WP-22: Zero-Footprint Tactical Forensics: Autonomous Memory Acquisition, Volatility, & Timeline Reconstruction

Executive Abstract

When responding to an active network compromise or severing an infected endpoint, the first actions taken by the incident responder dictate whether critical volatile evidence is preserved or permanently destroyed. Traditional forensic workflows often rely on installing heavy agent frameworks or running complex command-line toolchains that inadvertently overwrite volatile RAM, corrupt disk artifact timestamps (MFT timestomping), and alert sophisticated adversary implants residing in memory.

This white paper establishes the technical architecture of alaskaforensics (formerly MightyMongoose), a standalone, zero-footprint digital forensics fieldkit. We detail how alaskaforensics executes from write-blocked media to perform autonomous live memory acquisition, process tree anomaly detection, volatile artifact triage, in-memory YARA pattern matching, and chronological timeline reconstruction without installing software on the suspect host.

1. Preserving the Volatility Hierarchy

Under RFC 3227, incident responders must capture digital evidence in order of volatility:


VOLATILITY RETENTION PIPELINE:
[ Suspect Host ]
       │
       ▼
[ Step 1: Physical RAM Extraction ] ──► Zero-Allocation Memory Dump
       │
       ▼
[ Step 2: Volatile Network State  ] ──► Active Sockets & Process Binding
       │
       ▼
[ Step 3: Running Process Trees   ] ──► Parent-Child Anomaly Detection
       │
       ▼
[ Step 4: Master File Table (MFT) ] ──► Anti-Forensics Timestomp Analysis
       │
       ▼
[ Cryptographic Evidence Vault    ] ──► SHA-256 Hashed DFIR Report & Timeline

alaskaforensics adheres strictly to this hierarchy, ensuring full legal admissibility under Federal Rules of Evidence and NIST SP 800-86 standards.

2. Standalone Portable Execution

alaskaforensics operates with strict self-containment:

No Registry Residue: All configuration and evidence caches are pinned to the executable directory or designated external storage volume.
Port-Hunting Web Interface: If the default web socket port is occupied, the engine hunts dynamically for available localhost ports, presenting an immediate responsive triage console.
In-Memory YARA Analysis: Evaluates live process memory buffers against CISA KEV and custom Sigma rules without writing temporary files to suspect disk volumes.