Avian Cloud is a Platform-as-a-Service to perform digital investigations. 

Platform-as-a-Service means that Avian Cloud provides a true cloud-based digital investigations lab capability to organizations that values efficiency, quality and security. Avian Cloud includes innovative built-in user tools, automations, integrations, infrastructure and 3rd party technology to match the comprehensiveness and security of a traditional labs, coupled with the flexibility of the Cloud. In addition, Avian Cloud comes with expert support and global professional services options. 

Isolated cloud-based Digital Forensics & eDiscovery labs 

Avian Cloud offers fully isolated cloud tenants and user directories for each subscription. This means:

• Unique security-by-design to avoiding data leaks across subscribers
• Flexibility in scale-up and down and geographic location of data and servers.
  
• Unique encryption keys for each subscription​

This architecture is unique in the marketplace and positions Avian Cloud as the most secure and flexible solution for cloud-based digital forensics and eDiscovery.​

MyApps user portal

The MyApps portal is the entry-point for all users. From here users access the apps they have been assigned by the subscription administrator, both browser-based and desktop applications. Desktop applications are accessible from a Remote Desktop feature that runs from the browser without any further installation.

Working with data

Avian Cloud makes it easy to move data in and out of the cloud. We offer a range of different ways to cater to both technical and non-technical approaches. 

1. Data Transfer app

Avian Cloud comes with an easy-to-use and fast browser-based upload and download app. Simply drag and drop files into the app and see files upload at speeds of more than 100 MB/sec. 

2. Acquisitions from within Avian Cloud

Utilizing the capabilities of the tools offered for embedding in the Avian Cloud subscription, the subscriber can perform data acquisitions from source systems, like M365, G-Suite, Facebook, WhatsApp, Cloudflare, SAP, Salesforce, HubSpot, and even personal devices, like mobile phones, tablets and laptops.  

Here's an example of how it would be done using Belkasoft from within Avian Cloud to perform remote acquisitions: https://belkasoft.com/remote-acquisition-digital-devices 

3. Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer

As we base our storage architecture and user identities on Microsoft Azure we also support the ability to use Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer, a powerful desktop tool to perform bulk actions again a Microsoft Azure storage account.

4. APIs to automate storage actions

Leveraging Microsoft Azure's REST API users of Avian Cloud achieve programmatic access to the Blob, Queue, Table, and File services in Avian Cloud.

All storage services are accessible via REST APIs. Storage services are securely accessed over the Internet from any application that can send an HTTPS request and receive an HTTPS response.

Result: Easy access to Shared Storage

Once data is moved to Avian Cloud the data can be freely moved around by the subscription administrator. All internal servers and applications in the Avian Cloud have access to the shared storage and that way users can also be given access in an easy and controlled fashion.

User Management

Avian Cloud makes it easy to collaborate. Here's how:

User Invitations and Authorizations

In Avian Cloud, it's easy to start collaborating. The subscriber invites other users by entering their email addresses and assigning applications they should have access to. 

Then the user gets an invitation email and is created in the subscription tenant directory once he or she login for the first time. The user does not need to provide separate credentials because Avian Cloud recognizes the user's identity using the user's corporate Microsoft account.  

Automated Cross-Application User Authorizations

Having access to an application is only one part of the authentication. The applications often have separate internal authorization mechanisms ensuring that a user is only rewarded access to the cases and data the user is assigned to. 

Normally, this requires manual administration and subsequent wait time for the user. In Avian Cloud, automated authorizations assignment ensures that if the user is assigned to a case in the case management system, then the user is automatically given access to the case data in other applications as well. Once the case is closed then the user's access to the case is withdrawn. This concept is also known as SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management).

Centralized logging, monitoring and alert.

Industrializing Digital Forensics and eDiscovery workflows is key to achieving stability and efficiency in high-performance labs. 

Avian Cloud includes a separate logging, monitoring and alert component: 

Logging

The logging feature makes sure that both system and audit logs are consolidated centrally on the subscription tenant for compliance and quick troubleshooting. Examples of logs are system event logs, e.g. Windows Event Logs, and Linux System Logs (syslog), OS performance logs (CPU, Free Storage, Memory usage, etc.), application logs (error logs, start/stop actions, etc.), workflow logs (processing queue and job events), and audit logs (case actions, processing, searches, tagging, exports, etc.)   

