Introduction to Cloud Breach Investigations

Cloud attacks are rapidly evolving and outpacing the response capabilities of most incident response teams. The ephemeral nature of cloud infrastructure poses significant challenges for security teams, as compromised instances can disappear in minutes, identities rotate, logs expire, and evidence can vanish before analysis even begins.

In traditional data centers, investigations had the luxury of time. Teams could collect disk images, review logs, and build timelines over days. However, in the cloud, this approach is no longer feasible. Cloud forensics is fundamentally different from traditional forensics, requiring a new approach that leverages AI and context to investigate cloud breaches faster.

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The Challenges of Cloud Forensics

Cloud forensics is a complex and rapidly evolving field. The main challenges include:

  • Short-lived infrastructure: Cloud instances can be created and deleted in minutes, making it difficult to collect and analyze evidence.
  • Rotating identities: Cloud identities are often temporary and rotate frequently, making it challenging to track and analyze identity-related data.
  • Expanding logs: Cloud logs can be vast and expire quickly, requiring swift analysis to identify potential security incidents.
  • Ephemeral evidence: Evidence can vanish before analysis even begins, making it crucial to have automated processes in place to collect and preserve evidence.

Using AI and Context to Investigate Cloud Breaches

Modern Security Operations Center (SOC) teams are leveraging AI and context to investigate cloud breaches faster. AI-powered tools can analyze vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and detect anomalies in real-time. By integrating AI with context, SOC teams can:

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  • Automate evidence collection and analysis
  • Identify and track rotating identities
  • Analyze logs and detect potential security incidents
  • Preserve ephemeral evidence

Best Practices for Cloud Breach Investigations

To investigate cloud breaches effectively, SOC teams should follow best practices, including:

  • Implementing automated evidence collection and analysis
  • Utilizing AI-powered tools for anomaly detection and incident response
  • Integrating context into incident response processes
  • Continuously monitoring and analyzing cloud logs and data

Empowering the next generation of ethical defenders.

Kian Technologies