Cloud Forensics (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)

Lesson 27/47 | Study Time: 20 Min

Course: Computer and Cyber Forensics Professional – Course

Cloud forensics across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS models addresses the unique challenges of investigating distributed, multi-tenant environments where evidence resides on provider-controlled infrastructure rather than physical devices.

Investigators rely on audit logs, API histories, and snapshots, navigating jurisdictional limits, volatility, and dependency on cloud service providers (CSPs) for access.

This discipline reconstructs incidents like privilege escalations or data exfiltration by correlating artifacts from AWS CloudTrail, Azure Activity Logs, and SaaS audit trails, ensuring chain of custody despite dynamic scaling and encryption.

IaaS Forensics: Virtual Infrastructure Evidence

IaaS provides compute and storage control, yielding rich VM and network logs for timeline reconstruction.

AWS CloudTrail captures API calls (RunInstances, CreateSnapshot); VPC Flow Logs track traffic between instances. EBS snapshots preserve disk states; GuardDuty alerts on reconnaissance.

Challenges include ephemeral instances—capture metadata before termination.

Preservation requires rapid API exports; retain 90+ days via S3.

PaaS Forensics: Platform Service Logs

PaaS abstracts infrastructure, focusing on app/database logs with limited OS access.

Azure App Service logs track deployments; Functions execution traces serverless invokes. Database audits (RDS, Cosmos DB) reveal queries and access patterns. Limited visibility demands CSP cooperation; correlate with IaaS underlays.

Key artifacts:

1. Deployment histories, scaling events.

2. Container logs (Kubernetes audit events).

3. API gateway access for PaaS endpoints.

4. Multi-tenant isolation complicates attribution.

SaaS Forensics: Application Audit Trails

SaaS offers least control, relying on provider logs for user actions.

O365 Unified Audit Log records email forwards, share links; Salesforce event logs track record exports. Retention varies (90-365 days); export via APIs before purge.

Challenges: Black-box access, privacy clauses.

Legal demands (GDPR) limit exports; chain of custody via provider timestamps.

Cross-Service Correlation Challenges

Hybrid environments span models, demanding unified analysis.

Jurisdictional issues block data; SLAs often lack forensics clauses. Multi-tenancy risks co-mingling; volatility from auto-scaling erases VMs. Vendor dependency delays response—pre-provision forensic accounts.

Workflow:

1. Identify services via billing/IAM reviews.

2. Export logs via APIs (CloudTrail Lake, Sentinel).

3. Normalize timestamps; timeline reconstructions.

4. Validate with snapshots/metadata.

Tools: AWS Macie for data classification, Azure Sentinel for correlation.

Best Practices and Preservation Strategies

Preparation mitigates cloud-specific hurdles.

Challenges by Model:

IaaS: Instance volatility.

PaaS: Limited OS artifacts.

SaaS: Provider-only access.

In breaches, CloudTrail IAM pivots → Flow Logs exfil → SaaS downloads trace full kill chain

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Alexander Cruise

Product Designer

Profile

Class Sessions

1- Evolution of Digital Crime and Cyber Forensics 2- Key Terminology and Scope 3- Digital Evidence Lifecycle and Forensic Principles 4- Legal, Regulatory, and Standards Context 5- Roles and Career Paths in Computer and Cyber Forensics 6- Structured Digital Investigation Methodologies 7- Scoping and Planning an Investigation 8- Evidence Sources in Enterprise Environments 9- Documentation, Case Notes, and Evidence Tracking 10- Working with Multidisciplinary Teams 11- Computer and Storage Architecture for Investigators 12- File System Structures and Artifacts 13- File and Artifact Recovery 14- Common User-Activity Artifacts 15- Principles of Forensically Sound Acquisition 16- Acquisition Strategies 17- Volatile vs Non-Volatile Data Acquisition 18- Handling Encrypted and Locked Systems 19- Evidence Handling, Transport, and Storage 20- Windows Forensics Essentials 21- Linux and Unix-Like System Forensics 22- macOS and Modern Desktop Environments 23- Memory Forensics Concepts 24- Timeline Construction Using OS and Memory Artifacts 25- Network Forensics Fundamentals 26- Enterprise Logging and Telemetry 27- Cloud Forensics (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) 28- Email and Messaging Investigations 29- Timeline Building from Heterogeneous Logs 30- Modern Malware and Ransomware Landscape 31- Malware Forensics Concepts 32- Host-Level Artifacts of Compromise 33- Ransomware Incident Artifacts 34- Dark Web and Anonymous Network Forensics 35- Common Anti-Forensics Techniques 36- Detection of Anti-Forensics 37- Countering Anti-Forensics 38- Resilient Evidence Collection Strategies 39- Incident Response Frameworks and Phases 40- Forensics-Driven Incident Response 41- Threat Hunting Linked with Forensics 42- Post-Incident Activities 43- Forensic Report Structure 44- Writing for Multiple Audiences 45- Presenting and Defending Findings 46- Ethics, Confidentiality, and Professional Conduct 47- Continuous Learning and Certification Pathways