All logs entries are consolidated into a coherent data stream and accessible in an easy-to-use search, filtering and review user interface.

Monitoring

Avian Cloud includes ready-to-use dashboard to monitor systems health and workflow progress and performance. This makes it easy to spot trends or irregularities and jump directly into an immersive troubleshooting experience. The outcome might be a realization of an automated workflow that needs adjustment or confirming the progress of a case in order to let stakeholders know that data is ready for review. 

Alerts

Avian Cloud includes a flexible alert feature that will alert the subscriber admin about issues that he or she needs to tend to, e.g. lack of free storage, sign in problems due to inadequate number of user licenses, etc. The subscriber may also define their own alert and choose if Avian should also receive the alerts in order to provide proactive support. 

Scalability built-in

By design, Avian Cloud is almost infinitely scalable. Here's how:

Infrastructure

Built on robust cloud infrastructure, Avian Cloud is able to scale hardware ressources in no time, e.g. additional processing power, additional data storage, or additional labs in a different geographic location. The options are endless. 

Technology availability

Most investigations and legal ops teams acknowledge that a single technology vendor cannot solve all of the challenges they may have. 

Avian Cloud offers technology from 30+ technology vendors, each leading in their way.  Avian Cloud offers flexibility from having multiple options to choose from, to fit the challenge and the budget of the subscriber. 

Often having two separate technologies with overlapping features is also required in order to perform dual-tool validation. 

Number of user licenses

While Avian Cloud has embedded features that allow for an unlimited number of users, most embedded 3rd party technologies are limited to a number of named or concurrent users. Also, some technologies limit usage based on the size of infrastructure, number of instances, etc. Avian Cloud makes it easy to provision additional user licenses and also reduce when required, subject to license terms of the vendor.

One subscription = Easy

Avian Cloud helps reduce administrative overhead for easy administration, and provides a transparent Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The Avian Cloud subscription covers licenses, infrastructure, support and maintenance, even professional services cost. This makes it easy for the procurement department to manage, easy for the finance department to budget for, and for the investigations and legal teams to focus on real matters, rather than bureaucracy. 

Choose from a template or a tailored offer

In Avian Cloud, we have made three templates for you to choos, whether you are a one-man army, a small dedicated team, or an Enterprise customer with advanced requirements. 

Avian Cloud is completely modular in its configuration so that we can customize an offer to you consisting of the capabilities, technologies and scale that you require. Then you can deploy that offer automatically once you accept. 

Comply with standards easily

Avian Cloud enables you to easily comply with industry standards, e.g. ISO 27001, GDPR, NIS2 and ISO17025.

Information Security and Privacy

In Avian Cloud the subscriber is the data controller assigning Avian Cloud as a data processor. This means that Avian Cloud is a platform for processing only the data that the subscriber chooses to upload to Avian Cloud.

The isolated architecture and state-of-the-art security mechanisms, e.g. advanced access controls and end-to-end encryption makes sure you comply with the most stringent requirements. In addition, jurisdiction challenges is handled by deploying to the geographic location required for compliance.

Since data is encrypted by our own encryption keys, the cloud provider does not have access to interception. This is further hardened by Confidential Computing options that enables encryption of data even as it passed virtualization layers all the way to the chip-level.  

ISO 17025 and CJIS for Digital Forensics and eDiscovery

In some jurisdictions, most notably in the UK, the authorities are mandated ISO 17025 compliance. In the US many government agencies and law enforcement choose to adhere to FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy, CJIS. Avian Cloud makes it easy to implement and adhere to both ISO17025 and CJIS through its unique architecture and using integrated case management tools, e.g. CASEY, LIMA or NIMBUS, for full compliance.  

In Summary

Avian Cloud provides the most comprehensive and flexible solution for cloud-based digital forensics labs. Coupled with almost instant deployment, unique collaboration features and market-leading security it's easy to get started. 

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