Playbook

Forensic readiness in SaaS systems

If evidence is missing, inconsistent, or untrustworthy, investigations fail. This playbook gives you a practical baseline to collect, protect, and use evidence under pressure.

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At a glance

  • Who: Lean teams running SaaS / cloud apps.
  • Outcome: Evidence you can trust.
  • Time: 1–3 days baseline, then iterate.

Version 1.0 — baseline-first.

What you’ll have at the end

A defensible readiness baseline: reliable telemetry, preserved evidence, and an incident workflow that works in real life.

Baseline deliverables

  • Evidence-ready telemetry checklist (what to log, where, and why).
  • Time sync + integrity controls (timestamps you can defend).
  • Retention + access control rules (who can touch evidence).
  • Workflow: preserve first, then analyze (to avoid contamination).

Prerequisites

Keep this minimal. Don’t wait for perfection.

Minimum prerequisites

  • Central log storage location (even if basic).
  • Defined owners for platform, identity, and incidents.
  • Time synchronization (NTP) across systems.

Recommended

  • Separate “security log” access role.
  • Immutable storage or write-once pattern for key logs.
  • Documented incident severity levels + escalation path.

Step-by-step playbook

Implement in order. Each step increases readiness even if you stop early.

Step 1 — Define “evidence” and your questions

  • Write 5–10 investigation questions you must answer fast (e.g., “Who accessed what, when, from where?”).
  • Map questions to log sources: identity, endpoint, email, admin, application, cloud control plane.

Step 2 — Collect high-signal telemetry

  • Identity: sign-in, MFA, role changes, privileged actions.
  • Endpoint: process + auth events for critical systems.
  • Email: mailbox rules, forwarding, suspicious login, admin changes.
  • Admin: configuration changes, API key creation, permission grants.

Step 3 — Make timestamps defensible

  • Enforce NTP across all systems.
  • Store timezone consistently (UTC recommended) and keep source timezone metadata.

Step 4 — Protect integrity + access

  • Restrict who can read and who can delete logs.
  • Enable audit logs for the logging platform itself.
  • Consider immutable storage for key evidence streams.

Step 5 — Retention rules that match reality

  • Minimum baseline: 30–90 days searchable + longer archive if feasible.
  • Define exceptions for high-value systems (identity/admin often deserve longer).

Step 6 — Incident workflow: preserve first

  • Create an “evidence preservation” checklist to run before remediation.
  • Separate containment actions from investigation activities where possible.
  • Log every action taken during incident response (who/what/when/why).

Quick checklist

Use this for monthly reviews.

  • NTP is enforced across systems (time is trustworthy).
  • Identity + admin logs are collected and centralized.
  • Logging platform has its own audit logs enabled.
  • Access is least-privilege; deletion is restricted.
  • Retention is defined and tested (not assumed).
  • Evidence preservation checklist exists and is used.
  • Tabletop run done at least quarterly.

Need help implementing this in your stack? Request a consultation.

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