Server & Network Forensics Services in Raleigh, NC
When your servers are compromised and your network has been breached, every second counts. PTG's certified forensic investigators deliver court-admissible server and network forensics analysis throughout Raleigh, Durham, Research Triangle Park, and all of North Carolina, backed by 22+ years of experience protecting 2,500+ organizations.
Server Breaches and Network Intrusions Are Escalating
Today's cybercriminals target servers and network infrastructure with sophisticated attacks that bypass perimeter defenses, exploit unpatched vulnerabilities, and move laterally through your environment for weeks or months before detection. Without proper forensic analysis, organizations across Raleigh, Durham, and the Triangle face devastating consequences: regulatory penalties, litigation exposure, and reputational damage that can threaten the survival of the business itself.
- Server compromise dwell times average 204 days before detection, allowing attackers to exfiltrate sensitive data, install persistent backdoors, and escalate privileges across your network undetected.
- Network logs are overwritten, rotated, or intentionally deleted by sophisticated attackers who cover their tracks, destroying critical forensic evidence needed for investigation and legal proceedings.
- Internal IT teams lack the specialized tools and forensic training to properly preserve volatile evidence from server memory, active network connections, and running processes during a breach.
- Regulatory requirements under HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOX, and state breach notification laws in North Carolina demand documented forensic investigation with verifiable chain of custody.
- Cloud and hybrid environments create complex forensic challenges where traditional tools fail, leaving dangerous gaps in visibility across AWS, Azure, and multi-cloud infrastructure.
Comprehensive Server & Network Forensics Built for the Triangle
PTG combines deep technical expertise with rigorous forensic methodology to deliver actionable intelligence from your compromised servers and networks.
Petronella Technology Group has been the trusted cybersecurity partner for businesses across Raleigh, Durham, Research Triangle Park, Chapel Hill, and the greater North Carolina region for over 22 years. Our server and network forensics practice is led by certified digital forensic examiners who bring enterprise-grade investigative capabilities to organizations of every size.
When a breach occurs, our forensic team deploys a structured, methodical approach that begins with immediate evidence preservation and containment. We capture volatile data from server RAM, active network connections, running processes, and system state before any evidence degradation can occur. Our analysts then perform deep-packet inspection of network traffic captures, correlate events across server logs, firewall logs, IDS/IPS alerts, and authentication records to build a complete timeline of the intrusion.
Every engagement follows NIST SP 800-86, ISO 27037, and SANS forensic standards. We maintain strict chain-of-custody documentation from the moment we engage, ensuring all findings are defensible in regulatory proceedings, civil litigation, criminal prosecution, and insurance claims. Our forensic reports have been successfully introduced as evidence in courtrooms across North Carolina and multiple federal jurisdictions.
Our Forensic Process
- Evidence Preservation -- Capture volatile server memory, network traffic, and system state before critical data is lost
- Network Traffic Analysis -- Deep-packet inspection of captured traffic to identify command-and-control channels and data exfiltration
- Log Correlation -- Cross-reference server, firewall, DNS, DHCP, proxy, and authentication logs for complete event timelines
- Malware Reverse Engineering -- Analyze malicious payloads in isolated environments to determine capabilities, persistence mechanisms, and attribution indicators
- Attack Path Reconstruction -- Map the complete attack lifecycle from initial access through lateral movement to data exfiltration
- Court-Ready Reporting -- Deliver comprehensive forensic documentation suitable for regulatory, legal, and executive audiences
Six Pillars of Server & Network Forensics
Our forensic investigators bring specialized expertise across every dimension of server and network investigation, from packet-level analysis to cloud-native forensics.
Network Traffic Analysis
Our network forensics specialists capture and analyze raw packet data to reconstruct exactly what traversed your network during a security incident. Using advanced deep-packet inspection tools, we examine full PCAP captures to identify malicious communications, data exfiltration channels, lateral movement patterns, and command-and-control traffic. We analyze protocol anomalies, DNS tunneling attempts, encrypted channel abuse, and covert communication channels that evade traditional security monitoring. Every packet tells a story, and our analysts know how to read it.
Server Log Forensics
Server logs are the definitive record of what happened on your systems, but interpreting them requires specialized expertise. PTG's analysts examine Windows Event Logs, Linux syslog, application logs, database audit trails, web server access logs, and authentication records to construct a precise chronological timeline of attacker activity. We recover deleted and rotated logs, identify log tampering, and correlate events across multiple servers to reveal the complete scope of an intrusion that may span dozens of systems across your environment.
Intrusion Detection Analysis
PTG performs comprehensive intrusion detection analysis that goes far beyond reviewing IDS/IPS alerts. Our forensic team examines firewall state tables, NetFlow records, SNMP traps, and endpoint detection telemetry to identify the initial point of compromise, the techniques used for privilege escalation, and every lateral movement step the attacker took through your network. We map attacker behavior to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, providing your security team with actionable threat intelligence that strengthens your defenses against future attacks targeting Raleigh-area businesses.
Malware Analysis
When malware is discovered on your servers or network infrastructure, PTG's analysts perform both static and dynamic analysis in isolated sandbox environments to determine the malware's complete capabilities. We reverse-engineer malicious binaries, scripts, and fileless malware to identify persistence mechanisms, data exfiltration routines, encryption methods, and command-and-control infrastructure. Our malware analysis reveals whether the threat is commodity malware or a targeted, custom-developed tool, and produces indicators of compromise (IOCs) that can be deployed across your security stack to detect reinfection.
