--- name: extracting-browser-history-artifacts-735bfb6adde1 description: Extract and analyze browser history, cookies, cache, downloads, and bookmarks from Chrome, Firefox, and Edge for forensic evidence of user web activity. domain: cybersecurity subdomain: digital-forensics tags: [forensics, browser-forensics, chrome, firefox, edge, web-history, artifact-extraction] version: "1.0" author: mahipal license: Apache-2.0 --- # Extracting Browser History Artifacts ## When to Use - When investigating user web activity as part of a forensic examination - During insider threat investigations to establish patterns of data exfiltration - When tracing user visits to malicious or policy-violating websites - For correlating browser activity with other forensic artifacts and timelines - When investigating phishing attacks to identify which links were clicked ## Prerequisites - Forensic image or access to user profile directories - SQLite3 for querying browser databases - Hindsight, BrowsingHistoryView, or DB Browser for SQLite - Knowledge of browser artifact file locations per OS - Python 3 with sqlite3 module for automated extraction - Understanding of Chrome, Firefox, and Edge storage formats ## Workflow ### Step 1: Locate Browser Artifact Files ```bash # Mount forensic image mount -o ro,loop,offset=$((2048*512)) /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd /mnt/evidence # Chrome artifact locations (Windows) CHROME_WIN="/mnt/evidence/Users/suspect/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data/Default" # Key files: History, Cookies, Login Data, Web Data, Bookmarks, Preferences, # Cache/, GPUCache/, Local Storage/, Session Storage/, IndexedDB/ # Firefox artifact locations (Windows) FIREFOX_WIN="/mnt/evidence/Users/suspect/AppData/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/*.default-release" # Key files: places.sqlite, cookies.sqlite, formhistory.sqlite, logins.json, # key4.db, sessionstore.jsonlz4, webappsstore.sqlite # Edge (Chromium) artifact locations (Windows) EDGE_WIN="/mnt/evidence/Users/suspect/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Edge/User Data/Default" # Copy artifacts to working directory mkdir -p /cases/case-2024-001/browser/{chrome,firefox,edge} cp -r "$CHROME_WIN"/{History,Cookies,Downloads,"Login Data","Web Data",Bookmarks} \ /cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/ 2>/dev/null cp -r $FIREFOX_WIN/{places.sqlite,cookies.sqlite,formhistory.sqlite,logins.json} \ /cases/case-2024-001/browser/firefox/ 2>/dev/null cp -r "$EDGE_WIN"/{History,Cookies,Downloads} \ /cases/case-2024-001/browser/edge/ 2>/dev/null # Hash artifacts for integrity find /cases/case-2024-001/browser/ -type f -exec sha256sum {} \; \ > /cases/case-2024-001/browser/artifact_hashes.txt ``` ### Step 2: Extract Chrome Browsing History and Downloads ```bash # Query Chrome History database sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/History << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/chrome_history.csv SELECT urls.url, urls.title, datetime(urls.last_visit_time/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS last_visit, urls.visit_count, urls.typed_count, visits.transition & 0xFF AS transition_type FROM urls LEFT JOIN visits ON urls.id = visits.url ORDER BY urls.last_visit_time DESC; SQL # Extract Chrome downloads sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/History << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/chrome_downloads.csv SELECT current_path, tab_url AS source_url, total_bytes, datetime(start_time/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS start_time, datetime(end_time/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS end_time, state, danger_type, mime_type FROM downloads ORDER BY start_time DESC; SQL # Extract Chrome search terms sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/History << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/chrome_searches.csv SELECT term, urls.url, datetime(urls.last_visit_time/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS search_time FROM keyword_search_terms JOIN urls ON keyword_search_terms.url_id = urls.id ORDER BY urls.last_visit_time DESC; SQL ``` ### Step 3: Extract Firefox Browsing History ```bash # Query Firefox places.sqlite for history sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/firefox/places.sqlite << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/firefox_history.csv SELECT moz_places.url, moz_places.title, datetime(moz_historyvisits.visit_date/1000000, 'unixepoch') AS visit_date, moz_places.visit_count, moz_historyvisits.visit_type FROM moz_places JOIN moz_historyvisits ON moz_places.id = moz_historyvisits.place_id ORDER BY moz_historyvisits.visit_date DESC; SQL # Extract Firefox bookmarks sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/firefox/places.sqlite << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/firefox_bookmarks.csv SELECT moz_bookmarks.title, moz_places.url, datetime(moz_bookmarks.dateAdded/1000000, 'unixepoch') AS date_added, datetime(moz_bookmarks.lastModified/1000000, 'unixepoch') AS last_modified FROM moz_bookmarks JOIN moz_places ON moz_bookmarks.fk = moz_places.id WHERE moz_bookmarks.type = 1 ORDER BY moz_bookmarks.dateAdded DESC; SQL # Extract Firefox form history (search terms, form fills) sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/firefox/formhistory.sqlite << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/firefox_forms.csv SELECT fieldname, value, timesUsed, datetime(firstUsed/1000000, 'unixepoch') AS first_used, datetime(lastUsed/1000000, 'unixepoch') AS last_used FROM moz_formhistory ORDER BY lastUsed DESC; SQL ``` ### Step 4: Extract Cookies and Stored Credentials ```bash # Extract Chrome cookies sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/Cookies << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/chrome_cookies.csv SELECT host_key, name, path, datetime(creation_utc/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS created, datetime(expires_utc/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS expires, datetime(last_access_utc/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS