Practical tools for system, network, security, and operations administrators.

SEC-C0103 · Incident Response & Forensics

Evidence Handling and Chain of Custody

Draft a chain-of-custody line. Do not copy evidence into the ticket. Write the name down before you change it.

Updated 25 October 2026 · How-To

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

Evidence Handling and Chain of Custody drafts a form. The form names an item, a person, and a time. The item itself stays where your process says. Do not paste a disk, a mailbox, or a memory image into the note.

Write the system you administer, the name of this change, and the time. A second change waits until this line has been read back.

The browser tool drafts text or reads a paste you already hold. It does not log in, it does not scan a network you do not administer, and it does not apply.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. A sample password is replaced.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the system named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the system, then decide.

Rollback is the file, the record, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

  1. Write the item name.
  2. Write who holds it and when.
  3. Do not paste the evidence.
  4. Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the statement

Evidence Handling and Chain of Custody goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

Decisions to write down

One decision for Evidence Handling and Chain of Custody: The form is a form. The evidence stays put. The holder is a real person. Nothing is collected during the reading. And one item is enough.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The item is named. The holder is named. The evidence is not in the note. Nothing was collected. And a second person can say where the item is. If one of those fails, stop.

# Custody form. Do not paste the evidence into the ticket.

Before you leave the system

Evidence Handling and Chain of Custody ends when the system in the note is the system in the ticket. If it is not, stop.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log in, does not scan, and does not send mail.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you publish because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save. A sample password is replaced. It is not a password you keep.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the scope aloud. If they cannot find it in the ticket, the note is not done.

This page is a planning guide. It is not legal advice, not an audit opinion, not a vendor manual, and not the text of a standard. You do not disable a security control to make a check pass. You do not use the page against a system you do not administer.

Tools for this guide

These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.

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