FOR500: SANS Lisbon November 2024

What You Will Learn
FOR500: Windows Forensic Analysis has been updated

The new update increases the capabilities of investigators across a wide range of forensic artifacts. Nearly every hands-on lab was improved. Many lab updates were required to take advantage of the latest tool updates, and a new course virtual machine has been updated to include the latest versions of the best tools available for the job. A new email lab was included to put into practice the upgraded course material and more. Learn about the update here
Master Windows Forensics - "You Can't Protect the Unknown."

All organizations must prepare for cybercrime occurring on computer systems and within corporate networks. Demand has never been greater for analysts who can investigate crimes such as fraud, insider threats, industrial espionage, employee misuse, and computer intrusions. Corporations, governments, and law enforcement agencies increasingly require trained forensics specialists to perform investigations, recover vital intelligence from Windows systems, and ultimately get to the root cause of the crime. To help solve these cases, SANS is training a new cadre of the world's best digital forensic professionals, incident responders, and media exploitation experts capable of piecing together what happened on computer systems second by second.

FOR500: Windows Forensic Analysis focuses on building in-depth digital forensics knowledge of Microsoft Windows operating systems. You can't protect what you don't know about, and understanding forensic capabilities and available artifacts is a core component of information security. You will learn how to recover, analyze, and authenticate forensic data on Windows systems, track individual user activity on your network, and organize findings for use in incident response, internal investigations, intellectual property theft inquiries, and civil or criminal litigation. You'll be able to validate security tools, enhance vulnerability assessments, identify insider threats, track hackers, and improve security policies. Whether you know it or not, Windows is silently recording an unbelievable amount of data about you and your users. FOR500 teaches you how to mine this mountain of data and use it to your advantage.

Proper analysis requires real data for students to examine. This continually updated course trains digital forensic analysts through a series of hands-on laboratory exercises incorporating evidence found on the latest technologies, including Microsoft Windows versions 10 and 11, Office and Microsoft 365, Google Workspace (G Suite), cloud storage providers, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Exchange, and Outlook. Students will leave the course armed with the latest tools and techniques and prepared to investigate even the most complicated systems they might encounter. Nothing is left out - attendees learn to analyze everything from legacy Windows 7 systems to just-discovered Windows 11 artifacts.

FOR500 starts with an intellectual property theft and corporate espionage case taking over six months to create. You work in the real world, so your training should include real-world practice data. Our instructor course development team used incidents from their own investigations and experiences to create an incredibly rich and detailed scenario designed to immerse students in an actual investigation. Example cases demonstrate the latest artifacts and technologies an investigator might encounter while analyzing Windows systems in the enterprise. The detailed workbook teaches the tools and techniques that every investigator should employ step by step to solve a forensic case. The tools provided form a complete forensic lab that can be used long after the end of class.

Please note that this is an analysis-focused course; FOR500 does not cover the basics of evidentiary handling, the "chain of custody," or introductory drive acquisition. The course authors update FOR500 aggressively to stay current with the latest artifacts and techniques discovered. This course is perfect for you if you are interested in in-depth and current Microsoft Windows Operating System forensics and analysis for any incident that occurs. If you have not updated your Windows forensic analysis skills in the past three years or more, this course is essential.

Through practical exercises and real-life case studies, students in FOR500: Windows Forensic Analysis will gain hands-on experience and develop the skills to:

• Perform in-depth Windows forensic analysis by applying peer-reviewed techniques focusing on Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server products
• Use state-of-the-art forensic tools and analysis methods to detail nearly every action a suspect accomplished on a Windows system, including who placed an artifact on the system and how, program execution, file/folder opening, geolocation, browser history, profile USB device usage, cloud storage usage, and more
• Perform "fast forensics" to rapidly assess and triage systems to provide quick answers and facilitate informed business decisions
• Uncover the exact time that a specific user last executed a program through Registry and Windows artifact analysis, and understand how this information can be used to prove intent in cases such as intellectual property theft, hacker-breached systems, and traditional crimes
• Determine the number of times files have been opened by a suspect through browser forensics, shortcut file analysis (LNK), email analysis, and Windows Registry parsing
• Audit cloud storage usage, including detailed user activity, identifying deleted files, signs of data exfiltration, and even uncovering detailed information and hash values on files available only in the cloud
• Identify items searched by a specific user on a Windows system to pinpoint the data and information that the suspect was interested in finding, and accomplish detailed damage assessments
• Use Windows ShellBag analysis tools to articulate every folder and directory a user or attacker interacted with while accessing local, removable, and network drives
• Determine each time a unique and specific USB device was attached to the Windows system, the files and folders accessed on it, and what user plugged it in by parsing Windows artifacts such as Registry hives and Event Log files
• Learn Event Log analysis techniques and use them to determine when and how users logged into a Windows system, whether via a remote session, at the keyboard, or simply by unlocking a screensaver
• Mine the Windows Search Database to uncover a massive collection of file metadata and even file content from local drives, removable media, and applications like Microsoft Outlook, OneNote, SharePoint, and OneDrive
• Determine where a crime was committed using Registry data and pinpoint the geolocation of a system by examining connected networks and wireless access points
• Use browser forensic tools to perform detailed web browser analysis, parse raw SQLite, LevelDB, and ESE databases, and leverage memory forensics and session recovery artifacts to identify web activity, even if privacy cleaners and in-private browsing software are used
• Parse Electron and WebView2 application LevelDB databases allowing the investigation of hundreds of third-party applications including most chat clients
• Specifically determine how individuals used a system, who they communicated with, and files that were downloaded, modified, and deleted