last_access, is_secure, is_httponly, is_persistent FROM cookies ORDER BY last_access_utc DESC; SQL # Extract Firefox cookies sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/firefox/cookies.sqlite << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/firefox_cookies.csv SELECT host, name, path, datetime(creationTime/1000000, 'unixepoch') AS created, datetime(expiry, 'unixepoch') AS expires, datetime(lastAccessed/1000000, 'unixepoch') AS last_access, isSecure, isHttpOnly FROM moz_cookies ORDER BY lastAccessed DESC; SQL # Note: Chrome Login Data is encrypted with DPAPI (Windows) or keychain (Mac) # Extract stored login URLs (passwords are encrypted) sqlite3 /cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/"Login Data" << 'SQL' .headers on .mode csv .output /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/chrome_logins.csv SELECT origin_url, action_url, username_value, datetime(date_created/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS date_created, datetime(date_last_used/1000000-11644473600, 'unixepoch') AS date_last_used, times_used FROM logins ORDER BY date_last_used DESC; SQL ``` ### Step 5: Use Hindsight for Comprehensive Chrome Analysis ```bash # Install Hindsight pip install pyhindsight # Run Hindsight against Chrome profile hindsight -i "/cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/" \ -o /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/hindsight_report \ -f xlsx # Hindsight automatically extracts: # - Browsing history with timestamps # - Downloads with source URLs # - Cookies with decryption (where possible) # - Cache records # - Local Storage entries # - Autofill data # - Saved passwords (encrypted) # - Preferences and extensions # - Session/tab recovery data # For JSONL output (easier to parse) hindsight -i "/cases/case-2024-001/browser/chrome/" \ -o /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/hindsight_report \ -f jsonl ``` ## Key Concepts | Concept | Description | |---------|-------------| | Chrome timestamp | Microseconds since January 1, 1601 (WebKit/Chrome epoch) | | Firefox timestamp | Microseconds since January 1, 1970 (Unix epoch in microseconds) | | Transition types | How a URL was accessed: typed (1), link (0), bookmark (1), redirect (5/6) | | DPAPI encryption | Windows Data Protection API encrypting stored passwords and cookies | | places.sqlite | Firefox combined history and bookmark database | | SQLite WAL | Write-Ahead Log that may contain recently deleted browser records | | Session restore | Browser data preserving open tabs across restarts | | IndexedDB | Browser-based database that may contain web application data | ## Tools & Systems | Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | Hindsight | Comprehensive Chrome/Chromium forensic analysis tool | | sqlite3 | Command-line SQLite database query tool | | DB Browser for SQLite | GUI tool for browsing SQLite databases | | BrowsingHistoryView | NirSoft tool for viewing browser history across all browsers | | ChromeCacheView | NirSoft tool for examining Chrome cache contents | | MZCacheView | NirSoft tool for Firefox cache analysis | | KAPE | Automated artifact collection including browser data | | Autopsy | Full forensic platform with browser artifact ingest modules | ## Common Scenarios **Scenario 1: Phishing Investigation** Extract browser history around the reported phishing timeframe, identify the phishing URL that was visited, check downloads for malicious attachments, examine cookies for session tokens that may have been stolen, correlate with email header analysis. **Scenario 2: Data Exfiltration via Cloud Services** Search history for cloud storage URLs (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Mega), examine downloads and uploads, check form history for file names entered, review cookies for active cloud service sessions during the investigation period. **Scenario 3: Policy Violation Investigation** Extract complete browsing history for the investigation period, categorize sites visited, identify access to prohibited content categories, document timestamps and visit duration, correlate with network proxy logs for verification. **Scenario 4: Malware Delivery Vector Analysis** Trace the chain of redirects leading to a drive-by download, examine the downloads database for the malware payload, check cache for exploit kit landing pages, identify the initial referrer URL that started the infection chain. ## Output Format ``` Browser Forensics Summary: User Profile: suspect (Windows 10) Browsers Found: Chrome 120, Firefox 121, Edge 120 Chrome Analysis: History Entries: 12,456 Downloads: 234 Saved Passwords: 67 sites (encrypted) Cookies: 3,456 Bookmarks: 89 Firefox Analysis: History Entries: 5,678 Form Entries: 234 Bookmarks: 45 Cookies: 1,234 Suspicious Findings: - Visited known phishing URL at 2024-01-15 14:32 UTC - Downloaded "invoice_update.exe" from suspicious domain - Cloud storage (mega.nz) accessed 15 times in 2-hour window - Search queries: "how to encrypt files", "secure file transfer" Reports: Chrome History: /analysis/chrome_history.csv Firefox History: /analysis/firefox_history.csv Full Report: /analysis/hindsight_report.xlsx ``` --- Source attribution: pinkpixel-dev Original project: https://github.com/pinkpixel-dev/skills-collection-1/blob/dc709653773653302e333a45d3b6f3b70fdff8f8/SKILLS/extracting-browser-history-artifacts/SKILL.md License: Apache-2.0 License information: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 Original upstream instructions; 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See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. # Mega AI Hub resource metadata Creator / publisher: pinkpixel-dev Original project: https://github.com/pinkpixel-dev/skills-collection-1/blob/dc709653773653302e333a45d3b6f3b70fdff8f8/SKILLS/extracting-browser-history-artifacts/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Data & Analytics, Education & Research Roles: Data Analyst, Researcher Specialties: API, Testing Tools: SQLite Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: 4eec0b38465d77e1e5ca6bda8f8b7f8616ead32cc430b4812da3eb2f6af56c29