital for solving a case related to cyber fraud, intellectual property theft, etc. Whether you use Gmail or other email clients, email recovery is highly important in a forensics investigation. It can be used in 

1. Evidence Collection
2. Incident Response
3. Data Reconstruction

Conclusion

Gmail email recovery in cyber forensics plays a crucial role in unearthing hidden evidence and solving complex cases. That’s why we explained different methods through which you can restore or recover even permanently deleted emails.