Fundamentals Of Network Forensics

This timely text/reference presents a detailed introduction to the essential aspects of computer network forensics. The book considers not only how to uncover information hidden in email messages, web pages and web servers, but also what this reveals about the functioning of the Internet and its core protocols. This, in turn, enables the identification of shortcomings and highlights where improvements can be made for a more secure network. Topics and features: provides learning objectives in every chapter, and review questions throughout the book to test understanding; introduces the basic concepts of network process models, network forensics frameworks and network forensics tools; discusses various techniques for the acquisition of packets in a network forensics system, network forensics analysis, and attribution in network forensics; examines a range of advanced topics, including botnet, smartphone, and cloud forensics; reviews a number of freely available tools for performing forensic activities.

Gain basic skills in network forensics and learn how to apply them effectively Key FeaturesInvestigate network threats with easePractice forensics tasks such as intrusion detection, network analysis, and scanningLearn forensics investigation at the network levelBook Description Network forensics is a subset of digital forensics that deals with network attacks and their investigation. In the era of network attacks and malware threat, it’s now more important than ever to have skills to investigate network attacks and vulnerabilities. Hands-On Network Forensics starts with the core concepts within network forensics, including coding, networking, forensics tools, and methodologies for forensic investigations. You’ll then explore the tools used for network forensics, followed by understanding how to apply those tools to a PCAP file and write the accompanying report. In addition to this, you will understand how statistical flow analysis, network enumeration, tunneling and encryption, and malware detection can be used to investigate your network. Towards the end of this book, you will discover how network correlation works and how to bring all the information from different types of network devices together. By the end of this book, you will have gained hands-on experience of performing forensics analysis tasks. What you will learnDiscover and interpret encrypted trafficLearn about various protocolsUnderstand the malware language over wireGain insights into the most widely used malwareCorrelate data collected from attacksDevelop tools and custom scripts for network forensics automationWho this book is for The book targets incident responders, network engineers, analysts, forensic engineers and network administrators who want to extend their knowledge from the surface to the deep levels of understanding the science behind network protocols, critical indicators in an incident and conducting a forensic search over the wire.

“This is a must-have work for anybody in information security, digital forensics, or involved with incident handling. As we move away from traditional disk-based analysis into the interconnectivity of the cloud, Sherri and Jonathan have created a framework and roadmap that will act as a seminal work in this developing field.” – Dr. Craig S. Wright (GSE), Asia Pacific Director at Global Institute for Cyber Security + Research. “It’s like a symphony meeting an encyclopedia meeting a spy novel.” –Michael Ford, Corero Network Security On the Internet, every action leaves a mark–in routers, firewalls, web proxies, and within network traffic itself. When a hacker breaks into a bank, or an insider smuggles secrets to a competitor, evidence of the crime is always left behind. Learn to recognize hackers’ tracks and uncover network-based evidence in Network Forensics: Tracking Hackers through Cyberspace.Carve suspicious email attachments from packet captures. Use flow records to track an intruder as he pivots through the network. Analyze a real-world wireless encryption-cracking attack (and then crack the key yourself). Reconstruct a suspect’s web surfing history–and cached web pages, too–from a web proxy. Uncover DNS-tunneled traffic. Dissect the Operation Aurora exploit, caught on the wire. Throughout the text, step-by-step case studies guide you through the analysis of network-based evidence. You can download the evidence files from the authors’ web site (lmgsecurity.com), and follow along to gain hands-on experience. Hackers leave footprints all across the Internet. Can you find their tracks and solve the case? Pick up Network Forensicsand find out.

Identify and safeguard your network against both internal and external threats, hackers, and malware attacks About This Book Lay your hands on physical and virtual evidence to understand the sort of crime committed by capturing and analyzing network traffic Connect the dots by understanding web proxies, firewalls, and routers to close in on your suspect A hands-on guide to help you solve your case with malware forensic methods and network behaviors Who This Book Is For If you are a network administrator, system administrator, information security, or forensics professional and wish to learn network forensic to track the intrusions through network-based evidence, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of Linux and networking concepts is expected. What You Will Learn Understand Internetworking, sources of network-based evidence and other basic technical fundamentals, including the tools that will be used throughout the book Acquire evidence using traffic acquisition software and know how to manage and handle the evidence Perform packet analysis by capturing and collecting data, along with content analysis Locate wireless devices, as well as capturing and analyzing wireless traffic data packets Implement protocol analysis and content matching; acquire evidence from NIDS/NIPS Act upon the data and evidence gathered by being able to connect the dots and draw links between various events Apply logging and interfaces, along with analyzing web proxies and understanding encrypted web traffic Use IOCs (Indicators of Compromise) and build real-world forensic solutions, dealing with malware In Detail We live in a highly networked world. Every digital device—phone, tablet, or computer is connected to each other, in one way or another. In this new age of connected networks, there is network crime. Network forensics is the brave new frontier of digital investigation and information security professionals to extend their abilities to catch miscreants on the network. The book starts with an introduction to the world of network forensics and investigations. You will begin by getting an understanding of how to gather both physical and virtual evidence, intercepting and analyzing network data, wireless data packets, investigating intrusions, and so on. You will further explore the technology, tools, and investigating methods using malware forensics, network tunneling, and behaviors. By the end of the book, you will gain a complete understanding of how to successfully close a case. Style and approach An easy-to-follow book filled with real-world case studies and applications. Each topic is explained along with all the practical tools and software needed, allowing the reader to use a completely hands-on approach.

