CIS Controls Auditing & Assurance
Independent auditing through the CIS Controls foundational framework — a clear, prioritized path to compliance, assurance, and a measurable security posture.
rootcauseforensic.com · Vail, Arizona
Audit with rigor.
Forensically investigate. Respond with precision.
Secure the mission.
CIS Controls Auditing | Compliance & Assurance | Digital Forensics | Incident Response
Based in Vail, Arizona, rootcauseforensic.com delivers independent auditing for government and public-sector agencies.Grounded in the CIS Controls foundational framework.Clear, defensible assurance for the missions that serve the public.
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● systems nominalcase #RCF-2026● 4 domains monitored
Core Capabilities
Operational Capabilities
Independent auditing and highly skilled professionals across the full spectrum of digital forensics and cyber operations — from CIS Controls-based assurance for public-sector agencies to first-response triage and long-term program development.
Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR)
End-to-end investigation and containment across endpoints, networks, and cloud. Preserve evidence while restoring operations under pressure.
Enterprise-Scale Forensic Triage
Rapid, prioritized triage across thousands of hosts. Focus responders on the systems that matter before evidence degrades.
Cloud Forensics & Incident Response
Forensic collection and analysis across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS — from identity compromise to container and workload intrusion.
Memory Forensics
Deep volatile-memory analysis to recover in-memory artifacts, injected code, and attacker tooling that never touches disk.
Malware Analysis & Reverse Engineering
Static and dynamic analysis of malicious binaries and implants to determine capability, intent, and attribution.
Threat Hunting & Adversary Analysis
Proactive, hypothesis-driven hunting and adversary profiling to surface intrusions before they become incidents.
Cyber Operations
Offensive and defensive cyber operations delivered with discipline, precision, and a clear legal and ethical framework.
Purple-Team Operations
Collaborative red-versus-blue engagements that pressure-test defenses and turn findings into measurable improvements.
Forensic Readiness & Program Development
Design and stand up forensic and incident-response programs so organizations are prepared before the next event.
Cyber Workforce Development
Build and mature skilled cyber teams through structured development, hiring support, and capability growth.
Technical Training, Mentorship & Team Development
Hands-on technical training and mentorship that elevate individual analysts and strengthen the teams around them.
Forensic Playbooks & Investigative Methodologies
Codified playbooks and repeatable methodologies that standardize rigor and accelerate every engagement.
Why Us
What Differentiates rootcauseforensic.com
We are not generalists. Every engagement is led by operators who combine advanced academic training, industry-recognized certifications, and real-world operational experience — engineered to close the gap between technical depth and mission requirements, and to give public-sector clients the defensible assurance they need.
CIS Controls-Based Auditing for Public Sector
Independent, framework-grounded auditing through the CIS Controls foundational framework — defensible assurance and a clear, prioritized path to compliance for government and public-sector agencies.
Advanced Academic Training
Graduate-level education in information security engineering and cloud forensics. Rigorous, peer-reviewed methodology — not ad-hoc tooling.
Industry-Recognized Certifications
CISSP and GCFA anchor a credential stack spanning digital forensics, incident response, cloud, and machine learning — validated against the industry's most demanding standards.
Operational Experience
Hands-on work inside cleared, mission-critical environments where precision, discretion, and defensible process are non-negotiable.
Mission-Focused Workforce Development
A deliberate commitment to building and sustaining the next generation of cyber operators — aligning training investment directly with operational mission needs.
Credentials
Verified depth, end to end
From cleared access to graduate study to the CISSP and GCFA certifications, the credential stack is built to hold up under scrutiny — because it has to.
Clearance
TS/SCI with CI Polygraph
Graduate Certificate
Cloud Forensics & Incident Response
Graduate Degree
Master of Science in Information Security Engineering (MSISE)
Undergraduate Degree
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
CISSP
ISC2
GCFA
SANS
GCPM
GIAC
GMLE
GIAC
GCIA
GIAC
Digital Forensics & Incident ResponseCloud SecurityMachine Learning
The Bridge
This combination provides a unique ability to bridge the gap between advanced technical training and operational mission requirements.
Theory without fieldcraft is academic.
Fieldcraft without theory is guesswork.
rootcauseforensic.com operates where the two converge — translating deep technical capability into outcomes that hold up in the environments that matter most.
Mission-Focused Workforce Development
Building the bench that operates when it matters
The challenge facing government and defense contractors is not simply finding cybersecurity personnel — it is finding professionals who can operate effectively in complex investigative environments and reach proficiency quickly. We close that gap by developing practitioners, not just certifications.
