As organizations increasingly migrate workloads to the cloud, cybersecurity teams must adapt their digital forensics strategies. Investigating security incidents in a cloud environment presents challenges and opportunities distinct from traditional, on-premises forensics. The ability to efficiently collect, analyze, and respond to threats depends on understanding these key differences.

This blog explores how cloud and on-prem forensics differ, the challenges of each, and why a modernized approach is necessary for today’s security landscape.

What is On-Prem Forensics?

On-premises (on-prem) forensics refers to investigating security incidents within an organization’s physical infrastructure. This includes data centers, workstations, and locally hosted servers. Security teams must gather digital evidence from physical devices, network appliances, and endpoints.

Key Steps in On-Prem Forensics

• Disk Imaging: Creating bit-by-bit copies of hard drives for forensic analysis.
• Memory Forensics: Extracting volatile data from RAM to analyze running processes.
• Log Collection: Reviewing security logs from firewalls, SIEMs, and network appliances.
• Network Traffic Analysis: Examining captured packets using tools like Wireshark or Zeek.
• Malware Analysis: Isolating and deconstructing suspicious files to understand their behavior.

What is Cloud Forensics?

Cloud forensics focuses on security investigations within cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Unlike on-prem forensics, where data is physically accessible, cloud forensics relies on virtualized resources and logs provided by cloud service providers.

Key Steps in Cloud Forensics

• API-Based Evidence Collection: Gathering logs from cloud services such as AWS CloudTrail, Azure Monitor, and Google Cloud Logging.
• Virtual Disk Analysis: Investigating snapshots of virtual machines (VMs) and cloud storage.
• Ephemeral Data Investigation: Capturing and analyzing short-lived data from containers and serverless environments.
• IAM and Access Review: Auditing identity and access management (IAM) roles for potential compromise.
• Automated Log Correlation: Leveraging cloud-native tools to correlate security events across multi-cloud environments.

Key Differences Between Cloud and On-Prem Forensics

The table below highlights fundamental differences between cloud and on-prem forensic investigations:

Challenges of Cloud vs. On-Prem Forensics

Cloud forensics comes with several challenges. One of the primary concerns is data ownership and the shared responsibility model, which means security teams often rely on cloud providers for log access. This dependency can introduce delays in forensic investigations. Another challenge is the ephemeral nature of cloud environments, where temporary storage, such as container logs, may disappear quickly if not captured immediately. Additionally, cloud service providers enforce strict access controls, limiting forensic visibility and making it difficult to retrieve necessary data in some investigations.

On the other hand, on-prem forensics presents its own set of difficulties. Storage and scalability issues can arise due to the large volume of data that must be managed and analyzed efficiently. Traditional forensic methods often struggle to keep up with this demand. Investigations in on-prem environments can also be resource-intensive, requiring dedicated forensic hardware that may not always be available in remote or distributed environments. Furthermore, physical access to systems is sometimes limited, requiring investigators to be on-site or have secure remote access to affected machines.

Why Cloud Forensics is the Future

As organizations continue to adopt more cloud offerings and services, security teams must modernize their forensic capabilities. Cloud forensics provides a more efficient approach to digital investigations. Cloud-native forensic tools enable automated investigations that can scale with demand, reducing the time required to analyze incidents. Additionally, remote accessibility ensures that investigators can collect and analyze evidence without needing physical access to devices.

A major advantage of cloud forensics is centralized visibility, as cloud forensic platforms can integrate data from multiple cloud providers, improving situational awareness and response times. This capability is essential for organizations operating in hybrid or multi-cloud environments, where security events must be monitored across different platforms.

How Cado Helps

The Cado Platform simplifies cloud forensic investigations by providing automated evidence collection across AWS, Azure, and GCP. The platform enables scalable analysis, allowing security teams to handle vast amounts of forensic data efficiently. By offering comprehensive cloud visibility, Cado Security ensures that forensic investigators can gain insights into security events across multiple accounts and regions, enhancing overall security posture. While traditional forensic methods remain relevant, the shift to cloud computing demands new tools, techniques, and approaches.

To stay ahead of evolving threats, organizations should utilize forensics solutions that automate and accelerate investigations. Want to see how Cado Security can help? Contact our team to schedule a demo.