RegRipper Value Proposition

I recently posted to LinkedIn, asking my network for their input regarding the value proposition of RegRipper; specifically, how is RegRipper v3.0 of "value" to them, how does it enhance their work? I did this because I really wanted to get the perspective of folks who use RegRipper; what I do with RegRipper could be referred to as both "maintain" and "abuse". Just kidding, but the point is that I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I'm not a "typical user" of RegRipper...and that's the perspective I was looking for.

Unfortunately, things didn't go the way I'd hoped. The direct question of "what is the value proposition of RegRipper v3.0" was not directly answered. Other ideas came in, but what I wasn't getting was the perspective of folks who use the tool. As such, I thought I'd try something a little different...I thought I'd share my perspective.

From my perspective, and based on the original intent of RegRipper when it was first released in 2008, the value proposition for RegRipper consists of:

Development of Intrusion Intel
When an analyst finds something new, either through research, review of open reporting, or through their investigative process, they can write a plugin to address the finding, and include references, statements/comments, etc.

For example, several years ago, I read about Project Taj Mahal, and found it fascinating how simple it was to modify the Registry to "tell" printers to not delete copies of printed jobs. This provides an investigator the opportunity to detect a potential insider threat, just as much as it provides a threat actor with a means of data collection. I wrote a plugin for it, and now, I can run it either individually, or just have it run against every investigation, automatically.

Extending Capabilities
Writing a plugin means that the capabilities developed by one analyst are now available to all analysts, without every analyst having to experience the same investigation. Keep in mind, as well, that not all analysts will approach investigations the same way, so one analyst may find something of value that another analyst might miss, simply because their perspectives and backgrounds are different.

Over the years, a number of folks in the community have written plugins, but not all of them have opted to include those plugins in the Github repo. If they had, another analyst, at another organization, can run the plugin without ever having to first go through an investigation that includes those specific artifacts. The same is true within a team; one analyst could write a plugin, and all other analysts on the team would have access to that capability, without having to have that analyst there with them, even if that analyst were on PTO, parental leave, or had left the company. 

As a bit of a side note, writing things like RegRipper plugins or Yara rules provides a great opportunity when it comes to things like performance evaluations, KPIs, etc.

Retention of "Corporate Knowledge"
A plugin can be written and documented (comments, etc.) such that it provides more than just the basic information about the finding; as such, the "corporate knowledge" (references, context, etc.) is retained and available to analysts, even when the plugin author is unavailable. The plugin can be modified and maintained across versions of Windows, if needed.

All of these value propositions lead to greater efficiency, effectiveness and accuracy of analysts, providing greater context and letting them get to actual analysis faster, and overall reducing costs. 

Now, there are other "value propositions" for me, but they're unique to me. For example, all I need to do is consult the CPAN page for the base module, and I can create a tool (or set of tools) that I can exploit during testing. I've also modified the base module, as needed, to provide additional information that can be used for various purposes.

I'm still very interested to understand the value proposition of RegRipper to other analysts.