A cyberattack can be a highly disruptive and destructive event for any organization. In the wake of a successful data breach or other security incident, businesses are often left in a state of chaos or uncertainty.
However, regardless of any ongoing disruption, it’s important that companies have a methodical approach to quickly and effectively investigate the issue while simultaneously putting together a comprehensive incident response plan.
Conducting post-incident forensics analysis can be an essential step in this process.
What is the Purpose of Post-Incident Forensics?
Post-incident forensic analysis is a highly detailed process used to investigate and recreate security breaches or other major incidents that have occurred within an organization's systems or networks. While the process in itself isn’t designed to reverse the damage caused, its purpose is to provide invaluable insights that can help the organization prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future.
Post-incident forensics is especially useful for helping businesses improve their operational resilience. It can help identify vulnerabilities that may not be immediately apparent, including hidden security weaknesses in the underlying infrastructure.
In some cases, post-incident analysis might reveal that an attack was deliberately orchestrated by external parties. In other instances, it may uncover an insider threat, requiring further investigation to identify the source and assess the extent of the damage caused.
Regardless of the nature of the incident, having a systematic approach to root cause analysis is critical to learn from them. This means carefully examining all available evidence, which can include system logs, network traffic patterns, and system configuration formats, to determine how an attacker was able to penetrate an organization's security defenses. The information gained can then be used to implement better long-term safeguards and strengthen the business’s overall security posture.
Core Elements of Post-Incident Forensics Analysis
Post-incident forensics analysis isn’t a quick process. It’s often a meticulous process that requires time and expert execution, which can often take weeks or even months to complete. The goal isn’t to provide a quick fix to the problem. Instead, the process involves several crucial stages that each play a vital role in understanding the scope and impact of the incident.
Below are the key phases and core elements involved in conducting post-incident forensics.
Locating Information Sources
The initial stage of post-incident forensics focuses on pinpointing the nature and extent of a security breach. Cybersecurity professionals will leverage a range of tools and techniques to trace the origins and root cause of the attack.
By carefully discovering and collecting all system and network logs, incident response teams can begin to identify specific events related to the incident and pinpoint the source(s) where the attack was likely orchestrated.
Securing and Extracting Evidence
Following a major security incident, organizations will assemble a specialized team to conduct a comprehensive investigation, much in the same way law enforcement agencies collaborate together at the scene of a crime. This team then meticulously analyzes any affected systems or compromised data to understand the attack methods, timing of events, and any apparent motivations the attackers may have had.
Since various forms of digital evidence could be easily altered or deleted, establishing a clear chain of custody during this phase is critical. This involves carefully documenting the handling and access to each piece of evidence, ensuring that every interaction is authorized and traceable. This helps to preserve the integrity of the investigation and keeps all individuals involved accountable.
Analyzing Collected Data
Evidence collection is a major part of any post-forensics investigation. Businesses often have multiple systems that store valuable information. These could include equipment logs, physical hard drives, and cloud databases. Investigators will leverage these resources to better understand what happened.
During an investigation, post-forensics analysts carefully examine the information collected to create a step-by-step account of the incident. This helps them understand how the incident unfolded, including whether the attacker had authorized credentials or exploited a vulnerability to gain access.
To achieve this, investigators use special tools, such as forensic imaging software, to create exact copies of data drives. This allows them to analyze the information without damaging the original evidence.
Documenting Findings
The analysis phase of an investigation involves teams examining and recording all gathered information to understand the chain of events. This phase can be quite extensive, potentially lasting several weeks to months before concluding with definitive findings.
The duration of post-incident forensic analysis is entirely contingent on the complexity of the breach and the extent of its impact on the affected organization.
Generating Reports
Once the post-incident analysis is finalized, the forensics team will deliver a detailed summary of their investigation to the organization as well as the proper authorities.
This report is crucial for the organization to understand where and how the breach occurred and how to prevent it from happening in the future. Post-forensics reports may also be needed to satisfy any legal or regulatory obligations. Since some of these reports may be made public, they need to properly represent the investigation's scope and all actions conducted throughout the process to draw their conclusions.
How to Successfully Limit Your Exposure to Cyberattacks
Safeguarding your organization from cyber threats is critical. Below are some key strategies your businesses can implement to limit your exposure and strengthen your security:
Create a Resilient Infrastructure
A significant number of organizations find themselves underprepared when providing the infrastructure needed to protect themselves or expedite their recovery in case of a major security breach. A key requirement for maintaining a strong security posture is proactive planning and execution of various security policies and implementations.
Placing additional security investments into next-generation firewalls and intrusion detection systems may not guarantee an organization’s digital safety, but they can substantially reduce vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors.
Plan for Worst Case Scenarios
Although preventing cyberattacks is a top priority in cybersecurity, it's just one piece of a larger defense strategy. Every organization should have a comprehensive incident response plan to be ready for potential breaches if they happen.
Effective incident response planning takes time and requires collaboration with several departments and well-documented procedures. Your plan should provide clear, step-by-step instructions to follow if a major issue is discovered. It should also include a list of all the people involved in the recovery process and document any of their requirements.
Audit Your Security Elements
Even the most well-prepared companies can unintentionally create new vulnerabilities across their infrastructures.
Regular evaluation of all connected business systems and networks is crucial to identify and address them. This can be done with activities like regularly scheduled security audits or risk assessments, which help pinpoint and correct potential weak points.
Businesses can also hire penetration testing services to stress-test their systems and networks. This helps simulate a real-world attack and to see which elements of their business are at most risk and whether or not current security protocols are sufficient.
Collaborate With Trusted Security Experts
Each industry has its own set of security challenges to contend with. This could be dealing with a rise in ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure, navigating strict regulatory requirements around AI compliance, or addressing security risks in cloud-based environments.
Rather than confronting these challenges on their own, organizations can leverage the experience and direction of seasoned security professionals to help them take effective steps toward building a resilient cybersecurity strategy.
Build a Security-First Company Culture
Forensic investigations following a cyberattack are essential for organizations to gain a clear understanding of how to strengthen their security protocols. By having a clear plan and working with skilled cybersecurity experts, organizations can gain the valuable insights they need to improve their defenses and establish more resilient business systems.
