A Research-Led Practice-Driven Digital Forensic Curriculum to Train Next Generation of Cyber Firefighters

Lack of skilled digital forensic professionals is seriously affecting the everyday life of everyone as businesses and law enforcement are struggling to fill the bare minimum number of digital investigator positions. This skills shortage can hinder incident response, with organizations failing to put effective measures in place following a cyber-attack or to gather the digital evidence that could lead to the successful prosecution of malicious insiders and cyber-criminals. It therefore makes the connected world less secure and digital economies less reliable, affecting everyone in their ecosystems. The commercial and public sectors are looking to higher education institutions to produce quality graduates equipped to enter the digital forensics profession. This paper presents our proposed research-led, practice-driven digital forensics curriculum. The curriculum is designed to respond to employers’ needs and is built on the experience of running a successful Cyber Security program at Birmingham City University in the industrial heartland of the UK. All students will take a common set of modules in the first semester, but will be given the opportunity to specialize in digital forensics in the second semester and in their summer project, enabling them to graduate with the degree of MSc Digital Forensics.