Xinli Wang
ABSTRACT
As teaching professors we have noticed that hands-on activities for a digital forensics course fall into the following three categories: 1) activities that assist students in learning how to use common digital forensics tools; 2) activities that help students gain in-depth understanding of the basic concepts and fundamental knowledge that are presented in class lectures; 3) activities that promote students the development of mindsets and data analytical skills that are needed for a digital forensic investigator. Various formats are employed to develop these hands-on exercises in different categories. The educational objectives and student learning outcomes map well to the CAE-CD (Centers of Academic Excellence - Cyber Defense) outcomes by completing their forensic knowledge units.
In this paper, we share our idea and experience to design and implement such hands-on assignments in each category for meeting specific educational objectives. Sample exercises are briefly described to explain our idea in each category. Open-source tools and data sets are introduced for reference. Experiences, lessons, and sample feedback from students are discussed. Our results will provide a point of reference for those who teach digital forensics courses at a college or university or are developing a digital forensic curriculum.
- National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C). 2021. 2020 CAE Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) Knowledge Units. CAE Documents Library, online. https://public.cyber.mil/ncae-c/documents-library/. Last Accessed in June 2023.Google Scholar
- National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C). 2023. WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL CENTERS OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IN CYBERSECURITY (NCAE-C). Web page, online. https://public.cyber.mil/ncae-c/. Last Accessed in June 2023.Google Scholar
- Weifeng Xu, Lin Deng, and Dianxiang Xu. 2022. Towards Designing Shared Digital Forensics Instructional Materials. In 2022 IEEE 46th Annual Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC), Vol. 1. IEEE, New York, NY, USA, 117–122. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC54236.2022.00025Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- Hands-on Activities for Digital Forensics Education
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