1 1 00:00:00,330 --> 00:00:02,580 Digital forensic analysts. 2 2 00:00:02,580 --> 00:00:05,670 As a cybersecurity analyst, there is a variety of tasks 3 3 00:00:05,670 --> 00:00:07,080 that you're going to need to perform 4 4 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,230 during and after an incident to ensure forensic analysts 5 5 00:00:10,230 --> 00:00:12,810 will be able to do their jobs effectively. 6 6 00:00:12,810 --> 00:00:14,820 One of the jobs that a cybersecurity analyst 7 7 00:00:14,820 --> 00:00:18,600 may graduate into is that of a forensic analyst as well. 8 8 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:20,340 Now, you might be called upon to perform 9 9 00:00:20,340 --> 00:00:22,500 a variety of forensic activities as part 10 10 00:00:22,500 --> 00:00:24,660 of your incident analysis and threat hunting. 11 11 00:00:24,660 --> 00:00:26,850 And so in this lesson, we are going to focus 12 12 00:00:26,850 --> 00:00:29,430 on the role of a digital forensic analyst. 13 13 00:00:29,430 --> 00:00:31,470 Now, when we talk about digital forensics, 14 14 00:00:31,470 --> 00:00:32,790 we are talking about the process 15 15 00:00:32,790 --> 00:00:35,550 of gathering and submitting computer evidence to trial, 16 16 00:00:35,550 --> 00:00:37,290 and then interpreting that evidence 17 17 00:00:37,290 --> 00:00:39,240 by providing expert analysis. 18 18 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:41,880 A forensic analyst has many different job titles, 19 19 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:43,470 depending on where they work. 20 20 00:00:43,470 --> 00:00:46,230 You might hear them called a forensic computer examiner, 21 21 00:00:46,230 --> 00:00:47,910 or a digital forensic examiner, 22 22 00:00:47,910 --> 00:00:50,160 or a computer forensic detective. 23 23 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:51,540 All of these are valid names, 24 24 00:00:51,540 --> 00:00:53,760 as well as many others you may come across. 25 25 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,150 Now, what exactly does a forensic analyst do? 26 26 00:00:57,150 --> 00:01:00,120 Well, they're going to use specialized tools and skills 27 27 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,670 to recover information from computer systems 28 28 00:01:02,670 --> 00:01:04,710 from memory and from storage. 29 29 00:01:04,710 --> 00:01:06,840 Now, the reason they have to do this is because 30 30 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,390 unlike evidence that you could see with the naked eye, 31 31 00:01:09,390 --> 00:01:11,970 all of this digital stuff can't be seen, 32 32 00:01:11,970 --> 00:01:13,830 and so you have to be able to collect it 33 33 00:01:13,830 --> 00:01:16,410 and then analyze it and produce that as a report 34 34 00:01:16,410 --> 00:01:18,300 that can then be used in court. 35 35 00:01:18,300 --> 00:01:20,190 Because if I just give you a hard drive, 36 36 00:01:20,190 --> 00:01:21,510 that doesn't tell you anything, 37 37 00:01:21,510 --> 00:01:24,180 it's what's inside the hard drive that's really important. 38 38 00:01:24,180 --> 00:01:27,090 We use forensics, and digital forensics specifically, 39 39 00:01:27,090 --> 00:01:28,980 to be able to pull out the information we need 40 40 00:01:28,980 --> 00:01:31,650 from that hard drive and present it in court. 41 41 00:01:31,650 --> 00:01:34,170 Now, one of the things that a forensic examiner may do 42 42 00:01:34,170 --> 00:01:36,660 is they may serve as an expert witness. 43 43 00:01:36,660 --> 00:01:39,120 Now, this is again because that information 44 44 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,100 has to be extracted from the hard drive. 45 45 00:01:41,100 --> 00:01:42,960 It needs to be extracted from memory. 46 46 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:45,540 It has to be extracted from the network or from the system. 47 47 00:01:45,540 --> 00:01:48,150 And based on that, your expert analysis 48 48 00:01:48,150 --> 00:01:50,940 of what you found and the process you used 49 49 00:01:50,940 --> 00:01:52,890 is going to be called upon in court 50 50 00:01:52,890 --> 00:01:54,600 if you're dealing with a criminal case. 51 51 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,150 For example, I once served as an expert witness 52 52 00:01:57,150 --> 00:01:58,860 for one of these cases. 53 53 00:01:58,860 --> 00:02:01,200 There was a case where somebody was suing a hotel, 54 54 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,810 saying that they hurt themself on the property. 55 55 00:02:03,810 --> 00:02:06,330 Now, they made a claim of how badly they were hurt 56 56 00:02:06,330 --> 00:02:08,160 and were trying to get a very big payout 57 57 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,770 from this insurance company for the hotel. 58 58 00:02:10,770 --> 00:02:14,220 But we found video evidence showing that this person 59 59 00:02:14,220 --> 00:02:17,820 wasn't actually hurt, and I used my technical skills, 60 60 00:02:17,820 --> 00:02:20,220 as an analyst, to be able to get the information 61 61 00:02:20,220 --> 00:02:22,650 from the video, perform the analysis, 62 62 00:02:22,650 --> 00:02:25,560 and provide that as a written report to the court. 63 63 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,720 Based on that, they were able to use that evidence 64 64 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:29,310 with other evidence and be able to get 65 65 00:02:29,310 --> 00:02:30,930 the verdict they were looking for. 66 66 00:02:30,930 --> 00:02:32,310 If you are a forensic analyst, 67 67 00:02:32,310 --> 00:02:35,160 you may be asked to fill a lot of different roles. 