This project addresses a major difficulty in teaching digital forensics, which is the lack of realistic data sets for student use. Such data sets typically include disk images, log files and network packet dumps. The project develops corpora of authentic forensic data for use in undergraduate education and research involving computer forensics. It addresses the issue of how to get realistic data into the hands of students without breaking laws or compromising personal data. Prior sponsored work by the PIs resulted in a large corpus of real data obtained from physical devices purchased on the secondary market worldwide. Much of these data contain either copyrighted material or information that could compromise the privacy of individuals. The project seeks to develop data sets that are cleansed of inappropriate information but contain rich and realistic content for use in the classroom. The data sets are combined with accompanying educational materials to help guide both students and faculty in learning forensic analysis techniques and tools.
This project provides a rapid dissemination of these resources to institutions with computer forensic programs. The proposed workshops benefit educators interested in using the corpora and educational materials. The dissemination plan includes distribution of DVDs as well as providing web-based materials. It has a potential to improve the overall quality of digital forensics instruction and to build a forensics education community through the common usage of this data.
