Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR)
Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) is an increasingly vital subset of cybersecurity, addressing the rise in cyber threats. This discipline integrates two crucial aspects: digital forensics, which involves scrutinizing system data and digital evidence to uncover cyberattacks and incident response, focusing on preparing for, managing, and recovering from these attacks; and While traditionally reactive, AI and machine learning advancements are transforming DFIR into a proactive element of cybersecurity strategies. It's essential for organizations to adapt DFIR practices, especially in today's cloud-based, remote work environments, to safeguard against an expanding range of threats and enhance their threat-hunting capabilities. DFIR is more than just a response mechanism; it's a key player in fortifying an organization's security posture.
Why are Digital Forensics and Incident Response Important in Cybersecurity ?
The term "Cybersecurity" refers to a group of techniques, tools, and procedures used to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computers, networks, and information from cyberattacks or unauthorized access. The definition itself includes protecting computers and networks from cyberattacks and unauthorized access and enforcing that we use digital forensics and incident response teams.
Digital forensics and incident response are an integral part of creating a secure network and computer. They not only ensure minimal damage from a cyberattack but also ensure recovery of systems back online and ensure that the incident doesn’t repeat.
Digital forensics provides in-depth details regarding the incident, like what the attack vector was, and which flaw led the attack to exploit the system, the vulnerability can then be fixed so that no such incidents occur again. At the same time, the incident response team ensures that the attack is stopped as soon as possible and that the damage caused by the attack is minimized.
The incident response team is also responsible for creating a detailed report so that the digital forensics teams can work on that to collect relevant pieces of evidence. This evidence is used in the prosecution of cybercriminals in court.
Two Main Components of DFIR
There are two main components in digital forensics in cyber security and incident response in cyber security are digital forensics and incident response, which will be covered in detail.
Digital Forensics
As in regular incident, the forensics teams collect evidence from the crime scene similarly digital forensics is the collection of evidence which are present in the digital form where the crime scene may or may not be computer-based. Digital forensics includes the identification, collection, examination, analysis, and reporting of evidence present in electronic form.
Digital forensics is conducted mostly on devices after there has been a cyber attack or if the device has been found at a crime scene or there is an indication that the device has been used in some crime. With the use of various tools and techniques, the devices are combed through to find evidence.
Incident Response
In case of a cyberattack, or data breach the incident response teams take action immediately to contain the attack while minimizing the damage caused by the attack. The incident response team tries to recover the systems back to their original state and mitigate the risk for time being.
The incident response team is responsible for the recovery of as much information as possible and getting the services back online. It is also taken care that while recovering from the attack or at any other step the evidence of the attack is not meddled with and they are preserved as it is for the digital forensics team.
How is Digital Forensics Used in the Incident Response Plan ?
Digital Forensics plays an important role after the incident response team has made the system functional and generated a report of the incident. Now the digital forensics team utilizes various tools and techniques to get in-depth details of the incident. The various parts of digital forensics are as follows :
- File System Forensics :
A file system is a logical system that defines how the files are stored and retrieved from memory. It can be considered as an index storing information about where each piece of data is located and on which storage device. The file system of the computer contains the majority of digital evidence and these file system endpoints are checked for any signs of attack. - Memory Forensics :
Memory forensics is the analysis of volatile data in a computer. The volatile memory refers to the temporary memory which is deleted when the system is powered off. Sometimes the file systems don’t contain evidence but the volatile memory contains some data which might be useful, hence many times the incident response team doesn’t power off the device so that every possible evidence remains present. Analyzing the memory might provide some evidence. - Network Forensics :
Network forensics is the analysis of the network activity and traffic which includes emails, messages, browsing history, etc. These are analyzed to find the possible attack vector used to deliver the malicious code or command. This also helps in finding out the amount of spread of infection through the network. - Log Analysis :
Log analysis is the methodology of checking the logs to identify and mark any suspicious activity or anomaly. The logs of devices, applications, network devices, etc are collected and then analyzed for any abnormal logs or incidents. Some software’s also available which simplifies the process a little bit.
What is the Difference Between Incident Response and Digital Forensics ?
There is a huge difference between incident response and computer forensics can be observed in the following table.
| Incident Response | Digital Forensics |
|---|---|
| Incident response can be considered a real-time process. | Digital Forensics can be considered a secondary process. |
| It mainly focuses on stopping the current cyberattack. | It mainly focuses on cyberattacks that had already happened. |
| Incident response also involves recovering the system back to its original functionality. | Digital forensics involves more of a post-incident analysis of the system. |
| Incident responses work in Realtime and do not last very long. | Digital forensics requires in-depth analysis and takes a longer duration of time. |
| Incident response provides only short-term relief against the attack. | Digital forensics provides a detailed analysis that leads to the complete removal of any vulnerability thus providing long-term relief against any such attack. |
The Value of Integrated Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR)
Though the two terms Incident response and digital forensics are different from each other they are still used together because more or they are somewhere dependent on each other and when used together they can be much faster and more useful to prevent cyberattacks. Using separate teams instead of an integrated digital forensics and incident response can lead to possible loss of information, and much more time will be required to resolve the issue.
Thus, an integrated digital forensics and incident response team would provide a faster and more effective way to stop, analyze, investigate, and prevent any such further incidents quickly while lowering the possible loss of data and cost towards a security incident.
The integrated DFIR process would include detection through various checks and alerts. After any threat is detected, it would be appropriately analyzed and simultaneously the danger is contained so that it doesn’t cause any further damage then eradication and recovery phase start under which the threat is removed completely and the systems are restored to normal, patches are applied to prevent recurrence until the vulnerability is completely fixed. And the last stage is the post-incident report which ensures that any such vulnerability is removed and the application is no more vulnerable to such attacks.
DFIR and SOAR
DFIR refers to Digital Forensics and Incident response whereas SOAR refers to Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response. So why are we talking about these two together ? The reason is that SOAR is a technology that is used to enhance and improve the functionality of the DFIR. SOAR uses machine learning and progressive automation to become independent in incident response. SOAR when used doesn’t require the intervention of security professionals and works to automate incident responses.
DFIR can not be directly compared with SOAR because they differ in their basic functionality as digital forensics provide us with digital evidence whereas SOAR helps respond to security incidences. But when DFIR is used in conjunction with SOAR would lead to better efficiency of the cyber attack fighting force. Through the use of SOAR and DFIR, teams may improve their overall detection, analysis, and prevention of any cyber-attacks and damages caused by them.
Conclusion
- Incident Response and Digital Forensics are two associated fields that use similar techniques, tools, and procedures but for different reasons.
- Even though Digital Forensics and Incident Response have many things in common, it's crucial to keep in mind that their objectives are different.
- The different parts of digital forensics used in incident response include file system forensics, memory forensics, network forensics, and log analysis.
- DFIR when used with SOAR can result in better and faster response to security incidents.