Monday, June 29, 2009

Y the 101?

As some of you have noticed, the first few posts on TheDigitalStandard are centered around foundational principles of investigation. I did this intentionally because I believe whole heartedly that without integrating these critical building blocks of investigative theory into your personal methodology, you will not - and I really mean this - WILL NOT be anything more than an average investigator.

I started with "Semper Gumby" where I wrote about being flexible and allowing the evidence guide you rather than your theories dictate what the evidence said. I followed up with, "Trust" where I wrote about trusting your instincts, and never being satisfied with simply doing the minimum, but allowing yourself to be woken up at zero-dark-thirty to work on a case. I finished up with "The Alexiou Principle" in which I wrote about having clearly defined expectations, you establish an investigation plan, and you follow through with the plan by asking and answering quantifiable questions.

Now, I realize that this may sound rather harsh, so please let me assure you - I intended it to be. I assume that if you are taking the time to read this blog, you are trying to improve your forensic and incident response skills. It was not too long ago, that I was where you most likely are now...interested, overwhelmed, inundated. Interested in this line of work...how to break into the field, where to begin, who to contact, who will give you a chance? Overwhelmed with tools, techniques, terms like MD5, non-repudiation, analysis, and file carving. Inundated with tools, EnCase, FTK, TSK, Helix, SMART, F-Response, and MFL (just to name a very few).

So you being where you are, I would also assume that you want to get better. You want to HAVE these tools, and more importantly you want to know how to USE these tools! How do you parse a registry? What is file carving anyway? How do I use a regex to find credit card data? What does all of this look like? AHHHHHHH!!! There is TOO MUCH!

Let me assure you, you are correct - there is too much for an one person to know. Be very very wary of anyone who tells you the contrary. I don't care they've "been doing this for 20 years". They don't know everything. None of us do. So what? Are we doomed? Are we all bound to mediocracy? The answer is a resounding, "No"...no you are not...IF and only IF you have a solid foundation of understanding upon which to build.

Build your foundation on critical concepts like "Locard's Exchange Principle", "Occam's Razor", "The Alexiou Principle". Use critical tools like organization, clear concise questions, and sound logic. Develop useful habits like taking good notes, using a buddy to discuss your case work, and remaining mentally pliable.

Listen, I have heard it said that the Peace Corps is the toughest job you'll ever love. I think that is crap. Being a Computer Forensic Investigator is BY FAR the toughest job you'll ever love. So if you are like me, and you really love this line of work, then why not be the best at it? Be the best there is! To do that, you have to develop the core skills necessary for greatness. Look at some greats in the world of sports...Tiger Woods, Curt Schilling, Walter Payton, Michael Jordan...they were/are the best at their particular sport because they worked hard. Harder than anyone else. They were the first on the field, and the last to go home. They hit just one more putt, reached for one last yard, and threw just one more batter. They were anything but average and each of them shared one thing in common - mastery of the basics that made up the game.

The core message here is that if you are going to do this job, don't be average. Master the basics...get SO good at those that you could do them in your sleep. Then, you will be ready to truly be great! It's a long journey which I have yet to complete. I work hard everyday to get better, learn more...get that one last regex working before calling it quits.

Master the basics, and be great! I hope to be there someday too!

1 comment:

  1. "WILL NOT be anything more than an average investigator"

    I would take that even further and say that an average investigator is very close to a "no investigator" if you will. It is usually a matter of one extra/lack of step between discovering the cause of the breach and stating inconclusive evidence.

    Back in the days (as recent as two years ago), we were just getting lucky by using the old methodology of disk acquisition and lab analysis. The defense for most organizations was weak and the compromise artifacts were evident in disk image analysis, but now that we get to deal with custom malware and anti forensics, we MUST go back to the basics and figure out what we are really doing in our investigations. Old tools are getting outdated/defeated and new tools are not just plug and play. So rather than learning new tools half way and not knowing how to analyze the output data, the easier thing would be to hit the fundamentals anyway. And to echo your point, we will never know how to use every single tool out there, but if we know which questions we are trying to answer, we WILL get to the necessary tool and learn to use it. The case notes on the onsite analysis, lab analysis. client calls or even when you wake up in the middle of the night are as important as anything; the notes help you put your 'jigsaw puzzle' together.

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