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Infosecurity Adviser applauds forensics lab training facilities at key UK university
May 2009 by Infosecurity Europe
Infosecurity Adviser, Infosecurity Europe’s online community for the information security industry, has published a revealing behind-the-scenes report on the University of Bedfordshire’s new digital security and forensics laboratory.
According to Mike Barwise, contributor on Infosecurity Adviser, “as law enforcement gets to grips with electronic crime, digital forensics has become an integral part of corporate incident management. Despite this, many prosecutions are still thwarted by inappropriate evidence handling on the part of inexperienced front line response teams. That’s why I feel the new facility at the University of Bedford has so much to offer in training up a new echelon of qualified entrants to the profession," he added.
The new lab and training facilities at the university - which runs IT forensics courses for undergraduates and postgraduates - has very impressive facilities.
With 15 high-specification quad-core PCs, each of which has 2.5 terabytes of storage and a range of very high quality IT forensics software, the IT investigation facilities of the labs are second to none in the UK at the moment, says Barwise.
This, he explained, is notable in a segment of the IT industry that is still very much in is infancy in terms of training and general expertise, despite a surge of interest amongst commercial organisations.
A key example of this, he says, is KPMG, which has recently enhanced its UK IT forensics operation - one of the fastest growing of its practice areas - with the addition of new facilities and boosting staffing numbers to a total of 150.
"Last year KMPG generated revenues of 60 million pounds from its UK forensics division and noted that - alongside traditional fraud prevention and detection services - other related services, such as data analytics, are rapidly expanding as well," he said.
It’s against this backdrop, says Barwise, that the creation of the impressive facilities at the University of Bedfordshire is to be applauded, as there is a growing need for rapid first line response to IT incidents that require investigation by forensics specialists.
For more on Mike Barwise’s report on the University’s forensics’ facility:
