CYSE 409

Crime and Computer Applications

The purpose of this interdisciplinary course is to introduce students to the ways in which computers are involved in the commission and the investigation of crime. The class will allow students to hear cybercriminals and cyber investigators discuss their career trajectories in their own words, think about the legal and ethical ramifications of warrants for digital evidence, and explore several computer applications used by both cybercriminals and cybercrime investigators. Students will learn the fundamentals of cryptography and steganography and the tools used to perform these activities. Students will also use forensic software to identify, gather, and verify relevant digital evidence. Students will analyze a search warrant for digital evidence, practice asymmetric cryptography, detect digital fraud, and learn and complete assignments relating to OPSEC and OSINT. To get the most out of this class, students should be familiar with the criminal justice system, internet architecture, and types of cybercrime.

Course Material

For the first assignment below, we answered questions relating to OPSEC, critical information we need to protect, and act as an investigator and protect information critical to our operation. We were to properly document images from various websites, makes notes, point to critical parts of the page that would be used for an investigation, and remove as many of our digital footprints as possible. We were to use Nimbus and other add-ons through Firefox. We also were to discuss what critical information we will be protecting by completing the steps. Further and more detailed instructions are included in the assignment itself.

opsec_assignment

For the assignment below, we were to discuss and give our opinion as to whether or not law enforcement agencies should be allowed to use geofence warrants when investigating a crime. A geofence warrant is a search warrant issued by a court to allow law enforcement to search a database to find all active mobile devices within a particular geofence(virtual parameter) area. 

Geofence warrant assignment