The data that enterprises need to conduct modern digital forensics investigations is growing exponentially in both volume and complexity. According to Fordham, the global volume of enterprise data will reach 175 zettabytes by 2025, an increase of over 430% from 2019 levels. At the same time, this data is being generated by an ever-expanding universe of endpoints, cloud services, and applications, creating a tangled web of potential evidence that can be difficult to identify and collect.
For corporate investigators and IT forensics teams, the challenge is clear: How can we efficiently acquire and analyze all of this disparate data in a way that is scalable, repeatable, and defensible? Ad-hoc, manual collection methods are no longer sufficient to keep up with the scope and pace of today‘s investigations. Point solutions offer limited visibility and can actually slow down investigations by creating data silos.
What enterprises need is a unified platform for remotely collecting data from any endpoint or source across the organization and making it immediately available for analysis and action. That‘s precisely what AccessData Enterprise Agent delivers.
A New Paradigm for Enterprise Data Collection
AccessData Enterprise Agent is a powerful, centralized solution that enables forensics and compliance teams to acquire data at scale from virtually any IT asset, including Windows, macOS and Linux endpoints, cloud storage, SaaS applications, and more. Its distributed agent-based architecture allows administrators to remotely deploy lightweight software agents on target machines and endpoints throughout the environment. These agents securely communicate with a central server, enabling the remote collection of live system data, memory, files, and other key evidence.
Through Enterprise Agent‘s intuitive web-based interface, authorized users can easily manage and monitor agent deployment, view the status of connected endpoints, and orchestrate remote collections based on specific criteria. Granular role-based access controls and robust auditing ensure that only appropriate personnel can initiate collections and view results.
Key capabilities of Enterprise Agent include:
- Remote and covert data acquisition from Windows, macOS and Linux endpoints
- RAM capture, persistent file and volume collection, deleted data retrieval
- Cross-platform support for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid IT environments
- Integration with enterprise SaaS applications like Office 365, G Suite, Box, etc.
- Targeted, criteria-based data collection at the endpoint level
- Ability to collect data at scale across hundreds or thousands of endpoints
- Secure, encrypted evidence transmission and storage
- Centralized web-based administration console
- Detailed auditing and reporting of all agent and user activity
With these advanced features, Enterprise Agent empowers investigators to efficiently acquire data in a forensically sound manner and seamlessly integrate it into downstream analysis and legal workflows.
Simplifying Complex Investigations
To understand the power of Enterprise Agent, consider a typical enterprise investigation scenario. Let‘s say the IT security team at Acme Corp. has identified a potential data breach involving sensitive customer financial information. They suspect that an employee‘s endpoint was compromised and used as a staging ground to exfiltrate data to an external server.
In the past, investigating this type of incident would have required the team to manually access and image the employee‘s machine, then separately collect data from various cloud storage repositories and SaaS applications to uncover any additional evidence. This process could take days or weeks, during which time the breach could be expanding in scope.
With Enterprise Agent, the investigation looks very different. From the centralized Enterprise Agent console, an authorized administrator can instantly deploy a covert software agent to the suspect employee machine. The agent rapidly collects live memory, persistent files, browser history, network connections, and other key data, then transmits it back to the central Enterprise Agent server in an encrypted format.
The admin can also initiate remote collections from the employee‘s cloud storage folders and corporate SaaS applications like Office 365 email and OneDrive. Within minutes, the admin has a complete forensic snapshot of all relevant endpoint and cloud data, allowing them to quickly triage the incident and determine the appropriate response actions.
What‘s more, the collected data is automatically processed, indexed and made available for analysis in AccessData‘s industry-leading forensics tools like AD Lab and AD Enterprise. Security analysts can seamlessly integrate this data into their larger investigation workflow, performing deep-dive forensic analysis to understand the root cause and full scope of the breach. The team can uncover insights in a matter of hours that previously would have taken days of manual effort to piece together.
Flexible Deployment and Integration
A key advantage of Enterprise Agent is its flexible deployment model and broad integration with existing IT and security tools. Customers can deploy Enterprise Agent on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid model depending on their specific environment and data sovereignty requirements. The solution is fully API-enabled, allowing it to slot in seamlessly with SIEM platforms, case management systems, threat intelligence feeds, and other tools.
Enterprise Agent also integrates with the rest of the AccessData product portfolio, enabling powerful end-to-end forensics workflows. For example, an investigator could use Enterprise Agent to collect data from a target endpoint, then process and analyze that data in AD Lab to generate court-ready forensics reports. Or an IT compliance officer could deploy Enterprise Agent to executive endpoints to continuously monitor for signs of insider threat activity, with any suspicious events automatically triggering an investigative workflow in AccessData‘s ResolutionOne platform.
