Network Forensics is a subset of digital forensic analysis which deals with monitoring, capturing, recording and analyzing data in a network. It supports investigation activities by making available the full extent, origin, and scope of an attack.
Network Forensics is involved with finding the source of the truth, emphasizing network analysis and threat detection.
There is minimal chance of network packet data getting manipulated, and there it is usually considered the cyber source of truth. That also makes it the most suitable means to investigate issues or detect threats and malware from the original content.
Network Forensics allows the detection of a broad array of security incidents, improving the quality of response and precisely quantifying the impact of each incident. It empowers analysts to review specific network packets and sessions before, during and after an attack.
With the application of Network Forensics, a rich investigative value sought out through the combination of super enriched metadata and raw captures can be delivered. It also helps defenders and security analysts to improve the security posture by testing newer updates/upgrades to network security tools using packet data captured by leveraging playback capabilities.
Network Forensics also enables the integration with Security Monitoring Infrastructure to allow for a real-time view of the relevant details and insights into user activity for better triage.
Keeping these ideas and targets in mind, it can be put forward that packet capturing tools and techniques, network data exfiltration, firewalls logs and rummaging through data from active directory form the central concept of Network Forensics.
The Problems
There are, however, quite a few challenges and issues that analysts sometimes encounter while carrying out Network Forensics in search of the truth.
The prime aspect is sifting through the tonnes of data that gets generated in the network. It is a detailed and meticulous job to analyze the data to find the incidents.
Another critical problem relates to the anonymity of the internet protocols.
At the same time, it is essential to ensure the data sources and that data integrity and privacy issues are stringently adhered to.
