Cloud Forensics Tools
Tags: aws, azure, gcp, forensics
Published: 2022-12-15 10:35:50

In today’s digital age, cyber security is of utmost importance for businesses of all sizes. With the rise of cloud computing, companies are increasingly relying on cloud services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for their computing needs. However, cloud services can leave businesses vulnerable to cyber threats, making it essential for companies to invest in the right forensics tools for their cloud infrastructure. 

We’ve built a platform to automate incident response and forensics in AWS, Azure and GCP — you can deploy it from the [AWS Marketplace here](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-mcirzms2apvya). You can also [download a free playbook](https://offers.cadosecurity.com/ultimate-guide-to-incident-response-in-aws?utm_source=medium) we’ve written on how to respond to security incidents in AWS.

Forensics tools are designed to help companies detect and respond to cyber threats quickly. In the case of AWS, Azure, and GCP, these tools can help businesses collect, analyze, and review relevant data in order to identify the source of an attack and take action to mitigate the threat. 

AWS provides a range of forensic tools for its customers. AWS Config is a service that enables customers to monitor, audit, and control their AWS resources. It is also integrated with AWS CloudTrail, which provides an audit trail of API calls made within an AWS account. Additionally, AWS also offers Amazon Inspector, a security assessment service that can be used to detect vulnerabilities in AWS resources. 

Azure provides a range of services designed to help customers monitor and respond to threats. Azure Security Center provides customers with a centralized view of their security posture and helps them detect, investigate, and respond to security threats. It is also integrated with Azure Log Analytics, which can be used to collect and analyze log data from Azure resources. Additionally, Azure provides a host of other security-related services, such as Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure Security Center, and Azure Sentinel. 

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) also offers a range of security-related services that help customers monitor and respond to threats. GCP provides a host of tools and services that can be used to collect and analyze log data from GCP resources, including Google Cloud Logging and Stackdriver Logging. Additionally, GCP provides Google Cloud Security Command Center, which provides customers with a centralized view of their security posture and helps them detect, investigate, and respond to security threats.

Investing in the right forensics tools for AWS, Azure, and GCP can help businesses detect and respond to cyber threats quickly. By leveraging these tools, businesses can ensure that their cloud infrastructure is secure and protected from malicious actors.

**AWS Forensics**
There are several forensic tools that are commonly used for analyzing data in AWS, including the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon S3, and Amazon Inspector. The specific tools that are most appropriate for your needs will depend on the specific forensic tasks you are trying to perform, as well as the specific AWS services and resources you are working with.

> When a deviation from your secure baseline occurs, it’s crucial to respond and resolve the issue quickly and follow up with a forensic investigation and root cause analysis. Having a preconfigured infrastructure and a practiced plan for using it when there’s a deviation from your baseline will help you to extract and analyze the information needed to determine the impact, scope, and root cause of an incident and return to operations confidently.
From https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/forensic-investigation-environment-strategies-in-the-aws-cloud/


**Azure Forensics**
There are several forensic tools that are commonly used for analyzing data in Azure, including the Azure CLI, Azure Log Analytics, Azure Storage, and Azure Security Center. The specific tools that are most appropriate for your needs will depend on the specific forensic tasks you are trying to perform, as well as the specific Azure services and resources you are working with. It's important to note that Microsoft also offers a suite of specialized forensic tools as part of its Azure Sentinel offering, which can be used to investigate security incidents and threats within Azure environments.


> Encryption (ADE). The Azure Key Vault in the Production subscription stores the VMs' BitLocker encryption keys (BEKs), and key encryption keys (KEKs) if applicable. The SOC team has exclusive access to a different Azure SOC subscription, for resources that must be kept protected, unviolated, and monitored. The Azure Storage account in the SOC subscription hosts copies of disk snapshots in immutable Blob storage, and keeps the snapshots' SHA-256 hash values and copies of the VMs' BEKs and KEKs in its own SOC key vault. In response to a request to capture a VM's digital evidence, a SOC team member signs in to the Azure SOC subscription, and uses a Hybrid Runbook Worker VM in Azure Automation to execute the Copy-VmDigitalEvidence runbook. The Hybrid Runbook Worker provides control of all mechanisms involved in the capture.
From https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/forensics/


**GCP Forensics**

> As part of the Incident Response plan preparation phase, the CSIRT created a Google Cloud Forensics Project. Since the Forensics project will be used only when needed, it’s better to automate the creation of the project and its resources with a tool such as Terraform. It is important to grant access to this project only to individuals and groups who deal with incident response and forensics, such as CSIRT. As shown in figure 1, the Forensics project on the right includes its own VPC, non-overlapped subnet and VM images with pre-installed and pre-configured forensics tools. Internal load-balancer and instance-groups are also configured, we will use these resources to capture live traffic, as described later in this post.
From https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/identity-security/how-to-use-live-forensics-to-analyze-a-cyberattack