What are some of the common tools and techniques for incident response and forensics?

Prepare! Have report forms readily available so your team can quickly fill in crucial data when the adrenaline takes over; and train with them. If the incident (or symptoms of an incident) occur with any pattern or regularity, you will need a flow of log data to analyze in a SIEM or SOAR. There are open-source versions for smaller businesses that cannot afford or do not require costly, enterprise-level solutions. Wireshark is a free packet analysis tool that can provide evidence of activity over any network connection and it or some other pcap tool are needed if indicators of activity are suspected. Assume that any malicious activity has been going on for some time before any action is taken. You have to look at historical data.

The incident response process is vital, comprising preparation, detection, containment, and post-incident phases. Digital forensics experts play a key role in each phase, preserving evidence, analyzing breaches, aiding in containment, and improving future readiness. They employ tools like memory analysis and network forensics, enhancing an organization's ability to combat cyber threats effectively. Incorporating digital forensics expertise throughout the process is essential in today's threat landscape.

Managing and considering expectations for all stakeholders is an important aspect of the incident response process. This would promote collaboration and defined goals.

Forensic analysis is pivotal in cybersecurity. It unveils the who, what, and why of security breaches, identifies vulnerabilities, and offers actionable recommendations. This process ensures reliable, admissible evidence and fosters continuous learning and cross-disciplinary collaboration, making it indispensable in today's evolving threat landscape.

Certainly, here's a concise list of common incident response and digital forensics tools: Incident Response Tools: SIEM (e.g., Splunk) EDR (e.g., CrowdStrike) NSM (e.g., Wireshark) SOAR (e.g., Palo Alto Cortex XSOAR) IDS/IPS (e.g., Snort) Digital Forensics Tools: EnCase Autopsy The Sleuth Kit (TSK) Volatility FTK (Forensic Toolkit) OpenVAS Cellebrite UFED Mobiledit Belkasoft Magnet Forensics X-Ways Forensics These tools aid in incident detection, response, and forensic analysis, enhancing cybersecurity efforts.

First you need to distinguish whether you are doing a deep dive forensic investigation or an enterprise level incident response. The tools and techniques vary depending on the scenario. For enterprise level forensics, there are open-source solutions such as KAPE and Velociraptor for acquisitions. Then there are parsing tools such as those provided by Eric Zimmerman. You can then build an ELK stack for ingestion of the data and use elastic search to view the data in the same way you would be viewing data in a SIEM solution. Of course you can also spending a ton of money on proprietary turn-key solutions as well (e.g., FireEye Hx). For deep-dive forensics, there are also a specific tools you can use to analyze different forensic artifacts.

Effective interviewing techniques would assist in highlighting and prioritizing relevant evidence. The human connection in a technical investigation could often be overlooked when empathy and active listening could open doors in discovering valuable evidence.

Perhaps the most important technique is learning how to properly conduct an investigation. This happens by first understanding the background of the case. It will help you gain the situational awareness needed to properly scope the investigation. Scoping the investigation is two-fold. You need to scope the number of users, machines, accounts etc that were likely compromised, and secondly you need to determine the number of investigative tracks (e.g., How and when did they get in, how did they achieve lateral movement, and what data was stolen). Once you have scoped the investigation, it makes it easier to create an investigation plan, which will help you decide what tools are needed to properly answer the questions included in scope.

Having clear processes and procedures for how to respond to an incident is crucial. These processes and procedures need to be agreed upon by the CSIRT in round-table discussions beforehand. This includes knowing what questions to ask the moment the phone rings and having everything carefully organized in a simple workflow such as templates created using Microsoft Word or Excel. We are a big fan of using the Spreadsheet of Doom to maintain control of the entire investigation from contacts, to tracking evidence, timelining events, maintaining a list of acquisitions, as well as a list of IoCs (e.g., IP addresses, malicious files and directories, compromised user accounts, etc). The spreadsheet should also have a tab for lessons identified.

It’s a good idea to create custom snippets for recommendations. That saves a lot of work during report writing time. Also mapping the attack to the Mitre framework makes it very easy to make recommendations for monitoring and detecting, as well as how to harden your systems going forward. No need to re-invent the wheel for recommendations when Mitre has it all figured out.