Back to case studies
Intermediate1 h - 1 h 30

Investigating a phishing email

A “payslip” email was reported by several employees. Analyze the headers, the link and the infrastructure to trace it back to the attacker.

Briefing

Monday 9:12 am, the Mireval Insurance SOC receives 14 reports about the same email: “Your October payslip is available”. Two people clicked the link, one entered their password. You have the raw email (.eml) and the results of a few passive lookups. Goal: establish the facts, extract the indicators and recommend actions.

Fictional scenario and data, built on real techniques. .example domains and documentation IP ranges.

Objectives

  • Read the authentication headers (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
  • Identify the real originating IP
  • Deobfuscate the link and find the real domain
  • Pivot on the infrastructure
  • Prioritize the incident response

Tools used in real investigations

MXToolbox Header Analyzerurlscan.ioWHOIS / RDAPVirusTotalAbuseIPDBMicrosoft 365 Defender
CyberXTEL
100% Free

Ready to put it into practice?

CyberXTEL is our free platform to train hands-on: certifications, CTFs and a dedicated cyber awareness space.

Discover CyberXTEL