Month: October 2009

Passed GIAC Advanced Filesystem Recovery and Memory Forensics Test

I sat down this afternoon and passed my GIAC Advanced Filesystem Recovery and Memory Forensics Skills Test and Report (STAR) test. I took the SANS Security 526:Advanced Filesystem Recovery and Memory Forensics course while at SANS Network Security 2009 in San Diego at the tail end of my week long SANS Computer Forensics, Investigation, and Response class (and boy was I tired).

I can’t say enough about how great both of these courses are and I hope that I fare as well on the GIAC Certified Forensics Analyst (GCFA) exam when I sit for it in the coming months. If you ever get an opportunity I strongly recommend you take both of these courses.

Installing log2timeline on SIFT – Updated Instructions for Ease of Use

If you use the SANS Investigative Forensic Toolkit (SIFT) Workstation for your forensic analysis you can easily add log2timeline to your VMware guest image. In order to get these files using the wget, yum, and cpan methods you must ensure that your SIFT workstation has its interface set to ‘bridged’ or ‘NAT’ mode so that it can get out to the Internet.

Steps to Install log2timeline on SIFT

1. Download the log2timeline archive to your SIFT workstation
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# wget http://log2timeline.net/files/log2timeline_0.33b.tgz

2. Extract the archive
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# tar zxvf log2timeline_0.33b.tgz

3. Change to the log2timeline directory
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# cd log2timeline

4. Install some of the dependancies using yum
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# yum install perl-DateTime perl-Net-Pcap perl-Archive-Zip perl-HTML-Scrubber perl-Image-ExifTool perl-Glib

5. Install the NetPacket::Ethernet module
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# perl -MCAPNPLUS -e 'install NetPacket::Ethernet'

6. Install the ExtUtils::Depends and ExtUtils::PkgConfig modules
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# perl -MCPANPLUS -e 'install ExtUtils::Depends'
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# perl -MCPANPLUS -e 'install ExtUtils::PkgConfig'

7. Install the Glib, Cairo, Pango, and Gtk2 modules
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# perl -MCPANPLUS -e 'install Glib'
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# perl -MCPANPLUS -e 'install Cairo'
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# perl -MCPANPLUS -e 'install Pango'
[root@SIFTWorkstation ~]# perl -MCPANPLUS -e 'install Gtk2'

8. Compile log2timeline
[root@SIFTWorkstation log2timeline]# perl Makefile.PL && make && make install

9. Execute the log2timeline script using the ‘-f list’ flag to test the installation
[root@SIFTWorkstation log2timeline]# log2timeline -f list

That’s it. If the log2timeline -f list command displayed all available log file formats you should be good to go. In my experience, if a particular module is missing you will receive an error when running this file (in a different place depending on what is missing).

Now you should probably take a snapshot of your SIFT image so that you don’t revert back and lose your log2timeline application. If you would like more information on log2timeline there is a great article here: http://blogs.sans.org/computer-forensics/2009/08/13/artifact-timeline-creation-and-analysis-tool-release-log2timeline/ and the log2timeline project page can be found here: http://log2timeline.net/.

Books I’ll be Reading This Fall…

Thanks to Syngress, and their great discounts lately, I have a full forensic library to read through this fall (and probably through the winter). Also, I blame Rob Lee for my new found love of forensics.

Here are some of the books that I have picked up recently:

Malware Forensics: Investigating and Analyzing Malicious Code by Cameron H. Malin, Eoghan Casey, and James M. Aquilina

Product Description
malwareMalware Forensics: Investigating and Analyzing Malicious Code covers the emerging and evolving field of “live forensics,” where investigators examine a computer system to collect and preserve critical live data that may be lost if the system is shut down. Unlike other forensic texts that discuss “live forensics” on a particular operating system, or in a generic context, this book emphasizes a live forensics and evidence collection methodology on both Windows and Linux operating systems in the context of identifying and capturing malicious code and evidence of its effect on the compromised system.

UNIX and Linux Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit by Chris Pogue, Cory Altheide, and Todd Haverkos

Product Description
unix and linuxThis book addresses topics in the area of forensic analysis of systems running on variants of the UNIX operating system, which is the choice of hackers for their attack platforms. According to a 2007 IDC report, UNIX servers account for the second-largest segment of spending (behind Windows) in the worldwide server market with $4.2 billion in 2Q07, representing 31.7% of corporate server spending. UNIX systems have not been analyzed to any significant depth largely due to a lack of understanding on the part of the investigator, an understanding and knowledge base that has been achieved by the attacker. The companion DVD provides a simulated or “live” UNIX environment where readers can test the skills they’ve learned in the book and use custom tools developed by the authors.

Mac OS X, iPod, and iPhone Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit by Ryan R. Kubasiak, Sean Morrissey, and Jesse Varsalone

Product Description
iphoneThis book and companion DVD provide digital forensic investigators, security professionals, and law enforcement with all of the information, tools, and utilities required to conduct forensic investigations of computers running any variant of the Macintosh OS X operating system, as well as the almost ubiquitous iPod and iPhone. Digital forensic investigators and security professionals subsequently can use data gathered from these devices to aid in the prosecution of criminal cases, litigate civil cases, audit adherence to federal regulatory compliance issues, and identify breech of corporate and government usage policies on networks. The companion DVD contains custom tools developed by the authors, which can be used in real-life digital forensic investigations.

Windows Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit, Second Edition by Harlan Carvey

Product Description
harlanAuthor Harlan Carvey has brought his best-selling book up-to-date to give you: the responder, examiner, or analyst the must-have tool kit for your job. Windows is the largest operating system on desktops and servers worldwide, which mean more intrusions, malware infections, and cybercrime happen on these systems. Windows Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit, 2E covers both live and post-mortem response collection and analysis methodologies, addressing material that is applicable to law enforcement, the federal government, students, and consultants. The book is also accessible to system administrators, who are often the frontline when an incident occurs, but due to staffing and budget constraints do not have the necessary knowledge to respond effectively. The book’s companion DVD contains significant new and updated materials (movies, spreadsheet, code, etc.) not available any place else, because they are created and maintained by the author.

SQL Injection Attacks and Defense by Justin Clark

Product Description
sqlSQL injection represents one of the most dangerous and well-known, yet misunderstood, security vulnerabilities on the Internet, largely because there is no central repository of information to turn to for help. This is the only book devoted exclusively to this long-established but recently growing threat. It includes all the currently known information about these attacks and significant insight from its contributing team of SQL injection experts.

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