What is Live Acquisition?

Live acquisition is a digital forensics process that collects data from a device while the operating system remains running. Investigators use this process to capture volatile information that may disappear when a system shuts down, such as active processes, network connections, memory contents, and logged-in user sessions. Live acquisition plays an important role in cybersecurity investigations because it helps preserve evidence that traditional offline analysis may miss.

Why do investigators collect data from active systems?

Some forms of digital evidence exist only while a system remains powered on. If investigators immediately shut down a device, important information may be lost permanently.

It helps preserve data such as:

• Active network connections
• Running processes
• Memory contents
• Logged-in user sessions
• Open files and applications
• Temporary encryption keys

As a result, investigators often perform the process before powering down a device involved in a security incident.

What types of evidence can live acquisition capture?

Live acquisition focuses on volatile and real-time system information that changes continuously during normal operation. This evidence can provide valuable context during incident response and forensic investigations.

This information can help investigators reconstruct events that occurred before detection.

When is live acquisition commonly used?

Security teams often perform this during active investigations when shutting down a system could destroy valuable evidence. Common scenarios include:

• Malware investigations
• Ransomware incidents
• Insider threat investigations
• Unauthorized access cases
• Incident response activities
• Advanced persistent threat (APT) investigations

The technique is particularly useful when analysts need visibility into active system behavior.

What challenges affect this process?

Although live acquisition can preserve valuable evidence, it also introduces operational and forensic challenges. Investigators must balance evidence collection with system stability and business continuity requirements.

Common challenges include:

• Changes to system state during collection
• Potential evidence contamination
• Large volumes of volatile data
• Time-sensitive acquisition requirements
• Resource consumption on active systems
• Maintaining evidentiary integrity

Consequently, organizations often establish documented forensic procedures to ensure evidence remains reliable and admissible.

How Hexnode supports investigation workflows

Live acquisition activities often occur during active incident response and forensic investigations. Organizations, therefore, require visibility into affected endpoints and access to operational context during response efforts.

Hexnode XDR helps security teams investigate suspicious activity through:

• Endpoint telemetry collection
• Incident visibility and context review
• Endpoint scanning capabilities
• Remote terminal access
• Remote device restart actions
• Agent management workflows

Additionally, Hexnode supports operational control through compliance policies, application management, certificate management, VPN configuration, and access controls across managed endpoints.