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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

The Basics of Digital Forensics provides a foundation for people new to the digital forensics field. This book offers guidance on 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 the reader with 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. This valuable resource also covers 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. 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 and expert interviews

Every computer crime leaves tracks–you just have to know where to find them. This book shows you how to collect and analyze the digital evidence left behind in a digital crime scene. Computers have always been susceptible to unwanted intrusions, but as the sophistication of computer technology increases so does the need to anticipate, and safeguard against, a corresponding rise in computer-related criminal activity. Computer forensics, the newest branch of computer security, focuses on the aftermath of a computer security incident. The goal of computer forensics is to conduct a structured investigation to determine exactly what happened, who was responsible, and to perform the investigation in such a way that the results are useful in a criminal proceeding. Written by two experts in digital investigation, Computer Forensics provides extensive information on how to handle the computer as evidence. Kruse and Heiser walk the reader through the complete forensics process–from the initial collection of evidence through the final report. Topics include an overview of the forensic relevance of encryption, the examination of digital evidence for clues, and the most effective way to present your evidence and conclusions in court. Unique forensic issues associated with both the Unix and the Windows NT/2000 operating systems are thoroughly covered. This book provides a detailed methodology for collecting, preserving, and effectively using evidence by addressing the three A's of computer forensics: Acquire the evidence without altering or damaging the original data. Authenticate that your recorded evidence is the same as the original seized data. Analyze the data without modifying the recovered data. Computer Forensics is written for everyone who is responsible for investigating digital criminal incidents or who may be interested in the techniques that such investigators use. It is equally helpful to those investigating hacked web servers, and those who are investigating the source of illegal pornography.