Abstract:Locating the source of cyber attack and then collecting digital evidence is one of the tasks of network forensics. Cyber attack traceback techniques are used to locate the source of cyber attack. However, current research on cyber attack traceback is mainly conducted from a defensive perspective, targeting at blocking cyber attack as soon as possible via locating the cyber attack source, and rarely considers digital evidence acquirement. As a result, the large amount of valuable digital evidence generated during the process of cyber attack traceback cannot be used in prosecutions, and their value in network forensics cannot be fully exploited. Therefore, a set of forensics capability metrics is proposed to assess the forensics capability of cyber attack traceback techniques. The latest cyber attack traceback techniques, including cyber attack traceback based on software defined network, are summarized and analyzed. Their forensics capability is analyzed and some suggestions are provided for improvement. At last, a specific forensics process model for cyber attack traceback is proposed. The work of this paper provides reference for research on cyber attack traceback technology targeting at network forensics.