Justice Science Meets Computer Science: Preparing an SFS Workforce Ready to Face Cyber-Crime Challenges

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This project seeks to establish a new CyberCorps®: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to prepare highly-qualified Cybersecurity professionals for entry into the federal, state, local, and tribal government workforce. The proposal addresses the growing need for a well-trained cyber-security workforce via a unique partnership between Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) and Justice Sciences (JS). This proposal supports the U.S. Department of Justice's call to develop new tools and applications that improve the capacity to use and process digital evidence. The key to these goals is to educate the next generation of cybersecurity professionals skilled in the use of these new tools and processes. The project will provide SFS students with knowledge and practical experience on how to conduct cyber-criminal investigations. The graduates will develop unique skills to combat cyber-crime. The proposed combination of CIS and JS creates a unique model of cross-disciplinary education and research to address cyber-crime. The program aims to produce unique professionals serving in the public sector and it could serve as an exemple for other universities. The project will employ mechanisms to enroll students from minority populations and to retain them via innovative approaches focused on monitoring and mentoring. The project emphasizes outreach to high school students via security events and summer camps, the Intelligence Community via internships, the public via security conferences and workshops, as well as the media. It will contribute to improve national security and online safety by graduating highly-skilled cybersecurity professionals who are dedicated to public service.The university is designated as the DHS/NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research, and the proposed program is leveraging the existing Master's program in Computer Forensics and Security Management (CFSM) offered jointly by CIS and JS. A minimum of 30 semester hours of credit are required for the MS-CFSM degree, including 21 hours of required credits and 9 hours of elective credits fulfilled by choosing one of two tracks in the program: Cybercrime Investigations or IT Audit/Fraud Examination. The courses offered within the program include Computer Network Security; Information Security Management; Ethics and Computer Forensics; Law Evidence and Procedure; Malware Analysis; and Fraud Examination; among several other offerings. The team has a close working relationship with federal organizations, including formal internship agreements, and cybersecurity research support from NSF, DARPA, IARPA, ONR, DHS, NIJ, COPS, BJA, the state of Alabama, and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and ICE.