After receiving a grant from a federal science agency last semester, OIT officially kicked off a “virtual forensics lab” yesterday that will allow students in the region to simulate solving crimes.
In May, the National Science Foundation gave the university’s Office of Information Technology a grant for $109,514 in cooperation with CyberWATCH to create a Digital Forensics Lab.
CyberWATCH, or Cyber Security: Washington Area Technician and Consortium Headquarters, is a network of 43 higher education institutions, businesses and government agencies from across the region that educate people about safety in the digital world.
This lab will serve as an education tool at this university and other CyberWATCH universities in the area, including George Washington University and Towson University.
“[The DFL] will be used to provide hands-on experience and education to the next generation of information security professionals in the [Washington area],” said Jeffrey Huskamp, vice president and chief information officer at the university.
This lab is part of a larger effort by CyberWATCH to educate people, through labs and classes, in protecting themselves from cyber crimes, including identity theft and child pornography, and to use technology to solve crimes and provide evidence in court.
“The purpose of CyberWATCH is to improve the quality and quantity of the security workforce,” said Vera Zdravkovich, CyberWATCH’s principal investigator.
According to Sgt. John Casey from the state police department, the creation of most forensic labs resulted from the desire to uncover the source of child pornography. The training provided by CyberWATCH has also led to revealing the originator of file-sharing sites, such as LimeWire, he said.
“Many people live a large part of their lives online, and with the help of social networking sites and file-sharing sites, these cases are easier to access,” Casey said. Being able to find these files and report the crimes are skills CyberWATCH institutions teach within their virtual labs, he added.
This technology was also used to investigate two on-campus deaths last fall. Police used the students’ computers and cell phones to trace information, such as websites previously visited and recent phone calls, to uncover characteristics about the students and possibly find the causes of their deaths, Casey said.
“It’s not enough to collect the data; it must be made meaningful,” Casey said. “The citizens of the state of Maryland will all benefit from this program.”
Next semester will be the first full semester the DFL will be available for use in courses.
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