Chain of Custody

Definitions

1. Chain of Custody is the documented handling history that shows who collected, transferred, stored, and analyzed digital evidence. Security teams use it to enforce trust, reduce exposure, improve detection, or standardize secure operations in production environments. Its value depends on correct configuration, lifecycle management, and surrounding controls, because weak defaults, poor integration, or missing visibility can create gaps that attackers exploit.

   In plain English: Chain of Custody is a security concept or control that helps organizations protect systems, manage trust, and notice suspicious behavior before damage spreads.

   Example: "After the review, the security team rolled out Chain of Custody in the affected environment, documented the operating procedure, and verified through logs and test cases that the control reduced exposure without breaking normal administrative or user workflows."

Related Terms

• Audit Log
• HIPAA
• Credential Rotation
• Audit Trail
• Computer Forensics
• Digital Forensics
• Mobile Device Management
• Blockchain Forensics
• CMMC
• Data Sovereignty
• Digital Chain of Custody
• File Carving
• Forensic Analysis
• Forensic Artifact
• ISO 27001
• ISO 27002
• Memory Dump