What is the primary goal of a forensic investigation in the context of security?

The primary goal of a forensic investigation in the context of security is to recreate relevant data associated with a security incident. This process involves carefully collecting, preserving, and analyzing data to understand what occurred during the incident, how it happened, and what impact it had on the organization. By reconstructing the events surrounding a security breach or incident, forensic investigators can provide critical insights that help organizations improve their security posture and prevent future incidents.

In contrast to scanning for malware, which focuses on detecting and removing malicious software, forensic investigations are broader and aim to understand the full scope of a security incident. While restoring lost data may be a part of recovery efforts following an incident, it is not the main focus of a forensic investigation, which emphasizes thorough analysis and understanding. Additionally, optimizing performance is not a goal of forensic investigations; instead, they are primarily concerned with investigating breaches to gather evidence and insights rather than improving system efficiency.