Certified Digital Forensics and Incident Response Specialist (CDFIRS)

Certified Digital Forensics and Incident Response Specialist (CDFIRS) Certification Program by Tonex

Duration: 2 Days | Format: In-person / Virtual / Hybrid
Level: Intermediate–Advanced
Credential: Certification + Exam + Digital Badge

The CDFIRS program prepares professionals to perform digital forensics, identify and analyze incidents, preserve evidence, and lead tactical or enterprise-level cyber incident response. The course spans endpoint and network forensics, malware triage, memory analysis, SIEM usage, and cloud forensics — aligned with NIST 800-61, MITRE ATT&CK, and industry frameworks.

This certification is highly practical, focusing on real-world investigation workflows, artifact analysis, and incident containment strategies.

Learning Objectives

By completing CDFIRS, participants will be able to:

• Understand the digital forensics and incident response lifecycle.
• Preserve and acquire evidence from disks, memory, network logs, and cloud assets.
• Analyze artifacts from Windows, Linux, macOS, and mobile platforms.
• Detect and respond to malware, APTs, ransomware, insider threats, and phishing campaigns.
• Use forensic tools (e.g., Volatility, FTK, Autopsy, Velociraptor, TheHive) for investigation.
• Apply frameworks like NIST 800-61, MITRE ATT&CK, and CIS CSC for structured IR.
• Build an IR playbook and contribute to threat intelligence and post-incident reporting.

Target Audience:

• Cybersecurity analysts and incident responders
• Digital forensics investigators
• Security operations center (SOC) teams
• Red/blue/purple team members
• Law enforcement and government cyber units
• Cloud security and DevSecOps professionals
• Pen testers and malware reverse engineers

Program Modules:

1 – Foundations of DFIR

• Incident types and response lifecycle (NIST SP 800-61r2)
• Chain of custody and legal considerations
• Imaging, acquisition, and hashing (BitLocker, EWF, AFF)
• Logging standards and retention policies
• Overview of tools: FTK, Autopsy, Volatility, X-Ways, Plaso, Velociraptor

2 – Endpoint & Memory Forensics

• File system forensics (NTFS, EXT4, APFS)
• Artifact recovery (prefetch, registry, browser history, shimcache)
• Memory acquisition & analysis (Volatility framework)
• Malware hunting in RAM and DLL injection
• Lateral movement and privilege escalation indicators

3 – Network, Log, and Threat Hunting

• Packet capture (PCAP) and NetFlow analysis
• SIEM analysis (Splunk, ELK) and log correlation
• Email header forensics, phishing analysis
• YARA, Sigma rules, and IOC detection
• MITRE ATT&CK techniques and mapping artifacts to TTPs

4 – Cloud, Mobile & IR Playbooks

(Optional Advanced)

• Cloud forensics (AWS, Azure, GCP logging & snapshots)
• Mobile forensics overview (Android, iOS)
• SaaS threat investigation (O365, GDrive)
• IR tabletop exercise and playbook development
• Reporting, handoff to legal/intelligence teams

Capstone DFIR Simulation Lab

(Optional / Certification Track)

• Simulated APT breach: collect, investigate, contain
• Document findings and generate a full IR report
• Debrief: what worked, what failed, mitigation plans

Certification Exam Domains:

‘Certification Exam:

• Format: 60–75 multiple choice and scenario-based questions
• Duration: 90 minutes
• Passing Score: 70%
• Credential: Certified Digital Forensics and Incident Response Specialist (CDFIRS)
• Validity: 2 years
• CEUs: 20+
• Badge: Verifiable digital credential (e.g., Badge.ink)