68 68 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,380 For example, you may be asked to help plan 69 69 00:02:37,380 --> 00:02:39,180 IT systems and processes. 70 70 00:02:39,180 --> 00:02:41,850 This way, we know that those systems and processes 71 71 00:02:41,850 --> 00:02:44,640 are set up ahead of time to be able to collect evidence 72 72 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:47,160 if needed during a cybersecurity incident. 73 73 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,740 Additionally, an analyst may be asked to help investigate 74 74 00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:51,480 or reconstruct an incident. 75 75 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,100 Something bad happened to your network 76 76 00:02:53,100 --> 00:02:54,840 and they want to figure out what happened. 77 77 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:56,940 Well, an analyst has that detective skill 78 78 00:02:56,940 --> 00:02:58,380 in the technical domain to help 79 79 00:02:58,380 --> 00:03:00,540 piece those things back together. 80 80 00:03:00,540 --> 00:03:01,860 Another thing you might be asked to do 81 81 00:03:01,860 --> 00:03:04,320 is to help investigate if a crime has occurred. 82 82 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:05,400 By going through the systems, 83 83 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:07,890 you can determine if something bad really happened 84 84 00:03:07,890 --> 00:03:09,810 and if that thing was a crime. 85 85 00:03:09,810 --> 00:03:11,850 For example, if you work for the police, 86 86 00:03:11,850 --> 00:03:14,070 you might be called in and search a computer 87 87 00:03:14,070 --> 00:03:16,200 to see if there's evidence of child pornography, 88 88 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:17,700 because that would be a crime. 89 89 00:03:17,700 --> 00:03:20,070 You'd be able to determine if you found that evidence, 90 90 00:03:20,070 --> 00:03:22,350 and if so, that means a crime has been committed 91 91 00:03:22,350 --> 00:03:24,090 and that person's going to go to jail. 92 92 00:03:24,090 --> 00:03:25,530 Another thing an analyst might help do 93 93 00:03:25,530 --> 00:03:27,630 is to collect and protect evidence. 94 94 00:03:27,630 --> 00:03:28,980 As you're going through these systems 95 95 00:03:28,980 --> 00:03:31,380 and collecting information, you need to also make sure 96 96 00:03:31,380 --> 00:03:34,410 you're validating the information as it's being collected, 97 97 00:03:34,410 --> 00:03:36,750 and protect it to make sure it doesn't get changed 98 98 00:03:36,750 --> 00:03:38,100 after you've collected it. 99 99 00:03:38,100 --> 00:03:40,530 All of this is important to an analyst. 100 100 00:03:40,530 --> 00:03:41,970 Another thing an analyst might help do 101 101 00:03:41,970 --> 00:03:44,370 is to determine if data was exposed. 102 102 00:03:44,370 --> 00:03:45,720 So maybe you want to know, 103 103 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,090 has your company been the victim of a data breach? 104 104 00:03:48,090 --> 00:03:50,610 You suspect you might have been, but you're not sure. 105 105 00:03:50,610 --> 00:03:52,170 Well, if you call in a forensic analyst, 106 106 00:03:52,170 --> 00:03:53,340 they can go through your systems 107 107 00:03:53,340 --> 00:03:55,680 and determine if your database was accessed 108 108 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:57,720 and if those files were extracted. 109 109 00:03:57,720 --> 00:03:58,770 That's something that can help you 110 110 00:03:58,770 --> 00:04:00,810 figure out if the data was exposed. 111 111 00:04:00,810 --> 00:04:02,490 Or you might work for a forensic tool company 112 112 00:04:02,490 --> 00:04:05,070 and you have to develop tools and processes for those. 113 113 00:04:05,070 --> 00:04:07,410 All of that can be done by a forensic analyst, 114 114 00:04:07,410 --> 00:04:08,370 and they'll help out with those 115 115 00:04:08,370 --> 00:04:10,560 to make sure they're meeting the industry's needs. 116 116 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:12,930 And finally, a forensic analyst might be called on 117 117 00:04:12,930 --> 00:04:14,700 to support ongoing audits. 118 118 00:04:14,700 --> 00:04:16,110 Now, this is because audits 119 119 00:04:16,110 --> 00:04:18,270 are essentially evidence collection as well, 120 120 00:04:18,270 --> 00:04:20,280 and so you can go through the auditing process 121 121 00:04:20,280 --> 00:04:22,230 and help people go through the different processes 122 122 00:04:22,230 --> 00:04:23,850 and records, and make sure everything 123 123 00:04:23,850 --> 00:04:26,400 is being kept up to date and has not been tampered with. 124 124 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,320 Having a forensic analyst help with audits 125 125 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,120 is really important, especially if you're in 126 126 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:31,650 a highly regulated field. 127 127 00:04:31,650 --> 00:04:35,130 For example, if you fall under Sarbanes-Oxley, or HIPAA, 128 128 00:04:35,130 --> 00:04:37,170 or something like that, and you're going to have regulators 129 129 00:04:37,170 --> 00:04:40,080 come and audit you, it does help to have a forensic analyst 130 130 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,330 on staff who can help them go through your information 131 131 00:04:42,330 --> 00:04:45,120 and verify that everything has maintained integrity 132 132 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:46,670 and has not been tampered with.