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

SEC-C0104 · Incident Response & Forensics

Live Response and Memory Acquisition

Plan a live response. Do not acquire memory during the reading, and do not disable a control.

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

Live Response and Memory Acquisition drafts a read and a plan for a host you administer. The command is not run during the reading. Do not disable antivirus, tamper protection, or the firewall. Do not dump a secret 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 host you administer.
  2. Write why a later read might be needed.
  3. Do not run the command.
  4. Do not disable a control.
  5. Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the statement

Live Response and Memory Acquisition 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 Live Response and Memory Acquisition: The host is yours. The command stays a draft. Controls stay on. Nothing is acquired. And one host is the window.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The host is written. Nothing was run. No control was disabled. No secret is in the note. And a second person can say why it waits. If one of those fails, stop.

# Live-response plan. Do not acquire memory during the reading.
# Do not disable a control.

Before you leave the system

Live Response and Memory Acquisition 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.

More in this cluster

The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.