Cloud Forensics
Cloud environments present unique forensic challenges: ephemeral instances, auto-scaling groups, serverless functions, and shared infrastructure all complicate evidence collection. PTG has deep expertise in forensic investigation across AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and hybrid environments. We analyze CloudTrail logs, VPC Flow Logs, Azure Activity Logs, container runtime data, and IAM audit records to trace unauthorized access. Our cloud forensic methodology ensures volatile cloud evidence is preserved before instances are terminated, volumes are deleted, or logs are rotated beyond retention windows.
Incident Reconstruction
The most critical deliverable of any forensic investigation is a clear, accurate reconstruction of the entire incident from initial compromise through remediation. PTG's analysts synthesize evidence from network captures, server logs, memory forensics, and malware analysis into a comprehensive incident timeline that answers the essential questions: who attacked you, how they got in, what they accessed, what data was compromised, and how long they maintained access. This reconstruction provides the foundation for legal action, regulatory compliance reporting, insurance claims, and security architecture improvements across your organization.
Trusted by Businesses Across the Triangle
For more than two decades, PTG has been the cybersecurity partner that businesses in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and the Research Triangle Park region turn to when the stakes are highest. Our forensic investigations have helped organizations across North Carolina navigate the most challenging security incidents, regulatory inquiries, and legal proceedings with confidence and clarity.
Complete Digital Forensics Ecosystem
Server and network forensics is one component of PTG's end-to-end digital forensics and incident response practice. Our integrated capabilities ensure that no evidence is overlooked, regardless of where it resides across your digital infrastructure in Raleigh, Durham, RTP, or anywhere in North Carolina.
The PTG Difference
Not all forensic providers are created equal. PTG brings a combination of deep technical expertise, legal defensibility, and local presence that sets us apart from national firms and generalist IT consultancies operating in the Raleigh-Durham market.
Certified Forensic Examiners
Through our partner network, PTG forensic engagements have access to professionals holding certifications including GCFE, GCFA, GREM, and CCE, ensuring every investigation meets the highest professional standards.
Rapid Response
Located in Raleigh, we provide same-day on-site response throughout the Triangle and remote forensic engagement within hours, anywhere in North Carolina or beyond.
Court-Proven Methodology
Our forensic reports follow NIST and ISO standards with airtight chain-of-custody documentation, and have been successfully admitted as evidence in courts across North Carolina.
22+ Years, 2,500+ Clients, 0 Breaches
Our track record speaks for itself. Over two decades of protecting Triangle-area organizations with a perfect security record demonstrates the depth of our expertise and commitment.
Server & Network Forensics FAQ
Answers to the questions we hear most from businesses in Raleigh, Durham, and across the Triangle region about server and network forensic investigations.
Server and network forensics is the systematic process of capturing, recording, and analyzing network traffic and server activity to identify security incidents, unauthorized access, data exfiltration, and other cyber threats. PTG's forensic specialists in Raleigh, NC use advanced tools and methodologies to reconstruct events, preserve evidence for legal proceedings, and provide actionable intelligence to prevent future breaches across the Triangle region.
PTG maintains rapid-response capabilities for businesses throughout Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and the greater Triangle region. Our incident response team can begin remote forensic analysis within hours of engagement and deploy on-site specialists as needed. With 22+ years of experience, we understand that every minute counts during an active breach, and our established protocols ensure immediate containment and evidence preservation.
Our network forensics capabilities can detect and analyze a wide range of attacks including Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), ransomware propagation, man-in-the-middle attacks, DNS poisoning, DDoS attacks, lateral movement within compromised networks, data exfiltration through encrypted tunnels, command-and-control communications, SQL injection attempts, and zero-day exploit activity. Each analysis produces court-admissible documentation of findings.
Yes. PTG provides comprehensive cloud forensics services covering AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and hybrid environments. Our analysts are experienced with cloud-native logging systems, virtual machine snapshots, container forensics, and cloud API audit trails. We work within the shared responsibility model to extract and preserve volatile cloud evidence before it is lost due to auto-scaling or instance termination events.
Absolutely. PTG follows strict chain-of-custody procedures and industry-standard forensic methodologies including NIST SP 800-86 guidelines. All evidence is collected, preserved, and documented in a manner that ensures admissibility in civil litigation, criminal proceedings, regulatory investigations, and insurance claims. Our forensic reports have been successfully used in legal proceedings across North Carolina and beyond.
PTG's forensic analysts are proficient across all major server operating systems including Windows Server (2008 through 2025), Linux distributions (RHEL, Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, SUSE), Unix variants (AIX, Solaris, FreeBSD), and virtualization platforms (VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, Proxmox, KVM). We also analyze network appliance operating systems from Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto, and other enterprise vendors.
Network traffic analysis examines the actual packets flowing across your network, including payload data, connection patterns, and protocol anomalies, providing real-time visibility into what traversed your infrastructure. Server log forensics, by contrast, examines the records generated by server operating systems and applications, revealing authentication events, file access patterns, process executions, and configuration changes. PTG combines both disciplines to build a comprehensive timeline of security events.
First, do not power off the server or attempt to clean it yourself, as this destroys volatile evidence in RAM and active network connections. Instead, isolate the server from the network by disconnecting the network cable (not via software), document everything you observe, preserve any existing logs, and contact PTG immediately at 919-348-4912. Our forensic team will guide you through proper evidence preservation steps while initiating the response process to minimize further damage.