When an incident occurs — be it ransomware, a vulnerability exploit, or another kind of sophisticated attack — robust incident response can be the difference between quick remediation or costly, extended down time.
Digital forensics plays a crucial role in incident response, pinpointing the root point of compromise, identifying and assessing the extent of a breach, and preserving evidence and artifacts of evidence, which some of the containment and remediation actions of incident response can destroy.
It also accelerates remediation efforts to contain the damage and restore operations, reducing operational downtime and costs associated with a cyber incident. And, with more than 75% of organisations needing more than 100 days to fully recover from a breach, anything that can reduce downtime should be seriously considered.
But understanding the role digital forensics plays, what effective digital forensics is, and whether an IR provider has strong digital forensics is more complicated.
What s Digital Forensics?
Digital forensics involves identifying, collecting, and analysing digital evidence. During a cyber attack or data breach, it helps uncover how the breach occurred and what data was compromised. This crucial information guides restoration efforts, remediation, and future cybersecurity strategies. It also strengthens your security posture, helping reduce the likelihood of a similar attack occurring in the future.
Digital forensics provides a conclusive picture of the chain of events in a cyber incident, as well as where and when they occurred. This level of detail and actionable insight is invaluable during and after a cyber attack.
Digital forensics typically encompasses four key areas:
- Computer forensics, which investigates physical computers and digital storage devices
- Mobile device forensics, which focuses on digital evidence from mobile devices
- Network forensics, which monitors and analyses network activity
- Database forensics, which examines database access, user behaviour, and data changes
Why Is Digital Forensics Important?
Digital forensics is essential for understanding, responding to, and preventing cyber threats, making it a cornerstone of effective cybersecurity practices. Digital forensics is crucial in cybersecurity for several key reasons:
Identifying the Attack Vector
Digital forensics helps trace the origin of a cyber attack, determining how threat actors gained access to systems. This information is vital for closing security gaps and preventing similar attacks in the future.
Assessing the Impact
By analysing digital evidence, forensics experts can determine the extent of a cyber attack, including which systems were compromised, what data was stolen or altered, and how deeply the attackers penetrated the environment.
Supporting Incident Response
Digital forensics is a critical component of incident response. It provides the IR team with detailed insights into the attack, enabling them to respond more effectively by isolating affected systems, recovering lost data, and restoring operations quickly.
Gathering Legal Evidence
In cases where legal action is pursued, digital forensics provides the necessary evidence to support investigations and prosecutions. This evidence must be collected and preserved according to strict protocols to be admissible in court.
Improving Security Posture
Post-incident, the findings from digital forensics can be used to strengthen an organisation’s cybersecurity defenses. Understanding the attack’s specifics allows organisations to implement targeted security measures and policies that address the vulnerabilities exploited by attackers.
Compliance and Reporting
Many governments and industries require organisations to report data breaches and security incidents to regulatory bodies. Digital forensics provides the detailed information needed to comply with these regulations, including the nature of the breach, the data affected, and the response actions taken.
Reducing Downtime
By quickly identifying the root cause of an incident, digital forensics helps organisations restore operations faster, minimizing downtime, and reducing the financial and operational impact of the attack.
The Role of Digital Forensics in Incident Response
Digital forensics aids in achieving the three primary goals of incident response: understanding the root cause, facilitating restoration, and ensuring remediation. It can reduce the attack’s scope and minimise downtime, which is critical for avoiding significant financial losses, especially in sectors like healthcare or government.
By providing vital information to the IR team, digital forensics allows for faster, more coordinated responses, reducing downtime and limiting the impact of the attack.
What is DFIR?
DFIR stands for digital forensics and incident response. It’s a specialised field within cybersecurity that combines the skillsets of digital forensics and incident response to investigate, manage, and remediate cyber incidents.
According to Gartner®, DFIR services “augment capacity and capability when responding to cybersecurity incidents.” They are crucial pieces of proactive protection and having DFIR services on retainer are a frequent requirement for organisations looking to secure cyber insurance coverage.
Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) services offer comprehensive forensic examination and investigative capabilities across various digital platforms, including memory, social media, cloud services, endpoint systems, devices, and applications. The primary goal is to detect and identify fraud, malicious behaviour, unethical conduct, or illegal activities by both internal and external threat actors. Investigations are triggered when an organisation suspects or detects malicious activity, such as a data breach. DFIR investigators are responsible for meticulously collecting evidence according to established protocols, conducting in-depth examinations, maintaining a secure chain of custody, and preparing for potential legal proceedings.
DFIR services can assist organizations with:
Pre-Incident Services
Develop or review incident response (IR) policies and procedures, and evaluate incident response strategies, security configurations, policies, and organisational readiness.
Post-Incident Services
Aid in forensic collection, examination, and analysis to build incident timelines, determine the scope of breaches, and conduct root cause analysis.
Investigative Services
Investigate malicious activities, reverse-engineer malware, obtain and analyse threat intelligence, and assist with incident recovery, from initial detection to postmortem analysis, improving future response processes.
How Digital Forensics Works
Although the specifics within each stage may vary, digital forensics always follows a structured process involving several steps, each crucial for ensuring thorough IR restoration and remediation, and that the evidence is handled properly and can be used in legal proceedings if necessary. Here’s how digital forensics typically works:
Identification
- Identify what evidence needs to be collected and from which sources. This could include computers, mobile devices, network servers, cloud storage, email systems, social media accounts, or any digital environment where relevant data might be stored.
- Determine what kind of data is relevant to the investigation, such as files, emails, logs, images, or metadata.
Preservation
- Ensure that the digital environment is preserved without alteration. This might involve isolating the devices from networks to prevent data tampering or remote access.
- Create a digital copy or “image” of the relevant storage devices to avoid altering the original evidence. This allows investigators to work with the copy while preserving the original data in its untouched state.
Collection
- Collect data from the identified sources using specialized tools and techniques. This can include everything from extracting files to recovering deleted data or analysing network traffic.
- Document every step taken to ensure that the evidence can be traced back to its original source and is accounted for at every stage of the investigation.
Examination
- Analyse the collected data to uncover patterns, reconstruct events, or find hidden or deleted information. This may involve searching for specific keywords, recovering deleted files, or analysing metadata to determine the origin and timeline of data.
- Use forensic tools and software to examine file systems, analyse logs, decrypt files, and even reverse-engineer malware to understand how a breach occurred.
Analysis
- Correlate the evidence with the known facts of the case to establish what happened, when it happened, and who was responsible. This often involves piecing together a timeline of events and understanding the actions of the threat actors.
- Develop and test theories about how the incident occurred, refining the analysis as new evidence is uncovered.
Reporting
- Prepare a detailed report that outlines the steps taken, the evidence uncovered, and the conclusions drawn. The report should be clear, precise, and structured so that it can be understood by non-technical stakeholders, including legal teams and judges.
- If necessary, the forensic examiner may need to present their findings in court, providing expert testimony on how the evidence was collected, analysed, and what it means for the case.
Presentation
- Present the findings in a clear and legally sound manner, preparing the evidence for court if required. This includes ensuring that the evidence complies with legal standards for admissibility.
- Provide recommendations based on the findings, which could include suggestions for improving security measures or recovering from the incident.
Response and Remediation
- Based on the forensic analysis, organisations may take steps to remediate vulnerabilities, recover from the incident, and prevent future occurrences.
Choosing the Right Digital Forensics Partner
Digital forensics is a critical piece of the incident response puzzle. Given the complexities of modern IT environments, where threat actors deploy advanced tactics, and digital evidence can be dispersed across multiple locations, having experienced digital forensics experts is essential for containing and remediating incidents. Organisations should select a reputable, comprehensive digital forensics provider, whether through a retainer or cyber insurance partner.
Digital forensics is central to Arctic Wolf® Incident Response. Our advanced digital forensics team works in tandem with the IR team to ensure faster response times, complete remediation, and quicker restoration. In over 90% of cases, our team identifies the root cause, providing organisations with crucial insights that help prevent future incidents and guide effective recovery.
Learn more about how Arctic Wolf delivers immediate, comprehensive responses to cyber threats.
Discover how the digital forensics and incident response marketplace is evolving and how to best evaluate DFIR vendors.
