NIST Cloud Computing Forensic Reference Architecture

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the initial public draft of Special Publication SP 800-201, which is titled the NIST Cloud Computing Forensic Reference Architecture. The purpose of the document is to support the forensic readiness of cloud systems, which is the ability to collect digital evidence quickly and effectively with minimal investigation costs.

Cloud systems offer a number of benefits such as scalability and flexibility, but they also pose unique security challenges.

The new draft publication aims to address these challenges by providing a comprehensive reference architecture that helps users understand the forensic challenges that might exist for an organization’s cloud system based on its architectural capabilities. Additionally, the document offers mitigation strategies to ensure that organizations are prepared to handle security incidents.

The reference architecture provided in SP 800-201 is a methodology and an initial implementation that can be utilized by cloud system architects, cloud engineers, forensic practitioners, and cloud consumers to analyze and review their cloud computing architectures for forensic readiness. By using this resource, organizations can better understand how their cloud infrastructure might pose forensic challenges and take proactive steps to address these challenges.

The public comment period for this initial public draft is open through March 31, 2023. This provides an opportunity for interested parties to provide feedback and input on the document before it is finalized. This is a chance to contribute to the development of a comprehensive reference architecture that can help organizations improve their cloud system security posture.