How community colleges fit in the ever-expanding field of digital forensics education.

Like the size of hard drives, the task of conducting forensic examinations of laptops, towers, cell phones, and more is exploding. Jobs in the digital forensics industry include examiners who, CSI-like (but not as quickly as in a 60-minute episode), assist criminal investigators; examiners at corporate entities who have the responsibility to uncover internal fraud; and, most recently, crossover disciplines such as “live” field triage, which meshes the computer forensic examiner with the network incident responder to analyze computer memory and wireless equipment.

Many such practitioners started in law enforcement, but as more private companies employ computer forensics examiners, demand for well-trained and experienced practitioners outpaces supply, even as more information technology (IT) experts enter the field.

Training and certifications exist—the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists’ Computer Forensic Certified Examiner (CFCE) and the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners’ Certified Computer Examiner (CCE); the SANS Institute’s forensic training and GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA); and numerous proprietary tool certifications.

However, cost and accessibility typically interfere with many would-be examiners’ ability to obtain certifications without an employer covering them. And, while four-year institutions advertise computer forensics programs, these are often only a small subset of classes within an overall Computer and Information Science program.

So what if you want a low-cost computer forensic education with practical experience?

Enter the community colleges. Amelia Phillips, co-author of “Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations,” saw a need for good two-year programs as far back as 1999. Her inspiration? Credit card and database thefts. At Spokane Falls (WA) Community College, she designed the first Computer Forensics/Network Security program, and together with local networking groups was able to bring in students. The program’s initial success led to its expansion to law enforcement, allowing the program to grow.

Similarly, the Computer Forensics Program at Cypress College in southern California provides students with practical, hands-on experience in forensics. The goal: vendor-neutral training and experience which gives students a foundation of knowledge. In turn, this makes them enticing as new hires, because they can bring critical thinking skills to the tool-specific training their employers will require.

In North Carolina, meanwhile, the Central Piedmont Community College’s American Academy of Applied Forensics (CPCC/AAAF) is the only program of its kind in the southeastern United States. Funded by the National Institute of Justice, its digital forensics program has been invaluable in serving police departments that want to train in-house support rather than wait months for the state lab to return evidence.

Challenges in Creating a Small Program
While the intent to develop a program is an ideal, its actual formation can be more complex. There is no genie to ask for funding, equipment, lecturers, or students, and introducing a new program can be politically dicey. For example, Phillips had to work hard to convince other faculty members that her computer forensics curriculum was the right idea.