An Overview of Network Forensics

Network forensics deals with the identification and retrieval of knowledge focused around cybercrimes. Generally, attacks have to pass through networks of the IT systems. 

Introduction to Network Forensics

Network forensics is a science of identifying and catching the information resulting in malicious attacks in the network. It can perform extraordinarily in case of network leaks, unusual network traffic, or data stealing. 

Most attacked networks are from an external view or private. These networks face malicious attacks and vulnerabilities for which network forensics comes into play. It is not an easy task to investigate networks.

Professionals or a cybersecurity specialist working through this process has to follow a sequence and pattern to identify network attacks.

Various applications and protocols in network forensics are: 

• Email Protocols (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

• Web Protocols (HTTP, HTTPS)

• File Transfer Protocols (Server Message Block, Network File System)

• Network Protocols (Ethernet, Wifi, TCP/IP)

Tools of Network Forensics

There are several network forensics tools available in the market and free. Some of them come with a Graphical User Interface (GUI), while others have Command Line Interface (CLI).

Tools for network forensics are:

• Wireshark

Wireshark helps in arresting and investigating network traffic between devices.

• EMailTrackerPro

EMailTrackerPro is useful in finding the location of the device that sent the email.

• Web Historian

Web Historian is helping to provide information about upload/download of files from sites visited.

Methods of Network Forensics

Mainly there are two methods in network forensics:

• "Stop, Look & Listen" Method

Information in the network comes in the form of bundles called packets. In this, a cybersecurity specialist monitors all the network packets but captures those which appear vulnerable or behave unusually.

It works on low storage but with extensive processing power. 

• "Catch It As You Can" Method

It is about capturing all network traffic. This method makes sure that there is no cancellation of required network events. The only problem with this method is that it is time-taking as well as storage inefficient.

Legal Studies

There are some restrictions on observing and analysis of network traffic due to data protection and privacy laws. Also, to use network forensics tools, specific permission is necessary.

As an enterprise, network forensics permissions can achieve from the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT).

Primary Sources

In-network forensics, there are two sources:

• Log Files

Log files can help get useful and crucial information regarding network attack identification. These files appear on web servers, firewalls, proxy servers, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Dynamic Host Control Protocols (DHCP). 

These consume less space or storage.

• Full-Packet Data Capture

It is the output from the "Catch It As You Can" method of network forensics. Companies with large networks have to keep full-packet data capture for continued periods. In this case, full-packet data capture is the primary choice for large corporations. 

It consumes a large space.

Wrapping Up

In the cyber world, there are various malicious activities involved. As the attackers evolve with the latest technologies, new methods keep coming to establish cybersecurity. Professionals in network forensics are working throughout to fix network attacks.

Various tools, sources, and methods evolve with time and help in protecting crucial information. But there is no doubt attackers and hackers also specializes in techniques with time. 

Network forensics makes it a bit easy to tackle network attacks as capturing and analyzing packets can prevent malware from entering into the system.