The New Digital Crime Scene: An Investigator’s Field Guide to Kaspersky’s Windows 11 Forensic Findings

Windows 11 keeps shifting the evidence landscape. Kaspersky’s recent research highlights new and evolving artifacts that change your triage bag, timelines, and hunt playbooks. This field guide turns those findings into a practical checklist for first responders and analysts—no exploit details, just evidence.

Series: CyberDudeBivash DFIR Series — Q4 2025
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Author: CyberDudeBivash — cyberbivash.blogspot.com | Published: Oct 15, 2025

Executive TL;DR

Kaspersky highlights new/changed Windows 11 artifacts that affect triage scope and timelines—especially PCA changes and Windows Search mechanism updates.
AmCache and UserAssist remain high-value for execution evidence; Kaspersky shared fresh guidance and a parsing tool for Amcache.hve.
Action now: Update your collection profiles, enrich with TI lookups, and adopt hunt queries below. Train teams on new artifacts with Windows DFIR coursework.

What Changed in Windows 11 (per Kaspersky research)

PCA (Program Compatibility Assistant) artifacts: structural/behavior changes impact app-launch evidence and timing in 22H2+ and 24H2; adjust your parsers and timelines.
Windows Search mechanism updates: modified behaviors influence query/file access traces; include updated Search DB and related logs in triage.
AmCache / UserAssist reaffirmed: Kaspersky’s new AmCache guidance (with a tool) and UserAssist refresher reinforce execution-evidence pillars.

Source: Kaspersky Securelist Windows 11 forensic artifacts series and tools.

Collector’s Checklist (Update Your Triage Profiles)

Registry & App-Execution: Amcache.hve, UserAssist, ShimCache (AppCompatCache), MUICache, RecentFileCache—ensure parsers handle Win11 formats.
PCA / Launch Evidence: Include PCA DBs noted in latest Win11 research for app-launch correlations.
Search & Content Interaction: Windows Search DB/index logs (updated paths/behaviors per 11); correlate with LNK/Jump Lists.
File System & Activity: $MFT/$J/$LogFile, USN Journal, SRUM, Prefetch (if enabled), RecentDocs, OneDrive/Cloud traces.
Event Logs: Security, Sysmon (if deployed), Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Core, Windows Search, TaskScheduler, PowerShell/ScriptBlock.
Network & Identity: WLAN/NetTrace, RDP/TerminalServices, browser artifacts (profiles, history DBs), Identity logs.

Timeline Strategy: Win11 Nuances

Triangulate execution: Cross-reference AmCache ↔ UserAssist ↔ PCA to reduce false positives on “first run vs. launch context.”
Search activity: Include Windows Search indices to spot “intent” (what a user looked for) tied to file access events.
Cloud traces: Windows 11’s tighter cloud integration means OneDrive/Explorer actions often corroborate presence, exfil, or staging.

Hunting Playbook (Platform-Agnostic Ideas)

Execution Evidence Drift: App appears in UserAssist but missing from AmCache (or vice versa) during a short interval—flag for timestomping or portable-app use.
PCA anomalies: Unexpected PCA entries around high-value apps (VPN, backup, EDR consoles) within compromise windows.
Search-to-Access Paths: Query for sensitive terms shortly before access/deletion events in file logs.

Example hunt ideas (SIEM-agnostic pseudo)

// Cross-checking execution evidence timing (pseudo)
Evidence
| where Artifact in ("AmCache","UserAssist","PCA")
| summarize firstSeen=min(Time), lastSeen=max(Time) by Artifact, App, Host
| evaluate series_fanout(App)
| project App, Host, Artifact, firstSeen, lastSeen
| where abs(datetime_diff("minute", firstSeen, lastSeen)) > 30

// Search → file touch correlation (pseudo)
SearchEvents
| join (FileEvents) on Host
| where FileEvents.Time within (SearchEvents.Time .. SearchEvents.Time + 30m)
| where FileEvents.Path has_any ("\\Documents","\\Desktop","OneDrive")

Tools & Training (Kaspersky & Community)

AmCache-EvilHunter (Kaspersky): parsing & enrichment for Amcache.hve with TI lookups.
UserAssist refresher (Kaspersky Securelist): what it shows and how to use in IR.
Kaspersky Windows Digital Forensics training (Academy/Xtraining).
Chainsaw (community): first-response hunts over event logs & MFT with Sigma rules.

IR Checklist (First 24–48 Hours on Win11)

Preserve: Live response with memory + volatile data; collect registry hives, AmCache, PCA DBs, Search DB, $MFT/$J, SRUM, event logs.
Parse & Enrich: Run AmCache/UserAssist parsers; enrich with TI; dedupe across artifacts; mark time deltas.
Reconstruct Timeline: Align execution, search queries, and file touches; verify with cloud traces.
Hunt & Scope: Apply playbook queries; expand to adjacent hosts via artifact similarities.
Report & Retain: Chain-of-custody, hashes, and immutable storage for legal readiness.

Need a Windows 11 DFIR Triage Pack in 72 Hours?
We customize Win11 collection profiles (AmCache/PCA/Search), build hunt queries, and train responders—mapped to your SIEM and evidence policy.

Affiliate Toolbox (Disclosure)

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Explore the CyberDudeBivash Ecosystem

Windows 11 DFIR services we offer:

Win11 triage profile creation & collection tooling
Evidence timelines with PCA / AmCache / Search correlation
Sigma-backed hunts & first-response playbooks
IR readiness workshops for SOC & legal teams

CyberDudeBivash Threat Index™ — Windows 11 DFIR Blind Spots

Severity

8.9 / 10

Evidence loss risk if profiles aren’t updated

Exploitation

Likely

Attackers adapt faster than collection profiles

Primary Gap

Parser/coverage drift

Win11 artifact changes unaccounted

Index reflects CyberDudeBivash analysis; align with Kaspersky Securelist updates and your local legal requirements. :contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}

Keywords (US/UK/EU high-CPC focus): Windows 11 forensics, Kaspersky Securelist findings, AmCache, UserAssist, PCA changes, Windows Search artifacts, DFIR triage, timeline reconstruction, Sigma hunts, evidence preservation.

References

Kaspersky Securelist — Forensic artifacts in Windows 11 (Win11 PCA & Search changes).
Kaspersky Securelist Archive — Windows 10 EOL & Windows 11 forensic artifacts (series hub).
Kaspersky — AmCache artifact: forensic value (tool & guidance).
Kaspersky — UserAssist forensic value for IR (artifact recap).
Kaspersky Academy — Windows Digital Forensics training.
WithSecure Chainsaw — fast hunts over Windows forensic artefacts with Sigma.

CyberDudeBivash Verdict

The artifact map changed—your playbooks must, too. Update Win11 collection profiles (PCA, Search), double-source execution evidence (AmCache + UserAssist), and wire in Sigma-backed hunts. Train responders against these changes using current Kaspersky DFIR materials and validate with purple-team exercises.

Hashtags:

#CyberDudeBivash #DFIR #Windows11 #Kaspersky #Securelist #Forensics #IncidentResponse #AmCache #UserAssist #PCA #Timeline #Evidence

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