I graduated in January with my Masters in Forensic Computer Investigations. Unfortunatly, the program that I was in did not have any courses on hardware, EnCase, FTK etc (all of the things that one should know when getting into this field.) I am interested in investigating child exploitation and pornography but I have no idea where to start. Every agency that I have spoken with only hired sworn law enforcement or people with expierence. How am I supposed to get expierence if no one will give me the chance!
I am willing to move out of CT at this point. I am stuck in a job that I hate right now becuase I cant find anything and I dont know where to go from here. I have looked into FBI and ICE already, so any other suggestions besides those would help.
Thanks! ?
Wait…you completed a Master's Degree in Computer Forensic Investigations and you did not go over hardware or the two most widely used digital forensic platforms in use by profesionals throughout the world?
I think it would be prudent for you to share were you received this "degree" from, so as to warn others away.
To answer your questions - I would probably get a forensics cert to augment your other "education" and one place I'd begin looking is usajobs.gov - the public sector tends to be slightly more forgiving when it comes to getting a job in terms of experience. The only people who really pursue child exploitation cases are local, state and federal la enforcement and most of them are sworn officers, but not everywhere. Some places employ technicians who are non-sworn, but they don't typically head up investigations themselves, but rather assist. Otherwise, if you're set on pursuing child exploitation, then you could also start by becoming a cop and working your way up from there.
If you are willing to relocate to WI, here is a job posting for you, it deals with the type of cases you are interested in.
https://
(I am not associated with this listing in any way, just passing on the info…)
Wait…you completed a Master's Degree in Computer Forensic Investigations and you did not go over hardware or the two most widely used digital forensic platforms in use by profesionals throughout the world?
As far as training in EnCase and FTK is concerned I wouldn't expect that to be offered on an academic course. Does anyone have a different experience?
Jamie,
In my experience students must get trial versions of forensics software to process cases for coursework. Since FTK can process 5000 objects in the trial version, it's used for floppy disk examinations. That's of course after it can be done with a very basic hex editor.
I'm actually pretty concerned that a Masters was gained without any experience in the tools or hardware for that matter. Forensic Hardware - that is hardware as it applies to forensics - is a 100 (first year) level course.
Wait…you completed a Master's Degree in Computer Forensic Investigations and you did not go over hardware or the two most widely used digital forensic platforms in use by profesionals throughout the world?
As far as training in EnCase and FTK is concerned I wouldn't expect that to be offered on an academic course. Does anyone have a different experience?
My A.A.S degree in CF included classes in Encase full version with dongle and the demo version FTK.
When I went to the AccessData Bootcamp, we had a College Professor and a Technical College Instructor both attending so that they could each utilize FTK in their courses.
Greetings and salutations. As this is my 1st posting to this forum, I'm glad to be here, all.
Wait…you completed a Master's Degree in Computer Forensic Investigations and you did not go over hardware or the two most widely used digital forensic platforms in use by profesionals throughout the world?
EnCase Licenses are expensive and they're per-computer & time-constrained.
FTK is far more lenient, not time-constrained but still expensive.
A university (at least from my experience here in the UK), especially one that is just starting a Computer Forensics course does not have unlimited funds, nor does it have a huge budget, especially if its running it experimentally. And it certainly does not have all the hardware and in the quantities necessary to train students in all aspects of digital forensics to begin with, therefore they tend to sometimes focus more on the theoretical side than the practical side.
As far as training in EnCase and FTK is concerned I wouldn't expect that to be offered on an academic course. Does anyone have a different experience?
Some universities do train students in the use of either of the above toolkits. However, they tend to be either the more mature ones or the ones that have the biggest budget allocated to them.
How am I supposed to get expierence if no one will give me the chance!
The sworn LEO bit is very likely to soon change, at least in the US. Otherwise, sensitive cases like the ones you are looking to work on are most frequently assigned to either LEOs or very experienced professionals as their nature demands background checks and the like.
Otherwise, jeffcaplan's advice on certification and job search are pretty much the best course of action for you, as a certification will provide you with the hands-on experience your MSc-level degree lacked.
My contribution to the above advice would be to first of all not be disheartened as the experience issue is something pretty much all graduates face no matter what subject/field you're in, and make sure that you keep an eye/ear out for advances in the field as well as technical issues that crop up (from time to time).
Note Last-minute idea If you want something to occupy your time and complement your certifications-based experience, download the Helix Linux distribution and experiment with the sleuthkit & autopsy toolkits, as well as the TULP2G toolkit (windows-only if I remember correctly). They're not encase or ftk (for better or worse) but they will provide you with a free platform to experiment with different aspects of digital forensics. And they're extra experience.
I hope this helps all interested parties and especially heather. Best of luck and welcome to the field.
Jeff-
The program is very new and focused more on terrorism then anything. I did have an FBI agent as a professor who went over more of the technical end. I wish they offered more…but they didnt so thats why I am doing this now.
As far as training in EnCase and FTK is concerned I wouldn't expect that to be offered on an academic course. Does anyone have a different experience?
We use both at the school I teach but as a means to learning forensics not as the end objective of the course. In fact, I'm suggesting we drop EnCase in favor of Harlan's book since it's truer to the essence of forensics anyway. Other schools are also using X-Ways.
With edition 3 of the Nelson book I'm sure some schools are using ProDiscover as well. Often schools will energize around a text that fits the curriculum goals so that would be expected.