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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow -- what a great forensics book -- a must read for investigators, July 5, 2007
This review is from: Windows Forensic Analysis Including DVD Toolkit (Paperback)
I loved Windows Forensic Analysis (WFA). It's the first five star book from Syngress I've read since early 2006. WFA delivered just what I hoped to read in a book of its size and intended audience, and my expectations were high. If your job requires investigating compromised Windows hosts, you must read WFA.
Let me name three aspects of WFA that really sold me. First, the subject matter is exactly what I wanted to read. The book does not repeat basic or fundamental material you can (and should) read elsewhere, like working "crime scenes," hard drive image acquisition, and the like. I recommend the recent book Windows Forensics by Chad Steel (4 stars) as a great first book to read before WFA. The two are sufficiently different yet complementary to warrant reading both, in fact. In addition to not repeating material, WFA covers very recent (late 2006, early 2007) activity in Windows forensics that are not addressed by other books. The chapter on Windows memory analysis (ch 3) was even better than the Registry chapter that everyone likes. WFA cites plenty of outside sources in a way that doesn't confuse the reader and enriches the learning process.
Second, WFA introduces a vast number of tools to help investigators implement the concepts author Harlan Carvey explains. Many of the tools are Harlan's own work and are included on the book's DVD. The DVD even contains movies showing how to use some of the tools, like Harlan's Forensic Server Project. Many tools that were new to me appear in the book, but well-known commercial suites like EnCase do not. This is great; if you want to know EnCase, read the (3 star) book on it I reviewed last year. I intend to integrate many of these tools into my own CIRT's response processes.
Third, Harlan brings a lot of experience to WFA. He cites plenty of examples and niche topics that I haven't seen elsewhere. I had never heard of using multiple OLE streams to hide entire Word files in Excel spreadsheets and vice-versa. Better yet, Harlan describes how to find these techniques, along with other issues like alternate data streams. Many times multiple ways to approach a problem appear in WFA. Furthermore, Harlan continuously emphasizes implementing repeatable, automated processes to improve the accuracy and scalability of forensic investigations.
There really is no excuse to not read WFA. I think it would be interesting to try some of Harlan's tools and techniques on the images and evidence collected by myself and my Real Digital Forensics co-authors Keith Jones and Curtis Rose. Bravo to Harlan for writing WFA.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Book Review: Windows Forensic Analysis, June 11, 2007
This review is from: Windows Forensic Analysis Including DVD Toolkit (Paperback)
There are very few books on the topic of Windows Forensic Analysis and Harlan Carvey has taken it upon himself to provide the security community with a guided tour of the inner workings of Microsoft operating systems. As Microsoft does not yet offer a "forensic" track in it's training offerings most forensic knowledge of Windows comes from on the job experience or tool specific training offered by a vendor.
This book begins by leading you through the collection of evidence. The author provides you with examples of collecting data from live running systems using commercial tools, tools native to Windows, and advanced perl scripts which are provided on the accompanying DVD. Locard's Exchange Principle, a principle unknown to me prior to reading this book, is explained in great detail and is reference throughout the book. The concept is further demonstrated in an example using my favorite security tool, Netcat. People who respond to incidents need to know what to look for. Harlan dives deep into the key items of interest and explains how to pay special attention to volatile information such as system time, network connections, clipboard contents, and mapped drives, to name a few.
Once you have collected your data the author moves into specific chapters on how to analyze and make sense of it. Harlan does a fantastic job of explaining how to analyze memory (dumping the memory, analyzing crash dumps, reading through memory, etc.), analyzing the registry (tracking user activity, explaining how processes autostart from registry entries, etc.), analyzing windows files (working with event logs, common document formats, alternate data streams, etc.), analyzing executable files (static and dynamic analysis), and finally rootkits (detecting and preventing).
On the cover of the book the author has a quote by Troy Larson, Senior Forensic Investigator of Microsoft's IT Security Group which states:
"The Registry Analysis chapter alone is worth the price of the book."
When I first received the book I thought "Wow, that's a glowing recommendation" and upon reading the book cover to cover I couldn't agree more. I have yet to see a book which takes you through the intricacies of the Windows Registry in such a way that I, being a Linux person, could easily relate to.
The rootkit chapter was a little light on content but the rest of the book makes up for it. There are books out there dedicated to rootkits and I wouldn't expect the author to provide a book that explains everything about everything and still expect people to be able to carry it with them.
The accompanying DVD contains the scripts mentioned in the book, some videos explaining the use of some tools, as well as a bonus folder that contains ... well I'll let you buy the book to find out what cool tools are provided.
This book should be on every analysts shelf whether they perform Windows forensic analysis as part of their role, or think that they might be called upon to do so in a pinch. I also think that this book is a fantastic supplement to any Microsoft training and any security training you may receive in the future.
I give this book 4.5 stars as it is easy to read and kept my interest throughout the entire book.
Do yourself a favor and pick up this book today.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not only for the "Registry Analysis" chapter ..., September 13, 2007
This review is from: Windows Forensic Analysis Including DVD Toolkit (Paperback)
Imagine that you are a computer forensic analyst, and have to answer a question like "is it possible to find out which commands user John Doe ran, and when?", or "is it possible to prove that user X connected the same USB device to these two machines?" (and many others of the same type). Up to a few months ago, your best bet was to knock your head on the monitor, googling on a huge number of sometimes not-always-so-useful computer forensics websites and forums (they seem to sprout like mushrooms, these days), and crossing your fingers hoping to find an answer in the short time left to conclude your investigation.
Fortunately, after the publication of "Windows Forensic Analysis" by Harlan Carvey, you will find answers to these questions (and many more) in a single place, much handier that wandering around the Internet. This book is really a must for everybody working in computer forensics (or planning to do so) -- not necessarily just for windows systems. As a matter of fact, what this book teaches you, besides specific techniques working on Windows, is a methdology by which you can set up experiments that enable you to find answers to your own questions and that can be used also for other operating systems.
The book covers both live response (Chap. 1 and Chap. 2 describe collection and analysis of volatile data, respectively), and post-mortem analysis (Chap. 4, 5, and 6). In addition, two topics not covered by other computer forensics books are Memory Analysis (Chap. 3) and Rootkits Detection (Chap. 7).
The style of the book is a nice mixture of both methodology and practice, and contains the description of many techniques and tools that can be used to properly extract and analyze various type of digital evidence.
The accompanying DVD contains a large number of Perl scripts, written by Harlan Carvey, that implement most of the techniques described in the book.
The book assumes that the reader has a basic knowledge of computer forensics, and as such it does not cover computer forensic techniques (like mass storage imaging and file system analysis), but focuses on the analysis of artifacts produced either by the Windows OS or by its typical applications when operated by a user. This makes it unique in the computer forensics book arena, and an invaluable tool in the computer forensic bag of any specialist working in the area (much more valuable than your favourite computer forensic software, since no tool can ever substitute knowledge).
In summary, I totally agree with Troy Larons's quote reported on the book cover ("The Registry Analysis chapter alone is worth the price of the book"), but be assured that also all the other chapters are at the same level of the Registry Analysis one.
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