Forensic Blogs

An aggregator for digital forensics blogs

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Cybersecurity Tips For The New Year

2020 was a year filled with change and learning how to adapt our ways into COVID-19 protocol friendly ones. With these changes, many people started moving their lives to be online. Work meetings, education of all levels, shopping, and even holiday events became remote. With the increase in internet use, cybersecurity professionals saw cybercrimes committed at an all-time high.

That made this past Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October even more valuable than ever. The National Cyber Security Alliance, in partnership with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, created this year’s theme of “Do Your Part and Be Cyber Smart”.

Our Leahy Center employees decided to be apart of this semester’s virtual events by submitting their tips for the five topics of the do your part theme. For the New Year, we decided to share two of the themes and our tips on how to stay safe. The students range in different positions, majors, and academic years, but all provide great wisdom for anyone looking to stay safe online.

Theme 1: If You Connect It, Protect It

The prompt was described as If you connect it, protect it. The line between our online and offline lives is indistinguishable. This network of connections creates both opportunities and challenges for individuals and organizations across the globe. The first week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month will highlight how internet-connected devices have impacted our lives and will empower all users to own their role in security by taking steps to reduce their risks. Our students said:

“With more and more of our appliances connected to the internet, including locks, mailboxes, refrigerators, watches, and much more, physical security and cybersecurity are becoming the same. To maintain physical security in this world of smart devices, you have to educate yourself about good cybersecurity practices, too. As great as it is that you can lock your door remotely, it’s vital to consider the risks of what somebody could do with unauthorized access to these tools you’re using. Before buying a new smart device, consider these risks. Do some research on the manufacturer’s history in cybersecurity. Ask yourself if the convenience is worth the risks associated with it. Understanding the risks is crucial.”

Sawyer Zundel ’23 // Computer & Digital Forensics

We buy a lot of stuff online these days. Often we may be on a risky website without realizing it. If you are purchasing anything online, make sure the website’s link begins with “HTTPS://” as opposed to “HTTP://”. The “s” at the end of “HTTP” stands for secure. So any transitions on a website that uses “HTTP” would be unsecured. The Chrome and Firefox add-on/extensions “HTTPS everywhere” is a useful tool to help ensure this if you are unsure.

Blaise Notter ’23 // Computer Networking & Cybersecurity Theme 2: Securing Devices at Home and Work

Week 2 of Cybersecurity Awareness Month was described as: focusing on steps users and organizations can take to protect internet-connected devices for personal and professional use. With more people now working from home, these two internet-connected environments are colliding on a scale we’ve never seen before. This introduces a whole new set of potential vulnerabilities that users must be conscious of.

“The best way to protect users’ information is to be cautious. The first step would be to use a password when possible. Better yet different passwords so if one account is breached, they all aren’t. The next step would be to not give out information unless needed and to a trusted individual. This means not going to suspicious websites, where info can be stolen by force. As well as being cautious that a website is who they say they are.”

Spencer Bellucci ’22 // Computer Science

“Nowadays, VPN’s have gotten to the point where they are extremely cheap and relatively fast. Whether you are at home or surfing the internet at a Starbucks, the added protection is defiantly worth the $3 a month. It will protect you from various tracking threats/ annoyances by encrypting all of the traffic that leaves your computer. When shopping around for one, I would look for one that does not keep logs of its user’s data as well as has software that works on most devices. The two I have used and recommend the most are TorGuard and Private Internet Access (PIA).”

Thomas Autiello ’23 // Computer Networking & Cybersecurity Other Tips: Students WANT You To Know

With the rise in interconnected devices, it’s important to remember that anything connected to the outside world can be attacked. Taking simple steps such as secure passwords and using password-protected Wi-Fi signals can help immensely when it comes to the security of any device.

Miranda Evans ’22 // Computer & Digital Forensics

Most people keep their life online — whether it be through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or others — so it is always important to remember that the online world is no different than the “real” world. This includes the information you post publicly, from photos, dates, friends, statuses, addresses, and more. At face value, it is fun to use social media outlets to express yourself and snap a photo here and there or use it to promote communication, but everyone must do their part to protect themselves and those around them regarding the information they post. Would you post your phone number on your front lawn? Would you print a map of the local places you’ve been, and with whom, to hand out at your grocery store? Though this information is expressive and fun to share with friends, there are always opportunities for unwanted attention from others when you post it online.

Alexandra Cartwright ’22 // Computer & Digital Forensics

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LCDI Intern Blog Series: All About My Internship

With Thanksgiving break getting closer and closer, I have been thinking a lot more about my internship and how it came to be after I got accepted. The first step to the internship process was attending a Town Hall for the LCDI. This was an orientation meeting for the entire workforce where we went over the in’s and out’s of the Center. This took place about a week after finding out that I got the internship. Later that week was my first day, where I was immediately thrown into the mix. There was’t much direction on what I was supposed to do, but some students who’d worked at the LCDI for awhile helped me get down to business.

