> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex-xdr-5.x/detect-investigate-and-respond-to-threats/investigate-and-respond-to-cases/forensics/forensic-investigations.md). # Forensic investigations **Forensic investigations** Investigations are comprised of one or more data collections from endpoints within an environment. Grouping the collections within a single location enables you to focus on the endpoints relevant to your investigation. When searching for data, you can select two types of collections: * **Hunt** collections enable you to search for a specific activity across a large number of hosts. A hunt collection provides more details about where something occurred. Examples of this type of collection are, finding which endpoints ran a piece of malware, which users accessed a particular file, or which endpoints were accessed by a specific user. * **Triage** collections enable you to collect detailed information about specific activities that occurred on an endpoint. The triage functionality is configurable and supports the collection of all currently supported forensic artifacts, user-defined file paths, a full file listing for all of the connected drives, full event logs, and registry hives. The amount of data collected during a triage can be large, so triages are limited to ten or fewer endpoints per collection. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex-xdr-5.x/detect-investigate-and-respond-to-threats/investigate-and-respond-to-cases/forensics/forensic-investigations.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.