You don't belong in DF/IR

Trying to get into DF/IR breaks most people. So, you’re not going to make it.? If you’re offended by the title of this post, good. That’s step one in figuring out you’re probably not cut out for this work.

I’ve seen too many people get excited about “getting into cyber” because they watched a Netflix show or heard that you can work from home in your pajamas and make six figures clicking a few buttons. They think it’s a vibe, an easy ride, or a sticker on a laptop.

It’s not.

DF/IR is not entry-level.

Stop complaining that you can’t get a DF/IR job with your college degree or 40 hours of forensic training. You are expected to be already competent because your case won’t wait for you to catch up. Your case also doesn’t care about excuses of not being sent to training to know this thing, or not being able to take a class in college because it was full, or not being able to afford to spend the time or money to learn the job.

Like any high-caliber selection process, DF/IR is open to anyone with the right mindset and dedication, regardless of who they are. The determining factors are competence vs. incompetence, problem-solver vs. problem-creator, complainer vs. doer.

There are no participation trophies in DF/IR.

Digital Forensics/Incident Response is not for tourists. This isn’t a side hustle. This isn’t a Reddit thread. This is work. Real work. The kind of work where someone’s business, freedom, or life is on the line based on whether you find the right artifact, follow the right lead, make the right call, and back it up with accurately interpreted data for facts that survive in court.

And that’s on a good day.

If you need motivation, DF/IR isn’t for you. If you need reminders, deadlines, or someone to tell you what to do every step of the way, you’re already a liability. If you have an excuse for everything and an answer to nothing, that’s your answer: nothing. Self-reliance and the ability to independently solve problems are essential in DF/IR. If you are constantly asking ‘how-do-I’ questions, the answer is always going to be to figure it out yourself.

Still interested? Cool. Let me paint you a better picture.

You’re working a case. The evidence is scattered across four mobile devices, a burner laptop, a remote server in another country, and an encrypted messaging app. You’re cross-referencing logs, image metadata, and partial timestamps, and maybe, just maybe, you find a link that ties it all together. That’s Tuesday.

Then one day, maybe a month later or even more than a year later, you go to court. You get cross-examined by an attorney who makes you feel their only job is to make you look incompetent. Your credibility, training, and methodology are all under fire.

I hope your report wasn’t half-assed. I hope you interpreted the data correctly and can convey the story. And I hope you don’t fold under pressure and wreck it all, because then there will be irreparable injustice for the victims.

Do not expect to leave DF/IR the same as you came into it.

Oh, and let’s not forget the content you’ll eventually see. If your stomach turns when someone even mentions crimes against children, human trafficking, abuse, torture, or anything we categorize as “CSAM,” then please, seriously, go find another career. I’m not saying that to be edgy. I’m saying it because it’s real. You will see things you will never, ever forget. Some of us still see them every time we close our eyes. And the sounds…the sounds never go away.

If your biggest fear is dark web malware or ransomware gangs, you haven’t seen the real monsters. The real monsters are walking around with clean records, paying their taxes, and doing unthinkable things behind closed doors and it’s your job to catch them.

And the tools? They don’t do the work. You do. Tools help. They’re essential. But they don’t think. They don’t analyze. They don’t build timelines, ask questions, interview suspects, or find correlations across devices. You do. And if your first instinct when you hit a dead end is to say, “The tool must be broken,” please pack up and go away.

DF/IR takes obsession. Not curiosity. Not interest. Pure, unadulterated obsession. The kind that keeps you up at night replaying case details in your head. The kind that makes you grab a pen at 2 AM because something didn’t sit right, and you need to get it down before it’s lost. The kind that makes you constantly second-guess your findings because you know what it means if you’re wrong.

A friend of mine recently relayed digital forensic testimony he gave in a sexual assault case where the defendant was found guilty and sentenced to 17 years. The recovered deleted digital recording that was played for the jury probably gave the entire courtroom PTSD, which doesn’t compare to what the victim went through. This is important work.

So no, you’re probably not going to make it.

We don’t need any more keyboard warriors, digital tourists, or resume chasers in DF/IR. We need investigators and practitioners. DF/IR needs people with iron stomachs and brains wired to chase answers that don’t want to be found. We need persistence, determination, and the raw grit it takes to figure out what is needed to become competent against any obstacle.

Working in IR and not expecting these types of cases? There's a good chance your non-DF work will hit a DF case just as hard.

For Those Already in DF/IR: Your Role as the Gatekeepers

If you’ve already made it into DF/IR, then you’ve put in the time, fought through the frustration, and built the skills. Now you have a responsibility. Not to make it easier for the next generation, but to ensure only the right people get through. Gatekeeping in DF/IR does not mean keeping out potential. It is the absolute opposite of that. All are welcome. Not all are able.

There is a fine line between nurturing potential while also maintaining high standards and wasting everyone’s time. You need to know the difference.

For those thinking about or working to get into DF/IR

If you're still here, a little angry, maybe even insulted, but more determined than ever, good. If you are eager to spend an ungodly amount of time learning and spend every cent you have left to be shown how to excel, then that’s step two.

Welcome to the tip of the cybersecurity spear.

Source: https://brettshavers.com/brett-s-blog/entry/you-dont-belong-in-df-ir