Network Forensics: Tracking Hackers through Cyberspace

by Sherri Davidoff, Jonathan Ham

Overview

“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.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780132565103
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	06/18/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	576
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Sherri Davidoff is a founder of LMG Security, an information security consulting and research firm. Her specialties include network penetration testing, digital forensics, social engineering testing, and web application assessments. She holds her S.B. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT.

 

Jonathan Ham has been commissioned to teach NCIS investigators how to use Snort, performed packet analysis from a facility more than two thousand feet underground, taught intrusion analysis to the NSA, and chartered and trained the CIRT for one of the largest U.S. civilian federal agencies. He is a founder of LMG Security.

Table of Contents

Foreword          xvii

Preface         xix

Acknowledgments          xxv

About the Authors         xxvii

 

Part I: Foundation          1

Chapter 1: Practical Investigative Strategies          3

1.1 Real-World Cases   3

1.2 Footprints   8

1.3 Concepts in Digital Evidence   9

1.4 Challenges Relating to Network Evidence   16

1.5 Network Forensics Investigative Methodology (OSCAR)   17

1.6 Conclusion   22

 

Chapter 2: Technical Fundamentals            23

2.1 Sources of Network-Based Evidence   23

2.2 Principles of Internetworking   30

2.3 Internet Protocol Suite   35

2.4 Conclusion   44

 

Chapter 3: Evidence Acquisition         45

3.1 Physical Interception   46

3.2 Traffic Acquisition Software   54

3.3 Active Acquisition   65

3.4 Conclusion  72

 

Part II: Traffic Analysis           73

Chapter 4: Packet Analysis          75

4.1 Protocol Analysis   76

4.2 Packet Analysis   95

4.3 Flow Analysis   103

4.4 Higher-Layer Traffic Analysis   120

4.5 Conclusion   133

4.6 Case Study: Ann’s Rendezvous   135

 

Chapter 5: Statistical Flow Analysis          159

5.1 Process Overview   160

5.2 Sensors   161

5.3 Flow Record Export Protocols   166

5.4 Collection and Aggregation   168

5.5 Analysis   172

5.6 Conclusion   183

5.7 Case Study: The Curious Mr. X   184

 

Chapter 6: Wireless: Network Forensics Unplugged           199

6.1 The IEEE Layer 2 Protocol Series   201

6.2 Wireless Access Points (WAPs)   214

6.3 Wireless Traffic Capture and Analysis   219

6.4 Common Attacks   224

6.5 Locating Wireless Devices   229

6.6 Conclusion   235

6.7 Case Study: HackMe, Inc.   236

 

Chapter 7: Network Intrusion Detection and Analysis          257

7.1 Why Investigate NIDS/NIPS?   258

7.2 Typical NIDS/NIPS Functionality   258

7.3 Modes of Detection   261

7.4 Types of NIDS/NIPSs   262

7.5 NIDS/NIPS Evidence Acquisition   264

7.6 Comprehensive Packet Logging   267

7.7 Snort   268

7.8 Conclusion   275

7.9 Case Study: Inter0ptic Saves the Planet (Part 1 of 2)   276

 

Part III: Network Devices and Servers           289

Chapter 8: Event Log Aggregation, Correlation, and Analysis   291

8.1 Sources of Logs   292

8.2 Network Log Architecture   306

8.3 Collecting and Analyzing Evidence   311

8.4 Conclusion   317

8.5 Case Study: L0ne Sh4rk’s Revenge   318

 

Chapter 9: Switches, Routers, and Firewalls           335

9.1 Storage Media   336

9.2 Switches   336

9.3 Routers   340

9.4 Firewalls   344

9.5 Interfaces   348

9.6 Logging   352

9.7 Conclusion   355

9.8 Case Study: Ann’s Coffee Ring   356

 

Chapter 10: Web Proxies         369

10.1 Why Investigate Web Proxies?   369

10.2 Web Proxy Functionality   371

10.3 Evidence   375

10.4 Squid   377

10.5 Web Proxy Analysis   381

10.6 Encrypted Web Traffic   392

10.7 Conclusion   401

10.8 Case Study: Inter0ptic Saves the Planet (Part 2 of 2)   402

 

Part IV: Advanced Topics          421

Chapter 11: Network Tunneling          423

11.1 Tunneling for Functionality   423

11.2 Tunneling for Confidentiality   427

11.3 Covert Tunneling   430

11.4 Conclusion   439

11.5 Case Study: Ann Tunnels Underground   441

 

Chapter 12: Malware Forensics         461

12.1 Trends in Malware Evolution   462

12.2 Network Behavior of Malware   484

12.3 The Future of Malware and Network Forensics   491

12.4 Case Study: Ann’s Aurora   492

 

Afterword         519

 

Index          521