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💻 Endpoint detection (EDR)

Velociraptor

DFIR-grade endpoint visibility and live hunting at fleet scale.

Intermediate ⏱ 1–2 hours 💸 Free AGPLv3

Official site →

Why use it

Velociraptor is the open-source DFIR collection platform built by ex-Google IR engineers. Run hunts across hundreds of hosts, collect arbitrary artefacts, and live off the land in a way no traditional EDR allows.

What you get

  • Live remote shell into endpoints
  • Hundreds of pre-built artefacts (browser history, prefetch, AmCache, persistence)
  • VQL — its query language — for custom hunts
  • Fleet-wide hunts that run in minutes
  • Forensic-quality file collection without disrupting the host

System requirements

Cpu4 cores (server)
Ram4 GB (server), 50 MB (agent)
Disk20 GB+ for collected artefacts
OsLinux server, agents on Linux/Win/macOS
DockerYes

Installation

Download the single-binary release. Run ./velociraptor config generate -i to create a config interactively. Start the server: ./velociraptor --config server.yaml frontend. Generate agent installers (MSI, deb, pkg) from the GUI.

Suggested configuration

Enable the standard Windows artefact pack: Sysinternals Autoruns, Prefetch, AmCache, browser history, scheduled tasks. Schedule a daily hunt for new persistence and unsigned binaries in temp directories. Pipe high-confidence findings to TheHive.

Integration ideas

  • Forward alerts to TheHive for case management
  • Pull intel from MISP to feed hunt queries
  • Combine with Wazuh for continuous monitoring + on-demand hunts

Alternatives

  • osquery — Lighter, less hunt-oriented.
  • GRR — Older Google project; Velociraptor is the spiritual successor.

Cyentrix verdict

If you take incident response seriously at home, this is the upgrade after Wazuh. The MITRE-mapped artefacts alone justify it.