Introduction

The GateBreak Lab presents a complex macOS compromise scenario that demonstrates the multi-faceted nature of modern cyber attacks. In this investigation, you'll analyze a security incident involving a corporate employee who unknowingly compromised their macOS device after downloading and executing what appeared to be legitimate software from an untrusted online source. This requires you to piece together an attack timeline using various macOS artifacts and forensic tools. You'll examine evidence ranging from browser download records and system logs to file system events and application metadata. The investigation will take you through multiple phases of the attack lifecycle, including initial access, security control bypass, persistence establishment, and data exfiltration activities. Throughout this lab, you'll work with authentic macOS forensic artifacts including SharedFileList files, Unified Logs, FSEvents databases, and application bundles. You'll utilize specialized forensic tools such as macMRU.py for parsing macOS artifacts, unifiedlog_iterator for processing system logs, and various database analysis tools to extract critical evidence from the compromised system. The investigation will challenge your understanding of macOS security architecture, forensic artifact analysis, and timeline reconstruction while providing hands-on experience with real-world attack patterns that security professionals encounter in modern enterprise environments.

Analysis