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

Misconfigured storage buckets

Misconfigured storage buckets have emerged as a significant vulnerability in cloud environments. Cloud storage solutions, such as Amazon’s S3 buckets or Azure Blob Storage, are often set up with ease and speed in mind. However, without rigorous security configurations, they can inadvertently become publicly accessible or easily breached. Such misconfigurations expose sensitive data, leading to potential data leaks and compromising organizational integrity. Let’s look at some common misconfigurations that may allow unauthorized access.

Public permissions

Storage resources are typically created with a default private setting, ensuring that only properly authenticated and authorized entities can access the stored data. However, sometimes, these permissions are altered, either for convenience or by mistake, leading to unintentional public exposure.

Here are some indicators to look for:

  • AWS:
    • Navigate to the Amazon S3 console. Check...