Hi there,
Need some advice in what I should be doing next to improve my opportunities or where to network for the right people in Australia, preferably Melbourne. Or even to find an entry level job for computer forensics.
Just finished my Bachelors of IT Security and also have an Advance Diploma in Computer Systems Engineering with about 2 years+ of experience in IT technical support.
Now looking at getting Encase training and doing an Investigative Services course to network and gaining more skills of computer investigations.
Any tips or advice would be grateful and appreciated. Am currently based in Melbourne, Australia but will relocate if opportunities arises anywhere.
Thank you
Hey Nthanh
I'm in WA so can't give direct advice but I understand that the market is not so great over there at the moment job wise. The market in WA is just starting to slow down now too and I'm aware of a few guys in your position looking for work over here as well so it's a pretty tight market for Forensics at the moment everywhere.
Do the Police computer crime squad (or equivalent) hire non sworn personal? If you can get any sort of work or internship with the Police that will go a long way to giving you exposure and experience to a variety of work in a much shorter time frame than you will get in the corporate or academic world.
Outside the Police I would be targeting financial services/Accounting firms like the big 4 (PWC, EY, KPMG and Deloittes) as they all have computer forensics service lines, and also the 2nd and 3rd tier firms like BDO, Kordamentha, McGrah Nicol, Grant Thornton, Ferrier Hodgson etc etc. Quite a few of them also have the forensic service lines, but some of the 3rd tier firms don't offer very much by way of money, but what you need now is experience and exposure so you may have to sacrifice money in the short term.
There are also a number of smaller professional firms that specialise in data recovery such as Payam Data recovery. They don't do much in the way of forensic analysis or investigations (I think) however they tend to use plenty of the same tools and that will give you a different kind of exposure as they quite often have some really interesting hardware tools for physical drive repair/recovery that you don't see many other places.
I went from Police to corporate so I can say for sure that you will get far more experience, exposure and training in the Police if that's an avenue over there depending on their hiring practices.
Hi,
I might be a little out of touch, having relocated from Melbourne to London about 4 years ago…but my two cents.
Adam's advice is really good, I know that some of those second tier companies mentioned (Ferrier Hodgson and McGrath Nicol in particular) have Forensic services lines, and also some quality people (at least when I was around). The Police also do hire civilian analysts (at least they did).
I had a bit of a different path to the straight consultancies, and initially worked at a large IT service provider who has a CERT team. We did a lot of pen testing, malware analysis and also forensics. I then moved in house to one of the Big 4 banks and did a similar type of work, but mainly focusing on IT security incident response, internal investigations, internet banking fraud and forensics. So you might want to consider looking at those types of organisations. Even if you don't go straight in working in forensics, you can network with people in the team and look for internal moves (sometimes a lot easier that coming in from external).
In terms of networking events, there wasn't a lot when I was there. There is a lot of IT security related stuff, but not much forensics-specific. The groups that are in existence tend to be fairly insular to those already in the industry. Try linked in - there might be groups on there you can join and get involved with.
Not sure that has helped a great deal, but good luck!
Thanks for the tips and advice guys.
@Adam10541 - Unfortunately the e-crime squad in Victoria are very strict in recruiting and won't allow internships or anything of the similar for any of their roles (have called up and had a chat to one of the officers in the past). Also when they are looking for people, they would prefer more experienced candidates or at least someone that has been through law enforcement.
@ddewildt - I was considering a move to the UK to gain exposure, but not sure of how to go about in doing this. So it is interesting to hear from someone that relocated from Melbourne.
I have already made an account on LinkedIn and trying to get involved within the community.
Guess i'll keep at it and see how things turn out. Planning on taking a slightly different approach and going through investigate services to network with people in the industry. And take up some certs while i'm at it.
Would you guys recommend getting the A+ at all? Seeing as most digital forensic examiners don't have it.
Many thanks for the advice you guys have given me, looking forward to learning more from you guys
i saw an advertisement for the nsw police on jobs.nsw a while back; maybe find someone over at their electronic evidence team and see if there are any more spots available; doesnt look like there is on the site at the moment, but could be in the future
Just sent you a PM re UK relocation
