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USN Journal Analysis for File Activity Tracking

In this lab, you’ll practice forensic investigations techniques. You will learn how to investigate actions performed on a Windows system by analyzing the USN Journal. When you’re finished, you’ll have the ability to identify changes that were made to a file system using data from a forensic image.

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Lab Info
Level
Beginner
Last updated
Aug 05, 2025
Duration
45m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Getting Started in the Lab Environment

    Here are the initial instructions and explanation of the lab environment. Read this while your environment is busy creating itself from nothing. Yes, this violates physics; we know. How fun!

  2. Challenge

    Extracting the USN Journal

    In this challenge, you will learn how to extract the files required to access the USN journal.

  3. Challenge

    Using the USN Journal

    In this challenge, you will learn how to identify events such as file creation, deletion, renaming, and modification to build an event timeline.

  4. Challenge

    The Last Challenge

    Welcome to the final challenge! This is your last chance to experiment in the environment. Clicking Finish Lab will end this little world that flittered into existence just for you.

About the author

Shimon Brathwaite is a seven-year cybersecurity professional with extensive experience in Incident Response, Vulnerability Management, Identity and Access Management and Consulting.

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