Book Image

Cloud Forensics Demystified

By : Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Mansoor Haqanee
Book Image

Cloud Forensics Demystified

By: Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Mansoor Haqanee

Overview of this book

As organizations embrace cloud-centric environments, it becomes imperative for security professionals to master the skills of effective cloud investigation. Cloud Forensics Demystified addresses this pressing need, explaining how to use cloud-native tools and logs together with traditional digital forensic techniques for a thorough cloud investigation. The book begins by giving you an overview of cloud services, followed by a detailed exploration of the tools and techniques used to investigate popular cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Progressing through the chapters, you’ll learn how to investigate Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and containerized environments such as Kubernetes. Throughout, the chapters emphasize the significance of the cloud, explaining which tools and logs need to be enabled for investigative purposes and demonstrating how to integrate them with traditional digital forensic tools and techniques to respond to cloud security incidents. By the end of this book, you’ll be well-equipped to handle security breaches in cloud-based environments and have a comprehensive understanding of the essential cloud-based logs vital to your investigations. This knowledge will enable you to swiftly acquire and scrutinize artifacts of interest in cloud security incidents.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1: Cloud Fundamentals
6
Part 2: Forensic Readiness: Tools, Techniques, and Preparation for Cloud Forensics
10
Part 3: Cloud Forensic Analysis – Responding to an Incident in the Cloud

Network forensics

As this section’s title suggests, network forensics is an approach to forensically analyzing network protocols, packets, and any artifacts on the wire. Network forensics in the context of cloud environments involves analyzing network traffic, communication patterns, and data flows between CSP services and external users to uncover potential security breaches, data exfiltration, and unauthorized access. By examining network data within the cloud infrastructure, we can create a comprehensive picture of events, identify anomalies, and detect the traces left behind by cyber threats. Fundamentally, investigators must have access to network data to conduct this analysis. This deeper scrutiny allows us to respond to incidents effectively, mitigate risks, and maintain a resilient cloud security posture.

Basic networking concepts

In network forensics, investigators must always remember that any network communication is broken down into the layers outlined by the...