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24/7 Digital Forensics and Incident Investigation

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Digital Forensics And Incident Investigation

24/7 Emergency Hotline for digital forensics and incident investigation: 1 (833) 562-5273

If the incident is active: contain first, preserve evidence, and coordinate actions. Uncontrolled cleanup can destroy the audit trail needed for insurance, legal, or regulators.

Digital forensics and incident investigation is the process of collecting evidence, reconstructing timelines, and proving what happened during a cybersecurity event. Lockard Security helps organizations preserve evidence properly, identify root cause, determine impact, and support response and recovery decisions with defensible findings.

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What Digital Forensics And Incident Investigation Is

Digital forensics and incident investigation showing evidence analysis, timelines, and forensic validation
Digital forensics and incident investigation focused on evidence preservation, timeline reconstruction, and impact analysis.

Digital forensics focuses on facts, evidence, and timelines. The goal is to answer the questions that matter: how access was obtained, what systems were touched, what data was accessed or moved, what persistence exists, and what must be done to restore trust.

Incident investigation

Rapid scoping and timeline building using logs, endpoint telemetry, and identity events to determine impact and containment needs.

Digital forensics

Evidence preservation and deeper analysis, including endpoint triage artifacts, memory or disk imaging when needed, and defensible reporting.

Authoritative reference: NIST guidance for incident handling and investigations: NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2.

When You Need A Forensic Investigation

Not every alert requires full forensic imaging. Many organizations need forensics when the stakes are high, the scope is unclear, or third parties require defensible findings. Common triggers include:

  • Ransomware, extortion, or suspected data theft
  • Business email compromise, wire fraud, and mailbox takeover
  • Cloud account compromise, exposed credentials, or suspicious API activity
  • Insider threat activity involving sensitive data, sabotage, or privilege abuse
  • Regulatory or contractual reporting requirements
  • Cyber insurance claims that require proof of actions taken and impact
  • Repeat incidents where root cause was never confirmed
Practical reality: if logs are missing or retention is short, evidence must be preserved quickly before it rolls over. Delays often make investigations slower and more expensive.

Evidence To Preserve And Common Mistakes To Avoid

Evidence preservation is often the difference between a clean timeline and unresolved uncertainty. The steps below keep options open while reducing damage.

Preserve first

  • EDR alerts and raw telemetry from impacted hosts
  • Identity logs (Entra ID, Okta, Duo, VPN authentication, admin role changes)
  • Email and collaboration audit logs (M365, Google Workspace, Exchange, Teams, Slack)
  • Firewall and proxy logs, DNS logs, and key network flows
  • Cloud audit trails (AWS CloudTrail, Azure Activity Logs, GCP audit logs)
  • Ransom notes, phishing emails, and suspicious attachments if present
  • Time synchronization sources and timestamps, especially across domain controllers and critical servers

Mistakes to avoid

  • Do not wipe or rebuild systems before scoping is complete
  • Do not delete accounts or mailboxes before exporting audit logs and evidence
  • Do not run mass cleanup scripts without a plan and change control
  • Do not reboot everything at once if you suspect active attacker tooling
  • Do not rely on screenshots when raw logs are available
If you need the fastest path to clarity: preserve the earliest alert timestamps, impacted host list, and identity events first. We can build a reliable initial timeline quickly with those.

Our Digital Forensics And Incident Investigation Process

Lockard Security follows a structured approach designed to reduce risk quickly while preserving a defensible chain of evidence. We right-size the investigation to the situation, then go deeper when facts justify it.

1) Rapid triage and evidence preservation

Identify what is active, preserve logs, prevent loss of evidence, and coordinate safe containment actions.

2) Timeline reconstruction

Build a timeline across identity, endpoint, network, and cloud to determine entry point and attacker movement.

3) Scoping and impact assessment

Determine what systems were accessed, what data may be at risk, and what persistence or backdoors exist.

4) Containment support and eradication guidance

Coordinate changes that remove attacker access while preserving proof and avoiding unnecessary downtime.

5) Recovery validation

Confirm systems are clean before reconnecting and validate controls to reduce recurrence risk.

6) Reporting and stakeholder support

Provide clear, defensible reporting for executives, legal, regulators, and cyber insurance workflows.

Data Sources We Commonly Analyze

Forensic investigations are only as strong as the visibility available. We commonly analyze evidence from:

  • Identity: Entra ID, Okta, Duo, VPN logs, privileged role assignments, admin consent events
  • Email and collaboration: Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, Google Workspace, Teams, Slack
  • Endpoints: Windows, macOS, Linux, EDR telemetry, forensic triage artifacts
  • Servers: domain controllers, file servers, virtualization platforms, backups, application servers
  • Cloud: AWS, Azure, GCP audit trails, storage access logs, key vault and secret access events
  • Network: firewall logs, DNS, proxy logs, VPN events, routing changes, suspicious egress patterns
  • Applications: VPN portals, remote management tools, SSO apps, business systems with admin audit logs

If retention is limited, we help prioritize what to export first so you do not lose the timeline.

What You Receive

Forensics should produce clear answers and actionable outcomes, not just raw data. Deliverables commonly include:

  • Incident timeline and narrative of attacker activity
  • Confirmed entry point and contributing control gaps
  • Scope of impacted systems, accounts, and affected data types
  • Indicators observed in the case and where they were found
  • Containment and eradication actions taken, with supporting evidence
  • Recovery validation guidance and re-entry prevention steps
  • Prioritized hardening roadmap aligned to your environment
Goal: reduce uncertainty. When you can prove what happened, you can recover faster and make confident decisions with leadership, legal, and insurers.

Digital Forensics FAQ

Do we need full disk imaging?

Not always. Many investigations can start with EDR telemetry, logs, and targeted triage. Full imaging is recommended when evidence needs are high, malware is sophisticated, or third parties require deeper proof.

How fast should we start?

Immediately. Log retention, cloud audit trails, and endpoint artifacts can roll off quickly. Early preservation improves accuracy and reduces cost.

Can you support cyber insurance and legal workflows?

Yes. We focus on clean documentation, evidence preservation, and defensible findings that support insurance, counsel, and regulatory requirements.

24/7 Digital Forensics And Incident Investigation Help

If you need to determine what happened during a cybersecurity incident, confirm data exposure, or preserve evidence for stakeholders, contact us immediately. The earlier we preserve evidence, the clearer the outcome.

24/7 Emergency Hotline: 1 (833) 562-5273
Email: [email protected]
Request Digital Forensics Support

If you have EDR alerts, suspicious login details, or a known impacted system list, include it in your request so we can triage faster.