Cloud Forensics
What is Cloud Forensics?
Cloud ForensicsForensic investigation of cloud-hosted infrastructure, applications, and SaaS services, working with provider APIs, audit logs, and ephemeral resources.
Cloud forensics adapts traditional forensic principles to multi-tenant, elastic, API-driven environments. Investigators rely on provider audit logs (AWS CloudTrail, Azure Activity/Sign-in, Google Cloud Audit Logs), control-plane events, identity logs (Entra ID, Okta), VPC flow logs and storage access logs alongside guest-level evidence from EC2/Compute VMs or Kubernetes nodes. Acquisition methods include snapshotting EBS or managed disks, exporting object storage, and pulling memory from running instances via SSM/AVML. Challenges include shared responsibility limits, data residency, log retention gaps, and rapid resource deletion. Standards such as NIST IR 8006, ISO/IEC 27050, and CSA guidance shape repeatable processes for DFIR teams.
● Examples
- 01
Tracing an AWS account compromise through CloudTrail to a stolen IAM access key.
- 02
Snapshotting an Azure VM disk and live-acquiring its memory via Run Command for analysis.
● Frequently asked questions
What is Cloud Forensics?
Forensic investigation of cloud-hosted infrastructure, applications, and SaaS services, working with provider APIs, audit logs, and ephemeral resources. It belongs to the Forensics & IR category of cybersecurity.
What does Cloud Forensics mean?
Forensic investigation of cloud-hosted infrastructure, applications, and SaaS services, working with provider APIs, audit logs, and ephemeral resources.
How do you defend against Cloud Forensics?
Defences for Cloud Forensics typically combine technical controls and operational practices, as detailed in the full definition above.
What are other names for Cloud Forensics?
Common alternative names include: Cloud incident forensics, SaaS forensics.