01
Build Capable Teams
Assemble technically capable forensic and incident-response teams that hold ground under pressure — from triage through full-scale investigation.
Focus area02
Hands-On Mentorship
Develop junior and mid-level personnel through direct, hands-on mentorship that accelerates judgment and sharpens investigative instincts.
Focus area03
Repeatable Methodologies
Establish repeatable investigative methodologies so every engagement follows a disciplined, defensible process — not improvisation.
Focus area04
Realistic Scenarios
Integrate training with realistic operational scenarios that mirror the environments and adversaries our teams actually confront.
Focus area05
Enterprise & Government Readiness
Develop personnel capable of supporting enterprise and government environments, where compliance, chain of custody, and scale are non-negotiable.
Focus area06
Career Progression Pathways
Create pathways for highly motivated cyber professionals to progress into advanced technical and leadership roles — and stay.
Focus areaPractitioner-driven by design. Every focus area is built around operators who have worked complex investigations — so the people we develop reach proficiency quickly and perform in the field, not just in the classroom.
Forensic Methodology
The CPET Framework
Every investigation runs on a disciplined four-stage methodology — Collect, Preserve, Examine, Transfer — built for consistency, defensibility, repeatability, and operational effectiveness.
Acquire relevant data and evidence using validated forensic tools and approved acquisition methods.
Maintain evidence integrity while respecting chain of custody and order of volatility.
Conduct deep-dive forensic analysis, correlate artifacts, analyze memory and malware, and map adversary behavior.
Convert investigative findings into actionable intelligence, technical reporting, and stakeholder-ready deliverables.
Why CPETThe CPET framework is designed to promote consistency, defensibility, repeatability, and operational effectiveness across every forensic investigation.
Implementation Groups
A maturity ladder for cyber and forensic operations
Three implementation groups take organizations from foundational readiness to advanced, intelligence-driven security — each with integrated mission effects across forensics, legal, cyber operations, and intelligence.
- Forensic triage teams gain a repeatable baseline for first-response collection and preservation.
- Legal and compliance teams can defend foundational security and evidence-handling posture.
- Law-enforcement and counterintelligence partners receive consistent baseline reporting.
- Cyber operations gain clear visibility into the organization's foundational posture.
- Deeper malware triage and behavioral analysis surface adversary intent and capability.
- Chain-of-custody and cross-border compliance keep evidence defensible across jurisdictions.
- Coordinated defensive cyber operations align response across teams and partners.
- Forensic outputs integrate directly into ongoing investigations and decision-making.
- Operations remain resilient to short service interruptions without losing investigative continuity.
- Countering targeted adversaries and zero-day or advanced persistent threats.
- Every investigative action remains defensible, traceable, and admissible.
- Fused forensic, operational, and threat intelligence drives strategic decisions.
- Availability, confidentiality, and integrity of highly sensitive systems are preserved.
Maturity progression
IG1 → IG2 → IG3FoundationalOperationalAdvanced
- The Pyramid of Pain frames maturity from identifying defended assets up to collaborating with trusted partners to disrupt adversary campaigns.
- MITRE ATT&CK Navigator maps adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures and exposes visibility gaps.
- DeTT&ct assesses data source visibility and blind spots across the environment.
- Forensic artifact creation is introduced as frameworks are applied, strengthening investigative depth.
- Legal participation ensures processes from evidence handling to cross-border data sharing remain defensible, compliant, and operationally sound.
- Routine meetings validate maturity assessments and refine data source visibility.
- Coordinated forensic artifact development keeps investigations and legal actions aligned.
- The forensic malware triage team applies the Collect, Preserve, Examine, Transfer (CPET) methodology to validate techniques and refine incident-response tooling.
- Validated artifacts and findings are formally transferred with full chain-of-custody documentation maintained from the start of the investigation.
- Evidence remains admissible, traceable, and actionable throughout the lifecycle.
- Maturity tiers map directly to organizational risk and investment priorities.
- Leadership decisions are grounded in measurable, repeatable assessments rather than guesswork.
- Every framework, working group, and validation effort feeds a single, defensible decision picture.
Repeatable by designEvery framework, working group, and validation effort is built on repeatable processes independent of any single tool, dashboard, or vendor solution — ensuring resilience, interoperability, and defensibility across the maturity ladder.
Web3 Security
Securing the Next-Generation Attack Surface
The discipline extends across the modern web stack — from the cryptographic foundations of DNS to the multiplexed transport of HTTP/2 and the emerging trust boundaries of decentralized infrastructure.
- Digitally signed records authenticate the origin and integrity of DNS responses, defeating forged answers.
- Mitigates cache-poisoning and man-in-the-middle redirection at the resolution layer.
