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Cloud Forensics and Incident Investigation

Topic 6.7 of Cloud Forensics and Incident Investigation

Volatile Evidence Acquisition in Cloud

RFC 3227 volatility order adapted for cloud, live memory acquisition with LiME via SSM, network state capture, EBS snapshots before isolation, container evidence, and auto-scaling group protection.

~30 min total·4 quadrants of structured content

By the end of this topic, you will

Apply the cloud volatility order to prioritise evidence collection in a time-limited incident
Deploy LiME via SSM Run Command to acquire EC2 instance memory without SSH
Capture network state (open connections, listening ports) without alerting a potential attacker
Protect a compromised EC2 instance from auto-scaling termination before evidence collection

Quadrant 1 · e-Tutorial

Video lectures and walkthroughs

Quadrant 2 · e-Content

Articles and case studies

cloud-security

Volatile Evidence Acquisition in Cloud Environments

Volatile data — running processes, network connections, memory contents, and instance metadata — disappears when an EC2 instance is terminated. Cloud forensics must capture this evidence before auto-scaling or incident remediation destroys it.

18 min read

Quadrant 3 · Web Resources

Downloadable material and curated external links

Downloadable reference material

EBook

Cloud Security — eBook

v2026

Open resource

Cheatsheet

Cloud Security — Cheatsheet

v2026

Open resource

MCQ Bank

Cloud Security — MCQ Bank

v2026

Open resource

Question Bank

Cloud Security — Question Bank

v2026

Open resource

External links

AWS SSM Run Command for Incident Response

AWS Systems Manager Run Command for executing forensic commands without SSH access.

LiME: Linux Memory Extractor

LiME open-source Linux memory acquisition tool for cloud instance memory forensics.

AWS EC2 Auto Scaling Instance Protection

AWS documentation on protecting instances from termination during forensic investigation.

Volatility Framework for Memory Analysis

Volatility Foundation memory forensics framework for analysing cloud memory dumps.

Quadrant 4 · Self-Assessment

Test your knowledge — earn a certificate on first pass

Cloud Forensics and Incident Response

Cloud forensics dimensions, EC2 preservation, LiME, legal admissibility, and forensic tools.

20 questions30 minPass: 60%

Cloud Security: Complete Assessment

Comprehensive 120-question assessment covering all six chapters of the Cloud Security eBook 2026.

120 questions120 minPass: 60%