Probably within the first few hours of starting your career in cyber security, you were already hunched over a screen, feverishly scanning a spreadsheet for clues. This sounds familiar because it is true and part of the daily process for most investigations. Spreadsheets are the bread and butter of cyber security. Within them are details of various processes and specific information extracted from valuable artifacts. In this cookbook, we will frequently output parsed artifact data into a spreadsheet due to its portability and ease of use. However, considering that at one time or another every cyber security professional has created a technical report for a nontechnical audience, a spreadsheet may not be the best option.
Why create reports at all? I think I've heard that muttered by stressed examiners before. Today, everything is built on information interchange...