DIGITAL
FORENSICS

Topic 18:

Thursday, March 3, 2011, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center/Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington Waterfront, Burlington, VT.

A mind expanding thought provoking evening for adults, exploring challenging topics with industry experts.

How do we protect ourselves on the internet? How are we moving globally and individually with the internet? Is the internet stronger or weaker in terms of its resistance to failure because of random problems or an actual attack? Join us in conversation with Gary Kessler, Gary Kessler Associates, Computer & Internet Security & Forensics.

Free event for 21+ with cash bar and themed drink; FREE hors d'oeuvres sponsored by VT Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society.

A bio about Gary Kessler:

Gary Kessler is the president and janitor of Gary Kessler Associates, a training and consulting company specializing in computer and network security and digital forensics. Gary is also a member of the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University (Perth, Western Australia). Gary is a former Associate Professor, and creator and director of the Computer & Digital Forensics (B.S.) and Digital Investigation Management (M.S.) programs, at Champlain College.

Gary was instrumental in the adoption of computer crime legislation in Vermont (1999) and is the founding chair of the Vermont InfraGard chapter (2001). He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Computer Examiner (CCE), and on the board of directors of the Consortium of Digital Forensic Specialists (CDFS). Gary has an M.S. in Computer Science from UVM and a Ph.D. in Computing Technology in Education from Nova Southeastern University. He is the co-author of two professional texts and over 70 articles, a frequent speaker at regional, national, and international conferences, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law.

Gary is also a member of the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI), and is a divemaster and Open Water SCUBA Instructor. More information about Gary can be found at his Web site, http://www.garykessler.net.

Some questions Gary will be considering in his presentation:

1. Digital devices are ubiquitous in our society today, ranging from mobile phones and notebook computers to cameras and iPads. They are increasingly the instrument, target, and/or record keeper of criminal or other nefarious activity. As a result, these devices are growing in importance as sources of evidence in criminal investigations and civil litigation. What does digital evidence tell us? What can it tell us?
    
2. Is something posted on Facebook, My Space, etc. fair game for search by employers, prospective employers, schools, police, and others?
    
3. Challenges to digital evidence. What does it tell us? What can it tell us?
    
4. In the physical world, "theft" is generally defined as taking something that doesn't belong to you with -- and this is important -- the intent to permanently deprive the owner of that thing. What is theft, then, in cyberspace where a copy of the original is left behind?
    
5. What does it mean that "information wants to be free"?
    
6. How much can we control our "private" information? To wit: Who owns what's in your head? Who owns what's on your Web site? Who owns "your" information that you put on someone else's Web site (aka a social networking site)?

Links on the topic:

• The Next Facebook Privacy Scandal: Sharing
  Phone Numbers, Addresses
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Electronic Privacy Information Center
• "Information Wants to be Free"
• Challenges to Digital Forensic Evidence (PDF)
• The Web is dead. Long live the Internet
• Things that changed the Internet, USA Today article
   

Cafe Scientifique questions or topic suggestions?
Please contact Linda Bowden at lbowden@echovermont.org

Our next Cafe Scientifique will be Thursday, May 5, 2011.

Café Scientifique is sponsored by: