Book Image

Digital Forensics and Incident Response

By : Gerard Johansen
Book Image

Digital Forensics and Incident Response

By: Gerard Johansen

Overview of this book

Digital Forensics and Incident Response will guide you through the entire spectrum of tasks associated with incident response, starting with preparatory activities associated with creating an incident response plan and creating a digital forensics capability within your own organization. You will then begin a detailed examination of digital forensic techniques including acquiring evidence, examining volatile memory, hard drive assessment, and network-based evidence. You will also explore the role that threat intelligence plays in the incident response process. Finally, a detailed section on preparing reports will help you prepare a written report for use either internally or in a courtroom. By the end of the book, you will have mastered forensic techniques and incident response and you will have a solid foundation on which to increase your ability to investigate such incidents in your organization.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Preparing a stage drive


Beyond having the necessary hardware and software to perform the forensic imaging, it is critical to pre-stage a location to hold the image or evidence file. For incident response teams, the best option to utilize as an evidence repository is an external USB or FireWire disk drive. This allows for a degree of portability, as incident responders may have to investigate an incident offsite or at a variety of locations without the benefit of a forensics laboratory.

There are two tasks that need to be performed on evidence drives prior to their use. The first is to ensure that the repository is free of any data. Incident response teams should have a policy and procedure that dictates that an evidence drive be wiped prior to each use. This includes drives that are new in box. This is due to the fact that a number of manufacturers ship drives with backup software or other data that needs to be removed prior to use. Wiping further ensures that previously utilized drives.

This...