Computer Forensics and Security Research Projects

Interpretation variance from forensic data

Over the past twenty years there has been a tremendous increase in the use of computers and computer networks to drive the information processing that forms the infrastructure of modern business. Some of the major assets of a company, namely its intellectual property and records of its financial assets, are held in computer systems. The modern criminal has therefore begun to focus more and more on the potential rewards of tapping into the company's assets illegally, using computers as the fundamental means of committing these crimes. Security threats increasingly come through attacks using computer and information systems.

WVU was recently designated as a Center for Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This designation not only certifies the educational content of our coursework, but also provides fellowship and internship opportunities for qualified students working in this area.

Criminals are generally ahead of law enforcement personnel and even business, industry, government, and academia's own computer systems staff and management. High quality graduate education in this field should help prevent such criminal activity and indeed help in tracking the perpetrators of such crime.

Some of the current research areas are as follows; if you are interested in these areas please feel free to contact the listed faculty members.

• Computer Forensics (research conducted by Dr. Roy Nutter)
• Computer Security (research conducted by Dr. Bojan Cukic, Dr. Katerina Goseva Popstojanova and Dr. Afzel Noore)
• Cyber Security (research conducted by Dr. Y Reddy)
• Secure Systems (research conducted by Dr. Y Reddy)
• Information Assurance (research conducted by Dr. Donald Adjeroh, Dr. Bojan Cukic, Cindy Tanner and Dr. Frances Vanscoy)