Building a Linux Incident Response / Forensic Disk
There are many Linux distributions readily available. This however should not stop you creating your own version of a UNIX forensic tools disc. Whether you are on Solaris, HP-UX or any other variety of UNIX it is simple to create a forensic tools CD that can go between systems. The added benefit of this method is that the tools do not need to be left on the production server. This in itself could be a security risk and the ability to unmount the CD and take it with you increases security.
The ability to create a customized CD for your individual system means that the analyst can have their tools available for any UNIX system that they need to work with. It may also be possible to create a universal forensic CD. Using statically linked binaries, a single DVD or CD could be created with separate directories for every UNIX variety in use in the organization that you are working on. For instance, the same CD could contain a directory called “/Solaris” which would act as the base directory for all Solaris tools. Similarly, base directories for Linux (/Linux), HP-UX (/HPUX10, /HPUX9) and any other variety of UNIX in use in your organization could be included on the same distribution allowing you to take one disk with you but leaving you ready at all times.
