Category: DFIR
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Modifying User and System Shell Folder Paths: Collecting Evidence
Intro User and System Shell folders are a bunch of folders in Windows used to store a lot of the user’s personal data and settings. You most likely know these as Desktop, Start Menu, My Documents, and Startup folders. There are many others but those are some of the most popular. These locations are also […]
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Registry Run Keys: Maintaining Persistence
Intro Want to start Outlook on login? Easy. Start malware on login…even in safe mode? Just as easy. Registry run keys in Windows help start programs, scripts, or commands when your computer boots up or when you log in. They make managing apps and services easier when it comes to IT management or enhancing the […]
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Scheduled Tasks: Collecting Evidence
Intro Scheduled tasks are a valuable feature in Windows that enables users to schedule specific actions on their systems at desired times. This feature allows users to start designated programs at login, reboot their computers on a set schedule, and execute custom commands or scripts. However, this feature can also be exploited by adversaries to […]
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Searching for File Locations by Name: Investigations on Windows
Intro When it comes to cybersecurity, there are times when it becomes necessary to locate specific files on a system. This could be for an incident investigation, or as a result of a request from HR. Regardless of the reason, the ability to quickly and accurately find files is crucial for effective cybersecurity operations. Usefulness […]
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Windows Prefetch Data: Collecting Evidence
Intro The Prefetch feature in Windows optimizes the performance of frequently used programs by preloading certain files into memory, reducing the time it takes to start a process. By storing this information on disk, the feature includes properties related to file execution that can be beneficial for incident response teams. Explained Loading files from memory […]
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System EXEs and DLLs: Collecting Evidence
Intro It is critical for incident response teams to have a complete understanding of any incident. Gathering information on the signature statuses, sizes, hashes and other attributes of key files is a crucial component in achieving enough data to help paint a full picture during an incident and to give pivoting points to extend and […]
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Recent Files & Directories: Collecting Evidence
Intro During an incident, it is imperative to gather as much information as possible to establish a comprehensive timeline of events. One crucial aspect of information collection is identifying the most recent files and directories on the impacted host found in %AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent. This information plays a crucial role in helping to understand the sequence of […]
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Applications: Identifying Social Engineering Installations
Intro Windows OS maintains a repository in the registry to keep track of applications that have been installed using the Windows Installer. This database is used by varying parts of the operating system in order to manage the installation, modification, and removal of software on the host. This information can aid incident responders in determining […]
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Windows Firewall: Collecting Configuration Evidence
Intro The Windows Firewall is a host-based feature in Windows OS that helps protect the computer from unauthorized access to the network and the internet. It is used to restrict incoming and outgoing network traffic based on a set of user-defined rules. The firewall monitors the network traffic and blocks any traffic that does not […]
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Startup Folders: Persistence on Windows
Intro The Startup folder in Windows is a location that plays an important role in the functioning of a system. Essentially, it contains shortcuts to applications that are automatically launched when a user logs in to the system. This can be a convenient way for IT teams to automate various tasks and ensure necessary software […]
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PowerShell History: Examining the ConsoleHost_History.txt File
Did you know that Windows OS stores a history of its PowerShell console commands in a file on the hard drive? Intro The ConsoleHost_history.txt file is a log file for Windows PowerShell that records all the commands executed in the console which is updated every time a command is executed. This file provides a list […]
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Hunting Shortcut Files: Mapping “.LNKs” to a Target File
Intro Shortcuts, also known as symbolic links, are simple files that provide convenient access to frequently used programs. These files are popular among users for their ease of use and accessibility. However, adversaries are also drawn to shortcuts as they provide a covert method for executing malicious programs. By disguising commands and harmful software within […]
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Macros: Hunting for Documents that Users Trusted and Enabled
Intro In a previous blog, I visited the topic of identifying internet-sourced files on a host system to help incident response teams quickly collect information to investigate a potential incident by utilizing Zone Identifiers. This information is crucial to gather as it could often answer the questions surrounding source attribution. So now that we found […]
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Hunting Masquerading Executables: The Significance of the MZ header
INTRO A common technique for adversaries to avoid detection when executing malware is to masquerade their tools under the guise of something that appears to be harmless. MITRE gives some wonderful descriptions into the techniques that have been used by various actors under Defense Evasion: T1036 Masquerading. Say, for instance, an adversary managed to coerce […]
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Hunting for Hashes: Algorithm Unknown? No problem!
INTRO Hashes are a fundamental tool in technical fields. Utilizing the values of hashes has become a common practice for ensuring the integrity of data, such as verifying the authenticity of a file during transfer or detecting malicious files through hash hunting. In the realm of security operations, threat hunting for known indicators is a […]
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Zone Identifier 3: Finding All Files Originating from the Internet
Intro Did you know you can easily find all your internet downloaded files on Windows and the website links they came from even if you cleared your browser history? Windows uses “tag” attributes called Zone Identifiers, which are a feature in Windows that assigns values between 0-4 (by default) to files in order to track […]