Reference no: EM133522588

Assignment

I. Describe at least four common digital forensics services private firms provide.

1. Incident Response: Private firms offer incident response services to help organizations respond effectively to cybersecurity incidents. This involves identifying and containing the incident, preserving evidence, conducting forensic analysis to determine the extent of the breach, and providing recommendations for remediation and prevention.

2. Data Recovery: Digital forensics firms also provide data recovery services to retrieve lost or deleted data from various digital devices such as computers, mobile phones, external storage devices, and cloud platforms. They use specialized tools and techniques to recover data that may be crucial for investigations or litigation purposes

3. Forensic Analysis: Private firms conduct forensic analysis on digital evidence collected from various sources such as computers, mobile devices, network logs, and social media platforms. This involves examining the data using advanced forensic tools and techniques to extract relevant information, identify patterns or anomalies, and reconstruct events to support legal proceedings.

4. Expert Witness Testimony: Digital forensics experts from private firms often serve as expert witnesses in court cases involving cybercrimes. They provide testimony based on their expertise in analyzing digital evidence, explaining technical concepts to non-technical audiences, and presenting their findings in a clear and concise manner.

II. Describe at least four rules or laws that affect digital forensics. The rules or laws may apply to private firms, government agencies, law enforcement, and associated crime labs.

1. Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution: The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. In the context of digital forensics, this means that law enforcement agencies must obtain a search warrant before conducting forensic examinations on digital devices. The warrant must be based on probable cause and describe with particularity the place to be searched and the items to be seized.

2. Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA): The ECPA is a federal law in the United States that regulates the interception of electronic communications and the access to stored electronic communications. It establishes rules for obtaining access to electronic communications in transit, such as emails, as well as those stored on electronic devices or remote servers. Digital forensics investigators must comply with the provisions of this law when collecting and analyzing electronic evidence.

3. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA): The CFAA is a federal law in the United States that criminalizes various computer-related activities, including unauthorized access to computers and computer systems. It also provides legal remedies for victims of computer-related crimes. Digital forensics investigators must be aware of this law when conducting investigations involving unauthorized access or hacking activities.

4. Chain of Custody: Chain of custody refers to the documentation and procedures used to maintain the integrity and reliability of evidence throughout its lifecycle, from collection to presentation in court. In digital forensics, maintaining an unbroken chain of custody is crucial to ensure that evidence is admissible in court and has not been tampered with. Investigators must follow strict protocols for handling, storing, and transporting digital evidence to preserve its integrity.

III. Research these three tools, then provide a description of each

1. Tribal Flood Network- a type of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that was prevalent in the late 1990s. TFN attacks involved a network of compromised computers, known as zombies or agents, which were controlled by an attacker to flood a target system with traffic, rendering it inaccessible.

2. TFN2K- TFN2K, also known as "The Friday Night 2000" or "Friday Night Fever 2000," is a computer worm that emerged in the early 2000s. It was one of the first worms to specifically target Microsoft Windows systems and caused significant damage to infected computers.

3. Trin00- a type of computer worm that was first discovered in the late 1990s. It is known for its ability to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which aim to overwhelm a target system or network with a flood of incoming traffic. Trin00 specifically targets Unix-based systems and exploits vulnerabilities in the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) protocols to carry out its attacks.

IV. Find an example of a real-world, documented DoS attack that has occurred in the last two years. Describe the attack, being sure to include any damage or impact this DoS attack had on the company/organization

1. In 2021, a notable Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurred targeting the online gaming platform, Steam. This attack disrupted the services provided by Steam, causing inconvenience to millions of users and impacting the company's reputation.

The attack on Steam involved flooding the platform's servers with a massive amount of traffic, overwhelming their capacity to handle legitimate user requests. The attackers utilized a botnet, which is a network of compromised computers under their control, to generate a high volume of traffic directed towards Steam's servers. This flood of traffic resulted in service disruptions, making it difficult for users to access and utilize the platform.

The impact of this attack on Steam was primarily reputational and financial. The company faced criticism from users who were unable to access their games or engage in online activities during the attack. Additionally, the downtime resulted in lost revenue for Steam as users were unable to make purchases or participate in transactions on the platform.

V. Summarize the efforts used and solutions found to combat DoS attacks.

1. Efforts to combat DoS attacks involve a combination of preventive measures, detection techniques, and response strategies. These efforts aim to mitigate the impact of such attacks and ensure the availability and integrity of network resources. Various solutions have been developed to address this issue, including network-based defenses, traffic filtering mechanisms, rate limiting techniques, and anomaly detection systems.

2. One approach to combat DoS attacks is the implementation of network-based defenses. These defenses involve deploying firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) at strategic points within the network infrastructure. Firewalls act as a barrier between internal and external networks, filtering incoming and outgoing traffic based on predefined rules. IDS and IPS monitor network traffic for suspicious patterns or known attack signatures, alerting administrators or taking automated actions to block malicious traffic.

3. Traffic filtering mechanisms are another solution used to combat DoS attacks. These mechanisms involve filtering network traffic based on various criteria such as source IP addresses, destination IP addresses, or specific protocols. By blocking or limiting traffic from suspicious sources or with abnormal characteristics, these mechanisms can help prevent DoS attacks from overwhelming network resources.

4. Rate limiting techniques are employed to control the amount of incoming traffic that a network can handle. By setting thresholds for the maximum number of requests or connections allowed per second, rate limiting can prevent excessive traffic from consuming all available resources. This approach helps ensure that legitimate users have fair access to network services while mitigating the impact of DoS attacks.

5. Anomaly detection systems are designed to identify abnormal patterns or behaviors in network traffic that may indicate a DoS attack. These systems use statistical analysis or machine learning algorithms to establish baselines of normal behavior and detect deviations from these baselines. When an anomaly is detected, appropriate actions can be taken to mitigate the attack and restore normal operation.