Cyber Forensics in Australia

Hi slantox, welcome to FF.

Although I now live and work in the UK I am Australian and started my Forensics career working for the QLD Police in Brisbane. I agree that the Police are a good place to start, Federal Police may be a little harder to get in to at the beginning but are an option in the future. You can also consider other government departments both state and federal, for example Queensland Transport has a forensic team, The Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commision (not just federal one) as well as the ATO, DSD as you mentioned, Customs and more. For work at a federal level be aware that you will need a security clearance that requires citizenship (which I'm guessing you have) as well as 10 years of history, jobs, homes, acquaintances etc. Final pointer about government jobs is that they may not always be advertised on SEEK etc. worth looking at their own job pages.

You can also look at the banks and the big consulting firms as well as corporates like IBM that have internal investigation sections.

Often a good way to start if you can't get straight in to forensics is to head for an IT support or IT security role that gets you in to an organisation and starts building your hands-on technical skills.

I came into forensics after IT so I already had 3.5 years of IT support under my belt which was all valuable experience for forensics.

The market is smaller in Aus so you may have to consider a move to another capital city if you are willing, and of course you could always try your luck in the UK or US as well if that interests you as the markets are much bigger with many more smaller private forensic firms.

I think you should start applying for jobs as early as possible because recruitment processes, particularly government ones may take months.

Anyway I hope some of that information is helpful )

Hey Kiashi,

Cheers for the advice ) I've been working at an ISP here in Perth for almost 3 years now so hopefully this will count towards an IT background. I'm going to ask the Security Team for an internship as well, and hopefully get a bit of experience in the security field.

I did think that over east would have more of a market that they have here in Perth but relocation won't be an issue.

If you don't mind me asking, what were the average entry level forensic job salaries like?

Hi Slantox,

I also am an Aussie in London, and echo everything Kiashi has said - some very sound advice.

I worked in the private sector in forensics (and other IT security) and got a grad position. The salary was on par with most IT grad salaries in the $40kish range. I can't really speak to public sector positions, but they usually tend to be a little less.

For private sector grad positions most close very early in the year - about Feb/March so I would be looking at what is around now.

Slantox,

My salary when I started at the Police was about $50K but that was back at the end of 2005. It wasn't techinically a graduate position but that was the entry level position. I think your ISP experience will be valuable, one of my former colleagues in forensics started his career in support at an ISP.

Good Luck with your search! )

Thanks for the info guys, appreciate it )

I've got a list of places that are offering graduate positions like KPMG, PWC etc as well as a few government places and will start putting in applications this week.

Moving overseas is definitely something that I would be looking at after getting some experience under my belt. My parents both worked in Singapore and Dubai which led me to live in Singapore and UAE for 3 and 5 years respectively and it was a great experience.

From my readings here it seems that the market for cyber forensics is so much larger in the UK/US as opposed to Australia. What made you guys decide to move over the UK?

Pretty much as you've said there already. The UK industry seemed to me to have more opportunities to get good experience. I think what people are doing here is just that little bit more ahead of whats happening in Australia. It also helps that some of the 'names' of the industry are here, most of them very approachable.

Some people might tell you money is better here, but its all relative. I ended up taking a pay-cut, and my cost of living in London is much higher than it was in Melbourne.

Having said that its been well worth it. Aside from great work and great people the chances to travel with Europe on your doorstep is certainly something not to be missed!

I also have a UK passport which helps!

I happened to work with a guy who had made the move in the other direction having met an Aussie girl. He described a much more diverse industry with ready access to quality training courses here in the UK. I had been considering making the move for some time as my dad grew up in England and my brother was living here already so I just bit the bullet once I had a couple of years of forensics experience.

Since moving here I have been on numerous training courses, both vendor and university-based. As ddewildt mentioned many of the big guys in forensics, guys who have written the tools and reference materials we use all the time, reside here and there are opportunities at conferences etc. to meet them and pick their brains for further knowledge.

I was also lucky enough in my first job in London to travel to numerous cities in Europe as well as to such an out there place as Kazakhstan!

Hey guys,

I thought I would just provide an update as to how I've gone over the last few months.

I applied for the big four and proceeded to the final selection process for all of them (bar one, after their ridiculously difficult online testing). I got rejections from the other two but got offered vacation work which I will be commencing mid year, if I do well in this then I will most likely be offered a graduate position for next year *fingers crossed*

When I applied to the jobs I specifically highlighted my interest in going into cyber forensics and the firm I'll be going to has told me that this isn't a main part of their office Perth so I will be going into IT advisory, however they do have a small amount of people working in CF.

So this means that I might get the opportunity to put my hand up and go into CF if they decide to concentrate on it more, or I won't get the opportunity to get some hands on experience with it.

Time will tell I guess )

Hey Slantox,

Cheers for the update and good work getting the vacation position! ) I'll keep my fingers crossed for you to get the graduate role.

I'm sure you'll gain some valuable experience and can hopefully begin to network with other parts of the organisation and get to know the right people 😉