Over the past ten years, the number of internet users has skyrocketed. In the United States, there are three people for every three who use the Internet for their activities or business purposes. Almost every day, the number of people using the Internet increases, meaning that the number of illegal activities like identity theft, fraud, and data theft also rises. 

Network Forensics involves capturing, recording, and analyzing network packets to determine where security attacks originate. A network forensics investigation also includes detection of intrusion patterns and investigation of attack activities. Analyzing network traffic requires gathering data from various sites and various network equipment such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Also, network forensics can be employed for monitoring, preventing, and analyzing potential attacks.

A network forensic investigation is useful when identifying leaks, thefts, or suspicious traffic on the network. This type of investigation aims to identify and analyze traffic on a network suspected of being compromised by cybercriminals.

Need of Network Forensics

Many organizations increased the number of devices on their networks and installed high-speed ports. During the earlier days of corporate networks, computers dominated. These days, networks allow more devices to be connected to them than they used to due to smartphones and internet-connected devices. An increasing number of devices on the network increases attack surfaces. The threats of today are also more sophisticated and subtle. The attackers today spend a great deal of time evading detection in modern attacks. The majority of times, data exfiltration does not trigger alerts because it happens in limited volumes and is encrypted. Due to these issues, forensic investigations are much harder and more complex, and trained investigators and advanced tools are essential for an adequate investigation of an attack. 

An organization is given a great deal of insight into how its traffic is flowing through the network by network forensics. In this case, investigators have the option of searching the network and digging deeper into specifics. Usually, this is a two-step process. The first step is to collect data. Various search tools should search for specific information based on data collected from the network and metadata indexed and extracted from it. After we have gathered the information of interest, the next step is to search for the data. 

Importance of Network Forensic

The capture of network traffic over a network is relatively simple in theory but extremely challenging in practice due to many inherent factors. An Internet protocol is very complex, and there is a great deal of data flow in a network. The process of recording network traffic is resource-intensive. Due to the high volume of data flowing across networks, it may not be possible to record all the data. It is essential to back up these recorded data on to free media for analysis in the future.

It is most important and time-consuming to analyze recorded data. For forensic purposes, there are many automated analysis tools, but none are foolproof. An attacker can easily make malicious traffic appear as genuine traffic if the tools are not programmed properly. It is also essential to use human judgment since automated traffic analysis tools can produce false positives.

Forensics in a network is necessary for determining how an attack has occurred and tracing its origin. An investigator must follow a proper investigation process to produce the evidence obtained by the investigator in court.

Types of Network Forensics

TCP/IP: Network layer protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP) are responsible for directing TCP packets through the network (for example, the Internet) by combining source and destination information and then passing it along to the routers all over the network. The IP methods are also applicable to cellular packet networks, such as GPRS, because they use similar protocols.

The Internet: Several types of digital evidence can be obtained from the internet, including web browsing, email, newsgroups, synchronous chat, and peer-to-peer communication. An examination of web server logs can show what instances (or if) suspects accessed criminally relevant information. It is feasible to prove the exact origin of incriminating materials with email forensics since email headers are easily forged and, thus, can contain valuable evidence. Through network forensics, information about the user account can be extracted based on the traffic on a networking service to determine who is using a particular computer.

Ethernet: The user can filter events based on the data on this layer. It is only possible to reconstruct website pages, email attachments, and other network traffic if they are unencrypted during transmission or receipt. Data collection on this level is advantageous because the data connects directly to a host. 

Encrypted Traffic Analytics: An encrypted traffic analysis inspects traffic to determine whether it contains malicious traffic such as malware or other threats by detecting suspicious TLS characteristics, such as those originating from uncommon networks or servers. Another method of analyzing encrypted traffic is to create databases of fingerprints based on generated data, but this has received criticism as being easily circumvented by hackers and inaccurate.

Network Forensics: Market Overview

The global network forensic market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of ~18.9% during the forecast period from 2021-2027. 

Regional Analysis: the Global Network Forensic Market

The report provides a regional analysis of the global network forensics market based on regions, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Latin America. North America and Europe are expected to generate the most revenue for vendors of network forensics solutions. It is mostly a result of the global focus on Research and Development (R&D) and security technologies, particularly in the developed economies of the U.S. and Canada. The Asia Pacific is likely to grow at the fastest rate in the market. Growing adoption of Internet of Things devices and Bring Your Device policies within organizations to drive growth in this region.

Segmentation Analysis: the Network Forensics Market

The global Network Forensics Market is segmented based on Application, Solution, Organization Size, Deployment Model, and Vertical. 

Segmentation based on Solution:

• Solutions
• Intrusion Detection System (IDS)/Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
• Threat intelligence
• Packet capture analysis
• Analytics
• Log management
• Firewall
• Services
• Professional services consulting services
• Training and education
• Design and integration
• Support and maintenance
• Incident response services
• Managed services

Segmentation based on Application Area:

• Endpoint security
• Network security
• Datacenter security
• Application security
• Others (web security and database security)

Segmentation based on Deployment Mode:

• Cloud
• On-premises

Segmentation based on Organization Size:

• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
• Large enterprises

Segmentation based on Vertical:

• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Energy and utilities
• Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)
• Government
• Education
• Telecom and IT
• Retail
• Others (media & entertainment, aerospace & defense, and hospitality)

Key Market Players and Their Developments: the global Network Forensic Market

The leading key players and their developments in the global network forensic market:

Key Players:

• Cisco Systems
• Fireeye
• IBM Corporation
• Symantec Corporation
• Netscout Systems
• EMC RSA

Key Developments in the area:  

In February 2017: A Dell Technologies company, RSA Business-Driven Security architecture offers a new way for customers to manage cyber risk and protect their most valuable assets. Using this architecture and several solutions offered, organizations of any size can better control their risk postures more rapidly and efficiently. In addition to RSA Business-Driven Security solutions, also announced RSA solutions include threats detection, identity assurance, consumer fraud prevention, and business risk management capabilities.