Cloud Forensics Utils

The Cloud Forensics Utils tool manages collecting and analyzing evidence in cloud environments during incident response, a task that is often complicated by the distributed and dynamic nature of cloud infrastructure.

Technically, the tool is built around the libcloudforensics module, which provides a set of functions tailored for Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) in cloud environments. It supports Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services, allowing forensics teams to perform various operations such as listing instances and disks, copying disks, starting VMs for forensic analysis, querying logs, and managing storage bucket ACLs and object metadata. The library is complemented by a CLI wrapper tool called cloudforensics, which simplifies the execution of these functions through a command-line interface.

Operationally, the tool is designed for ease of use, with installation as simple as running pip install libcloudforensics. However, it requires careful configuration and authentication setup for each supported cloud platform, which can be a limiting factor in rapid response scenarios. The tool's performance is generally robust, but it may encounter limitations when dealing with very large-scale cloud deployments, particularly in terms of log query performance and data transfer times.

From a technical standpoint, the tool leverages native cloud APIs to interact with cloud resources, ensuring that data collection is accurate and comprehensive. For example, the cloudforensics gcp command can list GCE instances, disks, and logs, as well as perform more complex tasks like creating disk copies and starting VMs for forensic analysis. This approach ensures that forensics teams can gather critical evidence quickly and efficiently, even in complex cloud environments.