Tools of the Trade

Some essentials when working at the LCDI are being able to use Trello and Slack, two apps used for all communication purposes. Trello is like a team checklist for staying on task. Cards are placed in different sections depending on urgency and the order they need to be completed. Slack is a messaging app that helps keep work talk within the workplace. There are different channels for different groups of people, and it’s how everyone stays in contact.

Slack is essential to my team, Tool Evaluation, because many of us do not work on the same shifts. I have a partner who I work most shifts with and we’re assigned to the same tool, Autopsy, an open source digital forensics tool used to analyze data sets. Every group has the same set of data, but a different tool to use for analysis. We can communicate our updates on our specific tool through messages, links, files, and even gifs! Our final product is a collaborative report the eight of us contribute to, so updating each other is vital.

Finding a Balance

To help with the transition from students to young professionals, there is a class that is paired with my internship. The Information Technology & Sciences’ Career Coach, Mark Zammuto, teaches the class on Wednesday mornings at 8 am. I personally hate waking up early, but the classes are short, informative, and honestly really helpful. Mark has encouraged us to accomplish important tasks including updating our LinkedIn profiles, creating email signatures, and updating our resumes. The class is designed to give us the tools we’ll need for our futures and I know I’m gaining valuable knowledge I’ll utilize for years to come.

The most interesting part of this process has been connecting my current coursework outside of Mark’s class and my internship. My Laws of Digital Evidence class helps me gain insight to the legal side of gathering evidence, while my Intro to Cybercrime gets into the technical side of acquiring and analyzing evidence. In my Technical Writing class, I learn how to write in a more clear and concise way for technical reports. I learn new things in these courses everyday that help me with the internship, and vice versa. It’s insightful to be able to make these connections and get a more well-rounded learning experience my first semester. I’m looking forward to the next steps of my project and completing my internship at the end of the semester.

The post LCDI Intern Blog Series: All About My Internship appeared first on The Leahy Center for Digital Investigation.

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Applications of AI and Machine Learning

Enfuse 2018 Reflection – Zach Burnham

Introduction:

This past summer, I had the honor of attending this year’s Enfuse Conference, the first iteration hosted by Opentext. As a rising senior at Champlain College, this opportunity fell at a critical time for me in my professional development. Attending allowed me to build on the knowledge I’ve gathered in my previous courses, and my time at the Leahy Center for Digital Investigation. Through conversations with some of the greatest minds currently in digital forensics and cybersecurity. Besides networking, the conference also allowed all attendees to sign up for an array of classes with pins you could collect from each class. This was aimed to help start conversations with others with the same interests who may have been walking by. One of the classes offered at the conferences this year covered a recent new interest of mine: artificial intelligence (AI).

Top Applications of AI & Machine Learning Session Review

There were two speakers for this session. The first was Alexis Mitchell, a Principal Data Scientists for Opentext with a background in HP, Recommind, and DARPA. The second speaker was Zachary Jarvinen, also from Opentext, who works in their Product Marketing department for Analytics & AI and has a background in Epson, tapClicks, and the United States Department of State. Together, they talked about the implementations of machine learning and AI in the real world. Their primary example was how Opentext’s Magellan and Business Intelligence help law enforcement and members of government do their jobs. They argued that the use of AI can “help connect, blend, and analyze any and all things” to help organize and expedite the use of information.

To my surprise, machine learning and AI can already found in governments around the world. The European Defense Ministry uses this technology to monitor irregularities in tax documents, and the Government of Canada for assisting employees with common searches and predicting where documents may belong. The Alberta Energy Regulator is also using machine learning for predictive pipeline maintenance; predicting possible points of failure before it becomes an incident not only saves lives, but to optimize water usage. Attending this session only reaffirmed my belief that the future will revolve heavily around both machine learning and AI. I believe that as more AI more innovations come to light, the world will continue to grow more efficient.

Conclusion:

If you are studying digital forensics or even have an interest in the field, I highly recommend this conference. This conference really opened my eyes to a world filled with professionals and topics I had never even though of doing before. Seeing how attendees and speakers interacted with one another exposed me to the idea of life post-graduation. Providing me with opportunities and connections to utilize as my network grows. My attendance has only reaffirmed my strong passion for digital forensics, and the benefits the industry’s work brings to the world.

To learn more about the LCDI, take a look at our Facebook and Twitter pages or send an email to lcdi@champlain.edu!   

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