By serving as a unifying platform for forensic data acquisition across the enterprise, Enterprise Agent breaks down data silos and empowers collaboration between legal, compliance, security and investigative teams.
Ensuring Data Integrity and Compliance
Of course, collecting sensitive data from employee endpoints and cloud services comes with important responsibilities around data privacy, security, and compliance. Enterprise Agent was purpose-built with these considerations in mind. Its granular access controls ensure that only authorized personnel with a clear "need to know" can deploy agents and view collected data. All evidence is compressed and encrypted both in transit and at rest using industry-standard cryptographic protocols.
Detailed logging and auditing capabilities capture a complete record of all agent and user activity, enabling customers to demonstrate a clear chain of custody for any collected data. Enterprise Agent also includes robust reporting and analytics features, giving compliance teams the documentation they need to respond to regulatory inquiries and data subject access requests.
By providing a centralized and highly secure platform for enterprise data collection, Enterprise Agent helps customers strike the right balance between enabling effective investigations and maintaining data governance best practices.
Delivering Real-World Results
Leading enterprises across industries are already using Enterprise Agent to transform their approach to digital forensics and compliance investigations. Here are just a few examples of the real-world impact the solution is delivering for AccessData customers:
- A global financial services firm reduced the average time to collect data for compliance investigations by 90%, from two weeks to under 24 hours.
- A Fortune 500 healthcare company was able to investigate twice as many insider threat incidents per month by automating data collection and analysis with Enterprise Agent.
- An energy company saved over $2 million in legal fees in a single IP theft case by using Enterprise Agent to conclusively prove data exfiltration activity by a former employee.
- A major university accelerated its investigative workflow for Title IX cases by securely collecting and integrating data from student and faculty endpoints.
| Capability | AccessData Enterprise Agent | Manual Collection | Point Solutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote endpoint collection | Yes | No | Limited |
| Cross-platform support | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows only | Windows only |
| Cloud data collection | Office 365, G Suite, Box, Dropbox, etc. | No | No |
| RAM capture | Yes | No | No |
| Scalable architecture | Distributed agent-based, scalable to 1000s of endpoints | Not scalable | Not scalable |
| Chain of custody | Robust logging and auditing of all activity | Manual documentation, prone to errors | Limited visibility |
| Integration with enterprise tools | Open API, pre-built integrations with AccessData product suite | None | Limited |
Pricing and Deployment Options
AccessData Enterprise Agent is priced per endpoint per year, with volume discounts available. Flexible deployment options include on-premises, cloud-hosted, and hybrid models to meet the needs of any environment.
Getting started with Enterprise Agent is easy – contact AccessData Sales for a personalized demo and pricing quote. For a limited time, new customers can take advantage of our "Accelerate" quick start program, which includes 30 days of free usage for up to 100 endpoints along with dedicated onboarding and training.
An Extensible Platform for the Future
According to 451 Research, the market for enterprise digital forensics solutions is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.4% through 2023, reaching $7.8 billion. As organizations continue to grapple with complex legal and compliance requirements against the backdrop of an ever-expanding data footprint, solutions like Enterprise Agent will be crucial for scaling investigative workflows and uncovering key evidence quickly.
Gartner advises enterprises to prioritize investments in "modern, cloud-based e-discovery tools that can ingest data from multiple sources including endpoints, cloud services and enterprise applications." They note that solutions with "built-in AI and advanced analytics can significantly reduce the manual effort required to surface relevant evidence and develop fact patterns."
We at AccessData couldn‘t agree more. That‘s why we‘re continuing to aggressively invest in expanding the capabilities of the Enterprise Agent platform. Our near-term roadmap includes leveraging machine learning and behavioral analytics to detect insider threats and anomalous user activity, applying auto-categorization and smart redaction to speed up document review, and extending Enterprise Agent‘s API ecosystem to integrate with an even broader set of third-party IT and security tools.
By providing a unified and scalable platform for enterprise forensics, AccessData Enterprise Agent is empowering organizations to keep pace with the growing volume and diversity of data, reduce the cost and complexity of investigations, and make faster, more informed decisions. We‘re just getting started on this journey, and we‘re excited to partner with our customers to build the future of enterprise digital forensics together.
Take the Next Step
Ready to streamline your enterprise investigations and compliance workflows with AccessData Enterprise Agent? There‘s never been a better time to get started.
Sign up for a free 30-day trial to see the power of the platform firsthand, or contact us to request a personalized demo. Our expert team will work with you to understand your unique challenges and tailor a solution to fit your needs.
Don‘t let the rising tide of enterprise data overwhelm your investigative capabilities. Discover a smarter approach to forensic data collection with AccessData Enterprise Agent. Your team – and your entire organization – will thank you.