A complete operational reference for digital crime units and enterprise security teams — how Hubstream structures a cybercrime investigation from incident intake through attribution, prosecution referral, and intelligence retention.
Every cybercrime investigation moves through six stages — from initial incident report through attribution, legal action, and intelligence retention. Here's how Hubstream structures that journey for digital crime units.
A new investigation opens when an incident is reported — from a victim organization, an internal security team, a law enforcement referral, a CISA or IC3 report, or proactive threat monitoring. Each intake channel captures the incident type, affected systems, observed indicators, and initial impact assessment. The incident is classified by cyber crime category and a case record is created with a priority score.
Investigators secure and collect digital evidence before it can be altered or destroyed — network logs, system images, malware samples, email headers, device data, and financial transaction records. Legal process is initiated in parallel: subpoenas to ISPs, cloud providers, and payment platforms for subscriber records, account activity, and IP logs. All evidence is logged with chain-of-custody tracking from the moment of collection.
Digital forensic analysis reconstructs exactly what happened — attack vector, tools and malware used, compromised systems, data accessed or exfiltrated, and attacker persistence mechanisms. IP addresses, domains, email accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, and device identifiers are analyzed and enriched using threat intelligence feeds. The attack timeline is built from log correlation, identifying initial access, lateral movement, and exfiltration events. Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) are extracted and linked to known threat actor profiles.
Investigators build a threat actor profile from infrastructure, TTPs, and online identities discovered during forensic analysis. OSINT research and dark web monitoring surface aliases, forums, marketplaces, and communication channels linked to the suspect. Link analysis connects the threat actor to prior incidents, known associates, criminal infrastructure (bulletproof hosting, C2 servers, crypto wallets), and victim organizations across unrelated cases. Related investigations are merged or cross-referenced to build a complete picture of threat actor activity.
With a suspect attributed, legal action proceeds — search warrants for devices and accounts, asset freezes on cryptocurrency wallets, domain seizures, and international legal assistance requests (MLATs). Hubstream tracks all legal authorities and their status. When an arrest is made or a prosecution referral is submitted, the system auto-generates the case package: incident timeline, evidence inventory, forensic analysis summary, and victim impact statement — formatted for the prosecutor, DOJ, or international law enforcement partner.
When a case closes, the outcome is logged — conviction, plea, extradition, case referred to another jurisdiction, or investigation suspended. Threat actor profiles, infrastructure records, and IOCs are retained in the system and remain searchable across future investigations. Analytics dashboards track case outcomes by cybercrime type, investigator caseload, and geographic patterns of victim targeting. Intelligence generated during the investigation feeds the organization's persistent threat picture.
Every entity in Hubstream's Cybercrime Investigation template — what it represents, what fields it holds, and how it connects to the broader case record.
The central record every other entity links to. Tracks the lifecycle of a cybercrime investigation from initial report to case disposition.
An individual or group responsible for or suspected of the cybercrime. May begin as an anonymous actor and be de-anonymized through attribution analysis.
Any digital indicator connected to the crime — an IP address, domain, URL, email address, file hash, or cryptocurrency wallet. The primary entity for link analysis and threat intelligence enrichment.
A social media account, forum profile, marketplace listing, or dark web identity linked to the investigation — as a victim account, suspect alias, or infrastructure pivot point.
A computer, mobile device, server, or other piece of hardware involved in or affected by the crime — seized as evidence, identified from logs, or flagged as attacker infrastructure.
An individual or organization that suffered harm from the cybercrime — financial loss, data breach, service disruption, or reputational damage.
Any file, log, capture, or extracted artifact collected as evidence during the investigation. Maintains chain of custody and forensic integrity documentation.
A financial record tied to the crime — a fraudulent transfer, ransom payment, cryptocurrency transaction, or proceeds of crime. Enables follow-the-money analysis across victim accounts and threat actor wallets.
A captured communication between parties — phishing email, ransom demand, extortion message, or chat log from a dark web forum. Preserved as evidence and linked to sender/recipient profiles.
A structured intelligence product produced from the investigation — a threat actor profile, IOC report, or tactical brief shared with partner agencies or prosecutors.
The relationship paths that surface attribution patterns and connect threat actor infrastructure across investigations — turning isolated incidents into a complete intelligence picture.
IP addresses, domains, email accounts, and cryptocurrency wallets are linked to the threat actor record — building a persistent infrastructure profile that survives case closure and surfaces when the same infrastructure appears in a new incident.
When an IP address, domain, or wallet appears in a new case, Hubstream automatically surfaces every prior case involving that artifact — connecting incidents that were never linked at the time of investigation.
Forum handles, social media accounts, and dark web identities are linked to the threat actor profile — building an identity graph that connects aliases across platforms and helps de-anonymize unknown suspects.
Ransom payments and fraudulent transfers are traced through linked wallet and account records — following the money across exchanges and jurisdictions to identify where proceeds ultimately flow and who controls them.
When a victim organization or individual appears in a new report, prior incidents involving them are surfaced — identifying repeat targeting patterns, previously compromised credentials, or ongoing threat actor access that pre-dates the new report.
Cases involving the same malware family, attack infrastructure, or tactical patterns are linked automatically — helping investigators identify campaign-level activity and attribute multiple incidents to the same threat actor or group.
A device seized as evidence or identified in network logs is linked to both the victim organization and any identified threat actor infrastructure — anchoring the forensic chain between attacker tooling and victim impact.
Phishing emails, ransom demands, and dark web messages are linked to the sender's online profile and digital artifacts — turning individual communications into attribution data that connects the threat actor across channels.
Request a demo and we'll walk you through how this workflow and data model work inside a real Hubstream environment — configured for your team's cyber crime types, jurisdictions, and investigative process.