- Provides a cryptographic audit trail that strengthens attribution and evidence integrity during investigation.
- TLS-by-default and strict header handling reduce downgrade and request-smuggling vectors.
- Multiplexed streams and binary framing change how traffic is captured, decoded, and reconstructed.
- Stream and frame semantics matter to forensic reconstruction of sessions and exfiltration paths.
- On-chain records and wallet activity create persistent, tamper-evident artifacts for investigation.
- Smart-contract logic and trust boundaries introduce novel compromise and abuse surfaces.
- Decentralized infrastructure demands new collection, attribution, and chain-of-custody methods.
Forensic LensEvery layer of the modern web stack — from signed DNS records to multiplexed transport and decentralized ledgers — produces persistent, tamper-evident artifacts that rootcauseforensic.com treats as first-class evidence in investigation, attribution, and secure operations.
Value to Prime Contractors
A Force Multiplier, Not a Replacement
rootcauseforensic.com gives prime contractors specialized capabilities that complement existing cyber programs — without requiring the prime to build them from the ground up. We integrate into your delivery model as a trusted extension of your team, bringing deep forensic and cyber-operations expertise where and when it is needed.
Specialized DFIR Subcontract Support
Stand up digital forensics and incident-response capability under your contract vehicle — without building the bench from scratch.
Surge Capability for Complex Investigations
Scale response capacity on demand for high-stakes, time-critical investigations where your program needs depth immediately.
Cloud Forensic Expertise
Bring deep IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS forensic collection and analysis to engagements that span modern cloud environments.
Development & Maturation of Forensic Programs
Design, stand up, and mature forensic and incident-response programs so your organization is prepared before the next event.
Technical Workforce Development
Build and grow skilled cyber teams through structured development and capability growth tailored to your mission.
Training & Mentorship of Cyber Personnel
Hands-on technical training and mentorship that elevate individual analysts and strengthen the teams around them.
Advanced Forensic & Incident-Response Support
Deliver advanced analysis and response for the hardest cases — memory forensics, malware, and adversary tradecraft.
Mission-Specific Technical Teams
Assemble specialized teams aligned to a specific mission or operational requirement, ready to deploy with precision.
Investigative Playbooks & Repeatable Processes
Codify investigative playbooks and repeatable methodologies that standardize rigor and accelerate every engagement.
Support for Specialized Cyber Operations
Provide disciplined, precise support for specialized offensive and defensive cyber operations within a clear legal and ethical framework.
The Objective
Our objective is not simply to provide additional personnel.
Our objective is to help primes develop and deploy personnel who are capable of solving difficult mission problems.
Strategic Partnership
Extending mission capability through partnership
rootcauseforensic.com invites strategic relationships with government and defense prime contractors that recognize the value of specialized cybersecurity expertise and workforce development. Together, we build the specialized bench that mission-critical programs depend on.
A sustainable pipeline of specialized talent
Workforce development
We are building a sustainable pipeline of digital forensic investigators, incident responders, threat hunters, reverse engineers, and cyber operators — while simultaneously helping primes expand specialized mission capabilities.
Rather than competing for scarce talent, partners gain access to a continuously developed, operationally proven bench.
Digital Forensic Investigators
01Practitioners who preserve, extract, and analyze digital evidence with defensible chain of custody — from first touch to final report.
Incident Responders
02Operators who contain, eradicate, and recover under active threat — decisive when minutes determine the blast radius.
Threat Hunters
03Analysts who proactively search networks for adversary activity before it becomes a confirmed breach.
Reverse Engineers
04Specialists who deconstruct malware and tooling to understand intent, capability, and attribution.
Cyber Operators
05Mission-ready personnel who execute complex cyber operations with discipline, precision, and operational security.
Specialized expertise, on demand
Prime contractors win and deliver on programs that demand deep, specialized cyber capability.
Our practitioners extend that capability without the overhead of building and retaining it in-house — accelerating proposal strength and program readiness.
Built for the mission
Every partnership is structured around the operational realities of government and defense work — compliance, security clearance readiness, chain of custody, and the discipline required to operate in contested environments.
Through strategic partnerships, rootcauseforensic.com can help bridge the gap between training, talent development, and operational execution.
PartnershipContact Us
Start the conversation with our team
Whether you are facing an active incident, building forensic capability, or exploring a strategic partnership, our team is ready to help. Reach out through the channel that works best for you.
Discreet, mission-focused response
Based in Vail, Arizona, we serve government and public-sector agencies with the operational security and discretion our work demands.
We respond promptly and keep sensitive engagements confidential from first contact.
rootcauseforensic.com · Vail, Arizona
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