Swift Response.
Absolute Certainty.
CQ Forensics delivers decisive digital forensics and incident response for ransomware, business email compromise, data theft, and every threat in between. Elite practitioners. No junior handoffs. No black boxes. No guesswork.
Endpoints affected: 14 | Vector: Phishing → Cred harvest
Suspected actor: ALPHV affiliate
✓ 847 GB forensic image captured
✓ Breach counsel notified & engaged
CQ Forensics was founded by two practitioners who have spent their careers at the frontlines of the most demanding cyber incidents in the industry — working alongside breach counsel, law enforcement, insurers, and impacted organizations. We bring that experience to every engagement.
Prepare
Build resilience before the breach. We assess your environment, identify critical gaps, stress-test your IR plan through tabletop exercises, and establish rapid-deployment retainers so your team is ready when seconds count.
Respond
When an incident strikes, our senior investigators mobilize within hours — not days. We contain the threat, preserve forensic evidence, and coordinate with your legal, insurance, and executive teams in real time throughout the engagement.
Recover & Fortify
We restore operations quickly and securely, eliminate the root cause permanently, and deliver a comprehensive report built for legal proceedings, regulators, and insurers. Every incident ends with a stronger environment.
Every engagement is led by senior practitioners — bringing elite-level DFIR experience from CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM X-Force IRIS.
Ransomware Response
Rapid containment and deep forensic investigation of ransomware attacks. We identify the intrusion vector, fully scope the blast radius, support ransom negotiations where appropriate, manage decryption, and lead full environment remediation so you emerge stronger.
Get Help Now →Business Email Compromise
Full-scope BEC investigations covering account takeover, fraudulent wire transfer schemes, and corporate espionage. We trace attacker activity, preserve evidence for law enforcement and insurers, and mitigate ongoing exposure before it escalates further.
Get Help Now →Malware Analysis & IR
Deep-dive forensic analysis of malware infections including APT intrusions, trojans, spyware, infostealers, and wipers. We reconstruct the complete attack timeline and extract actionable threat intelligence for detection hardening.
Get Help Now →Data Theft Investigations
When sensitive data is exfiltrated, we determine exactly what was taken, by whom, via which path, and over what timeframe. Our reports are purpose-built for legal proceedings, mandatory regulatory breach notifications, and insurance claim submissions.
Get Help Now →Restoration & Remediation
From rebuilding compromised infrastructure to implementing hardened post-incident configurations, our remediation team minimizes business interruption and returns you to full operation — securely and with evidence of eradication.
Get Help Now →IR Preparedness & Retainer
Be breach-ready before it happens. Our preparedness engagements include gap assessments, IR plan development, tabletop exercises, and retainer services that guarantee priority engagement and pre-authorized response protocols.
Learn More →CQ Forensics was founded by two veterans who have stood at the frontlines of some of the most demanding cyber incidents in the industry. When you engage us, you get them — not junior analysts.
A widely respected DFIR veteran, Joey has spent his career responding to some of the most severe cyber incidents affecting Fortune 500 companies, critical infrastructure, and global enterprises. Recognized with the CSO Hall of Fame award for outstanding leadership in cybersecurity, Joey brings rare depth of field — the kind only earned through thousands of hours in active incident environments.
A multi-discipline cybersecurity engineer, builder, and strategic leader, Derek brings deep technical expertise across red team operations, security architecture, penetration testing, and enterprise security management. A decorated U.S. Air Force veteran, Derek has held senior security roles at Amazon, NCC Group, and TFI International, and has served as an expert witness in computer forensics proceedings.
Every principle we operate by was forged in the field — through years of responding to catastrophic incidents at some of the most respected firms in the industry, working alongside breach counsel, insurers, and impacted organizations.
Senior-Only Delivery
No junior handoffs. Every CQ Forensics engagement is personally led by one of our two founders — both of whom bring elite, career-defining DFIR experience. You get our best — every time.
Insurance & Legal Ready
Our documentation workflows are purpose-built for cyber insurance claims and legal proceedings — reducing friction and delivering the defensible evidence chain your counsel needs.
Full Transparency
No black boxes. You always know the investigation status, scope of impact, and the next step — with direct access to your lead investigator, not an account manager.
Empathy at Every Stage
A cyber incident is one of the most stressful events an organization can face. We bring both technical precision and genuine care for the people affected — not just the systems.
A battle-tested five-phase methodology refined across thousands of incidents — optimized for speed, legal defensibility, and lasting resilience.
CQ Forensics’ methodology, reporting, and delivery are purpose-designed to serve every stakeholder in the cyber incident ecosystem — from first call through final claim.
Law Firms & Breach Counsel
We work seamlessly alongside breach counsel, providing legally privileged forensic investigations, attorney-directed reporting, and expert testimony-ready documentation that supports your litigation and advisory work.
Partner With Us →Insurance Carriers & Brokers
Our claims-ready documentation, structured intake workflows, and rapid containment timelines reduce business interruption and accelerate the claims lifecycle — improving outcomes for all stakeholders.
Partner With Us →Healthcare Organizations
We understand HIPAA, breach notification obligations, and the operational pressures facing healthcare providers. Our team has responded to some of the most complex healthcare cyber incidents in the country.
Get Help →Government & Public Sector
CQ Forensics brings the rigorous standards and operational discretion required for government and public-sector incident response, including federal compliance frameworks and law enforcement coordination.
Get Help →Enterprise & Mid-Market
From Fortune 500 enterprises to fast-growing mid-market companies, we deliver senior-led DFIR capabilities that scale to your environment — with the transparency and speed large-scale incidents demand.
Get Help →MSSPs & Technology Partners
Looking to offer DFIR to your client base without building an in-house capability? CQ Forensics operates as a white-label and referral partner for managed security providers who need elite IR on demand.
Become a Partner →Practical DFIR guidance and threat intelligence drawn from our founders' combined decades of frontline incident response experience.
The Anatomy of a Modern Ransomware Intrusion
From initial access to double extortion — how today's ransomware groups operate and what the forensic evidence tells us about dwell times, lateral movement, and data staging.
Read More →BEC in 2025: Why Traditional Email Security Fails
Business email compromise remains one of the highest-impact threats facing organizations of all sizes. Our practitioners break down the evolving tactics and what organizations consistently miss.
Read More →Building an IR Plan That Actually Works
Most IR plans fail not because of bad documentation — but because they were never pressure-tested. Here's what we look for when reviewing a client's preparedness posture before an incident occurs.
Read More →Everything you need to know about working with CQ Forensics.
Experiencing an Incident?
Our senior investigators are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every minute of dwell time matters — contact us now.
Get in Touch
Complete the form below and a senior member of our team will respond within 2 hours. For active incidents, please call our hotline directly.