In terms of preparation, incident response analysts should have the necessary tools at their disposal for acquiring host-based evidence. The techniques discussed within this chapter do not rely on any highly-specialized technology, but rather on tools that can be acquired for little or no cost. Outside of software, the only additional hardware that is required is external hard drives and common desktop computers.
When supporting an enterprise environment, it is a good idea that incident response personnel have a solid understanding of the types of systems commonly deployed. For example, in an enterprise that utilizes strictly Microsoft operating systems, the tools available should have the ability to support the wide range of versions of the Microsoft OS. In other circumstances, incident response personnel may support an enterprise where there is an 80/20 split of Microsoft and Linux systems; incident response personnel should be prepared with tools and techniques that support...