Modern communications are now more than ever heavily dependent on mobile networks, creating the potential for higher incidents of sophisticated crimes, terrorism acts, and high impact cyber security breaches. Disrupting these unlawful actions requires a number of digital forensic principles and a comprehensive investigation process. Mobile Network Forensics: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an essential reference source that discusses investigative trends in mobile devices and the internet of things, examining malicious mobile network traffic and traffic irregularities, as well as software-defined mobile network backbones. Featuring research on topics such as lawful interception, system architecture, and networking environments, this book is ideally designed for forensic practitioners, government officials, IT consultants, cybersecurity analysts, researchers, professionals, academicians, and students seeking coverage on the technical and legal aspects of conducting investigations in the mobile networking environment.

Intensively hands-on training for real-world network forensics Network Forensics provides a uniquely practical guide for IT and law enforcement professionals seeking a deeper understanding of cybersecurity. This book is hands-on all the way—by dissecting packets, you gain fundamental knowledge that only comes from experience. Real packet captures and log files demonstrate network traffic investigation, and the learn-by-doing approach relates the essential skills that traditional forensics investigators may not have. From network packet analysis to host artifacts to log analysis and beyond, this book emphasizes the critical techniques that bring evidence to light. Network forensics is a growing field, and is becoming increasingly central to law enforcement as cybercrime becomes more and more sophisticated. This book provides an unprecedented level of hands-on training to give investigators the skills they need. Investigate packet captures to examine network communications Locate host-based artifacts and analyze network logs Understand intrusion detection systems—and let them do the legwork Have the right architecture and systems in place ahead of an incident Network data is always changing, and is never saved in one place; an investigator must understand how to examine data over time, which involves specialized skills that go above and beyond memory, mobile, or data forensics. Whether you're preparing for a security certification or just seeking deeper training for a law enforcement or IT role, you can only learn so much from concept; to thoroughly understand something, you need to do it. Network Forensics provides intensive hands-on practice with direct translation to real-world application.

The Basics of Digital Forensics provides a foundation for people new to the digital forensics field. This book teaches you how to conduct examinations by discussing what digital forensics is, the methodologies used, key tactical concepts, and the tools needed to perform examinations. Details on digital forensics for computers, networks, cell phones, GPS, the cloud and the Internet are discussed. Also, learn how to collect evidence, document the scene, and how deleted data can be recovered. The new Second Edition of this book provides you with completely up-to-date real-world examples and all the key technologies used in digital forensics, as well as new coverage of network intrusion response, how hard drives are organized, and electronic discovery. You'll also learn how to incorporate quality assurance into an investigation, how to prioritize evidence items to examine (triage), case processing, and what goes into making an expert witness. The Second Edition also features expanded resources and references, including online resources that keep you current, sample legal documents, and suggested further reading. Learn what Digital Forensics entails Build a toolkit and prepare an investigative plan Understand the common artifacts to look for in an exam Second Edition features all-new coverage of hard drives, triage, network intrusion response, and electronic discovery; as well as updated case studies, expert interviews, and expanded resources and references

Network forensics is an evolution of typical digital forensics, in which evidence is gathered from network traffic in near real time. This book will help security and forensics professionals as well as network administrators build a solid foundation of processes and controls to identify incidents and gather evidence from the network. Forensic scientists and investigators are some of the fastest growing jobs in the United States with over 70,000 individuals employed in 2008. Specifically in the area of cybercrime and digital forensics, the federal government is conducting a talent search for 10,000 qualified specialists. Almost every technology company has developed or is developing a cloud computing strategy. To cut costs, many companies are moving toward network-based applications like SalesForce.com, PeopleSoft, and HR Direct. Every day, we are moving companies’ proprietary data into a cloud, which can be hosted anywhere in the world. These companies need to understand how to identify where their data is going and what they are sending. Key network forensics skills and tools are discussed-for example, capturing network traffic, using Snort for network-based forensics, using NetWitness Investigator for network traffic analysis, and deciphering TCP/IP. The current and future states of network forensics analysis tools are addressed. The admissibility of network-based traffic is covered as well as the typical life cycle of a network forensics investigation.