FOR500 Windows Forensic Analysis Course Topics

• The Course Is Fully Updated to Include the Latest Microsoft Windows Artifacts, Tools, and Techniques
• Windows Operating Systems Focus: Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, and Server 2008/2012/2016/2019/2022
• Windows File Systems (NTFS, FAT, exFAT)
• Advanced Evidence Acquisition Tools and Techniques
• Registry Forensics
  • Shell Item Forensics
  • Shortcut Files (LNK) - Evidence of File Opening
  • ShellBags - Evidence of Folder Opening
• Jump Lists - Evidence of File Opening and Program Execution
• Windows Artifact Analysis
  • Browser and Webmail Analysis
  • Microsoft Office Document Analysis
  • System Resource Usage Database
  • Windows Search Index Forensics
  • Windows Recycle Bin Analysis
  • File and Picture Metadata Tracking and Examination
  • Myriad Application Execution Artifacts, including Several New to Windows 10 and 11
  • Universal Windows Platform and Electron/WebView2 applications
• Cloud Storage File and Metadata Examinations
  • OneDrive and OneDrive for Business, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Box
• Email Forensics (Host, Server, Web), including Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace (G Suite)
• Microsoft Unified Audit Logging
• Event Log Analysis
• Chrome, Edge, Internet Explorer, and Firefox Browser Forensics
• Chat clients, including Microsoft Teams and Skype, based on the Electron framework.
• Microsoft 365 SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Email
• Google Workspace (G Suite) Applications and Logging
• Deleted Registry Key and File Recovery
• Recovering Missing Data from Registry and ESE Database .log Files
• Data Recovery, String Searching and File Carving
• Examination of Cases Involving Windows 7 through Windows 11
• Media Analysis and Exploitation to:
  • Track User Communications Using a Windows Device (Email, Chat, Webmail)
  • Identify Files Transferred To or Present on a Removable Device
  • Determine the Exact Time and Number of Times a Suspect Executed a Program
  • Show When Any File Was First and Last Opened by a Suspect
  • Prove How Long an Application was Running and How Much Network Data was Sent and Received
  • Determine If a Suspect Had Knowledge of a Specific File
  • Show the Exact Physical Location of the System
  • Track and Analyze Removable Media and USB Mass Storage Class Devices
  • Show How the Suspect Logged on to the Machine via the Console, RDP, or Network
  • Recover and Examine Browser Artifacts, including Those from Private Browsing Mode
  • Extract Chat Messages from A Variety of Chat Clients
  • Recover Email from Servers, Cloud Instances, and Endpoint Residue Like Local Archives and the Windows Search Database
  • Discover the Use of Anti-Forensics, including File Wiping, Time Manipulation, and Application Removal

What is Windows Forensics?

Windows forensics is the recovery, analysis and authentication of electronically stored information on systems running the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Business Takeaways

• Build an in-house digital forensic capability that can rapidly answer important business questions and investigate crimes such as fraud, insider threats, industrial espionage, employee misuse, and computer intrusions.
• Enable more capable analysts, threat hunters, and incident response team members who can use deep-dive digital forensics to help solve Windows data breach cases, perform damage assessments, and develop indicators of compromise.
• Understand the wealth of telemetry available in the Windows Enterprise, at the endpoint and in cloud resources like Microsoft 365, Exchange, Unified Audit Logs, cloud storage, and chat clients
• Identify forensic artifact and evidence locations to answer crucial questions, including application execution, file access, data theft, external device usage, cloud services, device geolocation, file tranfers, anti-forensics, and detailed system and user activity.
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