Just as forensics is important to the investigation of crime, so is digital forensics in the investigation of cybercrime. Stay on reading this blog to learn more about the importance and methods of digital forensics in cyber security.
What is Digital Forensics in Cyber Security?
Digital forensics refers to the application of scientific methods in the identification of crimes involving digital devices such as computer systems, smartphones, or storage devices. In digital forensics, the investigators analyze the data they recover from these digital devices to support their findings on cybercrimes, frauds, and various other criminal investigations. Solid pieces of evidence obtained by experienced digital forensic analysts can be powerful in the course of legal proceedings.
What are the Use Cases of Digital Forensics in Cyber Security?
Both cyber forensics and information security go hand in hand. In recent years, in the context of a rapid surge in the number of cybercrimes, the importance of forensic cyber security has increased. Below are some of the typical use-case scenarios for it.
- Timely reports on data forensics can help prevent potential cyberattacks.
- Computer forensic experts can analyze the footprints left by cyber criminals and identify what sort of tools or techniques they used for the attacks.
- Digital investigation services play an important role in helping companies understand for how long and to what extent their digital assets were exposed to exploitation.
- Cyber forensic services help uncover the causes and reasons that lead to cybercrimes.
- Digital forensics can help identify the traces of vulnerabilities that criminals are likely to exploit.
- Ethical hacking and digital forensics complement each other. Organizations can improve their security posture by using them to learn if their data got exposed to cybercriminals and take remediation if so.
- By tracing the login activities of an attacker on a system, digital forensic experts can quickly track the attacker.
Types of Digital Forensics in Cyber Security
Digital forensics in cyber security consists of numerous specializations, each focusing on unraveling evidence from specific data sources or digital devices. Here are the most common ones among them.
Computer Forensics
Different digital devices such as computers, laptops, and storage devices leave behind a bulk of digital footprints. In computer forensics, experts examine these devices to trace pieces of crime evidence left by the attackers.
Network Forensics
Network forensics helps investigators probe into network traffic and see if there have been any security breaches, cyberattacks, and other suspicious activities committed by directly or indirectly using networks.
Database Forensics
Digital forensics services focusing on databases try to extract and decode various datasets to understand the nature and extent of a cyberattack. This can also help the clients take precautions against attacks.
Mobile Device Forensics
An increasing number of cyberattacks happen these days on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. In mobile device forensics, the experts examine data and evidence left behind on these devices as part of their investigation.
IoT Forensics
In this specialization, a certified digital forensics examiner looks into Internet of Things (IoT) devices to see if there are any data and evidence that could support their investigation into a crime.
Cloud Forensics
The majority of digital services are offered via cloud solutions these days. Hence, an increasing number of cybercrimes are linked to this. In cloud forensics, the investigators trace the digital evidence stored in cloud-based systems.
Tools and Technologies Used in Digital Forensics
Digital forensics in cyber security relies on several tools and techniques as part of their investigations. These tools facilitate the collection, analysis, and maintenance of the digital evidence collected from various places. EnCase, FTK Imager, Autopsy, and Wireshark are some of the popular tools used in this regard.
Challenges in Digital Forensics
Digital forensics investigators face several challenges in their work. The technology is evolving at a rapid pace. This means that the skills and techniques needed to trace digital evidence need to match the new context. The sheer volume of data that needs to be processed for each case and the need for specialized expertise are becoming increasingly demanding. Computer forensics investigators are required to constantly keep themselves up to date on the evolving threats, the increasing complexity of cyberattacks, and the legal complexities surrounding digital evidence.
How Is Digital Forensics Used in an Investigation?
Understanding how digital forensics in cyber security helps uncover the mysteries behind a crime is quite relevant when you try to know more about this topic. Here is how it is being utilized for investigation purposes.
Data Acquisition Imaging
Certified forensic computer examiners need to copy the original data without letting any alteration. This process helps them create an exact copy of digital evidence for their investigation.
Forensic Data Request
Before any case is proceeding, a formal request must be made to the respective authority. It should highlight what type of digital evidence is needed, its scope, purpose, and legal basis for the forensic investigation.
Preparation and Extraction
At this stage, the experts set up the necessary tools and procedures for carrying out their investigation and retrieving data. Here, they have the very crucial task of ensuring data integrity while extracting evidence from various sources.
Evidence Identification Phase
This process involves detecting and isolating relevant data sources and files related to a specific case. It may involve collaboration with computer forensic expert witnesses.
Detailed Data Analysis
The collected evidence needs to be thoroughly investigated to reveal what hidden information they consist of. Sometimes, this may call for recovering deleted data, analyzing metadata, or establishing connections or patterns.
Case-Level Analysis
To understand how the retrieved data makes sense in the context of a case, it must be further investigated and analyzed in a larger context. This process helps investigators understand the criminals’ motives and links to other similar cases.
Forensic Report Generation
In this final phase of the investigation, the forensics experts create a comprehensive report that details evidence, types of analysis methods used, findings, and conclusions. This report should be sufficient for legal proceedings.
Need help with cybersecurity? Reach out to us for expert support!
Conclusion
With more and more crimes reported on grounds of exploiting vulnerabilities in the digital resources, the importance of digital forensics in cybersecurity is increasing and evolving. We hope this blog helps you understand its scope and implications. We would love to hear your thoughts. For any professional support regarding cyber security feel free to contact our team today.
Frequently Asked Questions
A typical example of digital forensics in action could be an expert investigating a suspect’s hard drive to fetch deleted files to collect evidence for a cybercrime.
While there are multiple types of digital forensics, the three types we can pinpoint as major ones among them are computer forensics, network forensics, and mobile forensics.
The basics of digital forensics are identifying, maintaining, analyzing, and reporting digital evidence as part of a criminal case investigation and thereby supporting legal proceedings.
Some popular tools used in digital forensics in cybersecurity include EnCase (used for data recovery), FTK (forensic toolkit), and Cellebrite (used in mobile forensics).
Identification, preservation, collection, analysis, and reporting are the five fundamental steps in digital forensics. Each of these steps helps contribute to a systematic process and high-level data integrity.
