Cheat Sheet
The Windows Forensics Cheat Sheet is a valuable resource for digital investigators, offering essential guidance on analyzing Windows systems. It covers memory acquisition, file systems, registry, shell items, USB devices, email forensics, and various artifacts like search index, event logs, and internet browsers. The cheat sheet empowers both novice and experienced analysts with critical artifact locations and interpretation methods for effective investigations.
In the Windows environment, understanding the incident response process is crucial, involving phases like preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned. The document delves into file and folder access, Microsoft Office alerts, and Microsoft Exchange email platform, detailing the storage formats and key features. It also explores event logs, providing insights into structured event records and common fields like timestamp, event ID, source, description, and user.
Additionally, the document discusses Windows Search database, its role in content indexing, and the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) used for data storage. It highlights the challenges in forensic analysis due to the proprietary nature of ESE. Furthermore, it touches on metadata analysis using tools like EXIFTool for file identification based on creation details. Overall, the document serves as a comprehensive guide for Windows forensic analysis, offering insights into critical artifacts and investigative techniques.
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