Practical Linux Forensics A Guide for Digital Investigators

Author: Bruce Nikkel

Publisher: No Starch Press

Year: 2021

Language: en

Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9781718501966

Dimensions:

Height: 9.26 Inches

Length: 7.07 Inches

Weight: 0.81130112416 Pounds

Width: 0.92 Inches

Dewey Decimal: 363.25968

Editorial overview Touché

Practical Linux Forensics: A Guide for Digital Investigators by Bruce Nikkel, published by No Starch Press on December 21, 2021, is a comprehensive resource designed for forensic investigators working with Linux systems. This 400-page book provides detailed insights into locating, analyzing, and understanding digital evidence following crimes, security incidents, or cyber attacks. It covers the technical aspects of analyzing postmortem forensic images from Linux desktops, servers, and IoT devices, equipping readers with the knowledge to identify digital artifacts relevant to investigations.

Readers will find practical techniques for extracting evidence from various storage devices and analyzing Linux filesystems, including Ext4, Btrfs, and Xfs. The book also delves into investigating Linux logs, reconstructing the startup process, and examining installed software across different distributions. Additionally, it addresses network configurations and traces of peripheral devices, offering a thorough understanding of how to interpret evidence from Linux environments. This edition serves as a valuable guide for those looking to enhance their skills in digital forensics within the realm of Linux operating systems.

Official synopsis Publisher

A resource to help forensic investigators locate, analyze, and understand digital evidence found on modern Linux systems after a crime, security incident or cyber attack.

Practical Linux Forensics dives into the technical details of analyzing postmortem forensic images of Linux systems which have been misused, abused, or the target of malicious attacks. It helps forensic investigators locate and analyze digital evidence found on Linux desktops, servers, and IoT devices. Throughout the book, you learn how to identify digital artifacts which may be of interest to an investigation, draw logical conclusions, and reconstruct past activity from incidents. You’ll learn how Linux works from a digital forensics and investigation perspective, and how to interpret evidence from Linux environments. The techniques shown are intended to be independent of the forensic analysis platforms and tools used.

Learn how to:

Extract evidence from storage devices and analyze partition tables, volume managers, popular Linux filesystems (Ext4, Btrfs, and Xfs), and encryption

Investigate evidence from Linux logs, including traditional syslog, the systemd journal, kernel and audit logs, and logs from daemons and applications

Reconstruct the Linux startup process, from boot loaders (UEFI and Grub) and kernel initialization, to systemd unit files and targets leading up to a graphical login

Perform analysis of power, temperature, and the physical environment of a Linux machine, and find evidence of sleep, hibernation, shutdowns, reboots, and crashes

Examine installed software, including distro installers, package formats, and package management systems from Debian, Fedora, SUSE, Arch, and other distros

Perform analysis of time and Locale settings, internationalization including language and keyboard settings, and geolocation on a Linux system

Reconstruct user login sessions (shell, X11 and Wayland), desktops (Gnome, KDE, and others) and analyze keyrings, wallets, trash cans, clipboards, thumbnails, recent files and other desktop artifacts

Analyze network configuration, including interfaces, addresses, network managers, DNS, wireless artifacts (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WWAN), VPNs (including WireGuard), firewalls, and proxy settings

Identify traces of attached peripheral devices (PCI, USB, Thunderbolt, Bluetooth) including external storage, cameras, and mobiles, and reconstruct printing and scanning activity