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Recommendations for Graduate Programs?
xblanksx asks: "I am a soon to be college graduate and I have been looking into graduate programs pertaining to computer forensics and computer crime investigation. So far the only program I have been able to find is the 'High Technology Crime Investigation' program offered through GWU. Since I am finding it rather hard to find any other programs, what other graduate programs might be out there pertaining to computer investigations?"
If you're interested, drop me an email, or contact the head of the lab.
By no-means am I trying to demean you or your goals (first year chem grad-student), but that is very much a niche sounding field. Personally, I would go to a FBI field office and ask them, tell them what you want to do, and unless you find an ass they'll probabbly help you (as it can help them).
Also, I saw ITT-Tech advertising with just such a program, so that might degrade your college-graduate status. (Damn it, that piece of paper is WORTH SOMETHIN')
Frankly, I think that the much-bally-hoooed "age of digital warfare" has been upon us, but we just see it as furniture. Spyware and malware is or should be illegal, finding the perp should be an FBI enforcement issue. I doubt highly that terrorist organizations are sitting on thier collective laurels with respect to digital and information warfare. I'm SURE the army has 'information warriors' in thier propaganda arm.
Anywho, best of luck to you my fellow Gen-Xer (Are we still called that? Or maybe echo-boomer).
--sig fault--
You could check out some of the schools which the NSA reccomends for security in general. They have a list of National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAE). The link is http://www.nsa.gov/ia/academia/caeiae.cfm
There's no place like ~/
What are you looking for in a graduate program? If you are looking for a bunch of classes to teach you computer forensics, I'm not sure where to direct you. I think that's a little too specialized for most graduate programs to meet. If you are looking to conduct research into better ways of doing computer forensics, then I am willing to bet that most good computer security groups would love people working on that. You can look at schools with good computer security research groups like Berkeley, MIT, Cambridge, Princeton, Rice, UCSD, etc.
I spent the last year doing a graduate program search (for geography, not CS, but same things apply), so the tips are fresh in my mind.
There are two schools of thought on how to search for a grad school. The first is to find a professor that you like and then look at the program. The best way to do this is to look through all the papers that you've written as an undergrad and look for the names that show up often in your bibliography. These are people who are interested in what you like. Chances are, they are surrounded by other people doing what you like. Take a look at the program that they teach in, do they offer classes that you like, are other people publishing things that interest you. The danger here to two fold. The first is that the person who you like is a jerk in person, you can find that out by corresponding with them by e-mail, see if they pay attention to you and treat you with respect. Ask your current professors about the person, most academic fields are pretty small, and word gets around. If you ever visit the campus, talk to their grad students and other people in the program. This is the best approach to take if you plan on either doing a ph.d, which is mostly working with an advisor one-on-one, or plan on staying in the same place for both masters and ph.d. One last hint, make sure they'll be staying at the institution, I almost got burned on this one.
The second school of thought, better if you're getting a masters and then moving into the private industry, is to find a program that interests you. Since you seem to have tried this, I won't add much more here except to say that I hear at Carnage Melon has a good computer security program, not sure if its what you're looking for though.
Sleep is for the weak!
Purdue University's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security.
...
http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/
It's a well-known and top-notch program, one of the first of its kind.
Its head is Eugene Spafford, who seems to be well-known in tech circles and is part of the Center's claim to fame.
CERIAS offers, I think, both masters and PhD's.
I looked at it a few years ago, but I'm sure that it's still worth looking into. I think that their site recently was dugg for some security checklist or something
Depends what you're looking for. If you want to do it "convenient and cheap", you might be interested in the program I'm pursuing. I'm half-way plus through a Masters of Science in Applied Computer Science with a concentration in Information Assurance at Columbus State University, Columbus, GA. It's an on campus degree, but enough of the courses are offered remotely, they also offer a distance learning version. You probably understand the trade-offs of not being in a face-to-face class, but I'll still end up with a M.S. from an accredited state university and be exposed to everything from Forensics to Auditing to Penetration testing to Network security, etc. And the price is UNBELIEVABLY inexpensive!!/
http://cs.colstate.edu/html_hi/programs/grad.aspx
Price - approx $5000 plus books
Another choice is to get a computer-related degree from "wherever" and add expertise through programs like this:
http://www.kennesaw.edu/coned/sci/index.htm/
You will get more up-to-date info through seminars like these and more practical "real life" applications than through most academic courses which need to cover a broader spectrum and use published books (which already puts them 6-18 months behind the most current tools).
this may sound crazy, and totally off topic, but i've considered the same thing: maximum possible salary by going go school or just graduate with a BS and work your way up the ladder.
Here is my analysis (i am not a finance person):
1/ Go to grad school:
-50k to pay for 2 years school
80k starting salary
2/ Work as an entry level IT position with a BS:
50k starting salary
5% raise per year (high I know, but the math is easier)
So you go to school for 3 years and spend 50k on it, in that same year the BS will have made 162k and will be currently making 58k. To work at the 80k/year job you need to work for at the very least 10 years (very generous estimate!) before the money averages out, and you start to gain monetarily over the person that got a job straight out of college.
Now, i could go on if that person changed companies 2 times in that 10 years with the post-graduate only having changed companies one time, they will most likely be making the same amount of money and the total money will never equalize.
its a weird analysis, but thats how i think (graduating with my MS in 4 weeks!)
Most police agencies require you spend time in the field doing police type activities (catching criminals, dealing with domestics, etc) before you can move on to other things. I imagine Foresnics is probably something that is more OJT then degree taught. My recommendation, get your BS and apply to FBI, DHS or state police departments.