Application of the Spectra of Graphs in Network Forensics

Abstract

Network forensics is a discipline of growing importance. The ability to mathematically evaluate network intrusion incidents can substantially improve investigations. Graph theory is a robust mathematical tool that is readily applied to network traffic and has had been used in a limited fashion for network forensics. However, the full scope of graph theory has not previously been applied to network forensics. In particular, spectral graph theory has not been previously utilized for analyzing network forensics. This paper describes the application of spectral graph theory to specific network intrusion issues. This provides a mathematical tool to be utilized in network forensics. A case study is also utilized to demonstrate precisely how the methodology described in this paper should but utilized in an actual case.