Security teams don’t usually struggle to find alerts. They struggle to find answers.
A detection might tell you something weird happened—a suspicious PowerShell command, an unexpected login, a strange outbound connection. But when it’s time to make a high-stakes decision (Is this real? How far did it spread? What do we contain?), you need forensic evidence that stands up to scrutiny.
That’s where Cisco XDR Forensics fits in: it extends your detection-and-response workflow with deeper endpoint evidence collection and investigation tools, so you can locate the threat, confirm what’s actually happening, and move to containment with confidence. Cisco XDR Documentation+1
What Cisco XDR Forensics is (in practical terms)
Cisco describes XDR Forensics as an automated investigation and response capability that delivers “deep forensic visibility” and “end-to-end investigation capabilities,” including rapid remote acquisition of hundreds of evidence types (Cisco documentation notes 698 evidence types). Cisco XDR Documentation
In the real world, that means:
Note on licensing: Cisco’s documentation calls out that XDR Forensics requires Cisco XDR Advantage or Cisco XDR Premier. Cisco XDR Documentation+1
Why forensics matters for “locating the threat”
When people say “locating a threat,” they usually mean one (or more) of these:
Traditional detection telemetry is great at surfacing signals. Forensics helps you uncover ground truth—the raw endpoint artifacts that confirm what executed, what changed, and what persisted.
Cisco’s Cisco XDR Data Sheet positions XDR Forensics as a built-in way to collect and preserve key digital forensic artifacts (including things like memory dumps and activity logs) and use remote shell capabilities for targeted response. Cisco
A “day in the SOC” example: turning a clue into confirmation
Cisco shared an example investigation where XDR correlation detected suspicious PowerShell behavior tied to a file download. The incident had useful initial context—command details, file name/path—but the team still needed the raw evidence to confirm what the file actually was and what it did. Cisco Blogs
In that scenario:
That’s the key takeaway: XDR gets you to the right endpoint faster; forensics helps you prove what happened once you’re there.
How Cisco XDR Forensics fits into the investigation workflow
Cisco XDR Forensics is designed to be accessible right inside the incident workflow.
1) An incident forms from correlated telemetry
Cisco XDR correlates detections and context across sources and builds incidents—so you’re not chasing 50 disconnected alerts (PowerShell here, DNS there, identity anomaly somewhere else). The incident is your starting point.
2) You acquire forensic evidence from affected assets
From the incident details, the Evidence tab allows you to acquire and view forensic data from assets within the incident. Cisco XDR Documentation
You can choose a data collection template (a profile for what to collect) and optionally enable automated threat assessment and MITRE ATT&CK scanning as part of the acquisition—useful for quickly surfacing what matters most in a big pile of artifacts. Cisco XDR Documentation
3) You pivot into the XDR Forensics UI for deeper investigation
The Evidence view then links you into the XDR Forensics experience, where the acquired data can be used for further analysis and investigation. Cisco XDR Documentation+1
4) You validate and act with a secure remote shell (when needed)
Cisco XDR’s Evidence workflow also supports connecting to assets using a remote shell for remediation purposes. Cisco XDR Documentation
Cisco’s documentation describes the remote shell as secure, cross-platform (Windows/macOS), and built around a standardized command set—helpful for consistent triage and response. Cisco XDR Documentation
The “locating a threat” advantages you actually feel in practice
Here’s what teams typically gain when forensics is embedded into XDR, instead of living in a separate DFIR toolchain:
Faster confirmation: “Is this real?”
Instead of debating whether a detection is benign admin activity or malicious tradecraft, forensic artifacts help you confirm:
Cisco’s framing is that XDR Forensics helps validate incidents through comprehensive forensic evidence and accelerate response with targeted action. Cisco
Better scoping: “How far did it go?”
Once you identify the malicious file/process/persistence mechanism on one endpoint, that becomes a pattern you can use to expand scope:
Even when your original alert is thin, the evidence collection gives you richer indicators to hunt across the environment.
Root cause clarity: “How did it get in?”
Threat actors rarely stop at a single suspicious process. Forensics helps reconstruct the chain and identify the entry point—so you can fix the cause, not just delete the symptom.
Speed without a context-switch
Instead of:
You can move from incident → evidence acquisition → investigation hub → remote shell in one operational flow. Cisco XDR Documentation+1
Operational notes (the stuff that makes or breaks your first response)
A few practical realities are worth calling out in any real deployment:
Closing: From “we think” to “we know”
Cisco XDR is built to reduce alert chaos through correlation and incident-driven workflows. Cisco XDR Forensics takes the next step by bringing forensic-grade endpoint evidence and remote investigation/response actions into the same motion—so you can locate a threat with less guesswork and more proof. Cisco XDR Documentation+2Cisco+2
If you’re evaluating XDR, the big question isn’t “Can it alert me?” It’s:
That’s the gap Cisco XDR Forensics is designed to close.
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