Incident Response¶
Incident response is a structured approach to addressing and managing the aftermath of a security breach or cyberattack.
Incident Response Lifecycle¶
1. Preparation¶
- Develop incident response plan
- Establish incident response team
- Implement monitoring and detection tools
- Conduct training and exercises
2. Identification¶
- Detect potential security incidents
- Analyze alerts and logs
- Determine if an incident has occurred
- Document initial findings
3. Containment¶
Short-term Containment: - Isolate affected systems - Preserve evidence - Limit damage spread
Long-term Containment: - Implement temporary fixes - Apply patches and updates - Strengthen security controls
4. Eradication¶
- Identify root cause
- Remove malware and backdoors
- Patch vulnerabilities
- Improve defenses
5. Recovery¶
- Restore systems from clean backups
- Rebuild affected systems
- Monitor for signs of reinfection
- Gradually restore operations
6. Lessons Learned¶
- Conduct post-incident review
- Document findings and recommendations
- Update incident response plan
- Implement improvements
Digital Forensics Basics¶
Evidence Handling¶
- Maintain chain of custody
- Create forensic images
- Document all actions
- Preserve original evidence
Forensic Tools¶
- Disk imaging tools (FTK Imager, dd)
- Memory analysis (Volatility)
- Network forensics (Wireshark)
- Timeline analysis tools
Types of Evidence¶
- Log files
- Network traffic captures
- Memory dumps
- Disk images
- Configuration files
Malware Analysis¶
Static Analysis¶
- File hash analysis
- String extraction
- Disassembly and decompilation
- Metadata examination
Dynamic Analysis¶
- Sandbox execution
- Behavior monitoring
- Network traffic analysis
- System call tracing
Incident Categories¶
| Category | Description | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Data breach, ransomware | Highest |
| High | Active intrusion, DDoS | High |
| Medium | Malware detection, policy violation | Medium |
| Low | Unsuccessful attack attempts | Low |