Training Cybersleuths
Former FBI agent Mark Pollitt, ’13, is building a cybersecurity workforce.
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In 1987, a fellow agent handed then-FBI special agent Mark Pollitt an 8-inch floppy disk.
麻豆精品 S淗e asked, 麻豆精品 S楧o you know what this is, and can you tell me what 麻豆精品 S檚 on it? 麻豆精品 S 麻豆精品 S recalls Pollitt, now a professor of engineering technology at Daytona State College.
麻豆精品 S淒igital forensics, which I call CSI for geeks, is a matter of looking at computer systems and networks to determine the who, what, when, where, how and why of things happening, 麻豆精品 S Pollitt explains.
His initial experience led to a slew of other cases involving digital forensics 麻豆精品 S investigations into white-collar crime, organized crime and some of the first cases of online child pornography. Pollitt 麻豆精品 S檚 interest in this emerging field eventually put him at the forefront of the agency 麻豆精品 S檚 computer forensics unit, and led to him becoming director of the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory.
麻豆精品 S淥ne of the things I learned from my father is that when you get to a new job, see what isn 麻豆精品 S檛 being done, then do it, 麻豆精品 S says Pollitt. 麻豆精品 S淲hen I got in the FBI, I realized they had a dearth of technology and virtually no folks with much of a technological background. I quickly became the go-to guy for technology stuff. 麻豆精品 S
Pollitt and his research partner, Daytona State College Associate Professor Philip Craiger, were recently awarded a $1.6 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to train college faculty to teach digital forensics and establish new programs for cybersecurity, and create programs to interest students in grades K 麻豆精品 S12 in pursuing careers in digital forensics. They were also involved in creating the master 麻豆精品 S檚 program in digital forensics at UCF, one of 12 schools in the country to offer such a program.
A 2012 survey found that more than 20 percent of federal government cybersecurity workers are eligible for retirement in the next three years. 麻豆精品 S淭he security of our computers and networks is critical, 麻豆精品 S Pollitt says. 麻豆精品 S淥ne of the biggest problems with cybersecurity is that we don 麻豆精品 S檛 have an adequate, trained workforce. 麻豆精品 S Cybercriminals are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen data, according to a 2009 White House report.
Pollitt first visited UCF on a grant to work at the National Center for Forensic Science. After his retirement from the FBI, he consulted and taught as a security expert before teaching as a visiting professor at UCF. He was later accepted into the College of Arts and Humanities 麻豆精品 S Texts and Technology (T&T) Ph.D. program.
麻豆精品 S淚 came to the T&T program because it was advertised as interdisciplinary, 麻豆精品 S Pollitt says. 麻豆精品 S淒uring my time at the FBI, forensic science focused on the traditional computer science approach. The problem was that our customers were investigators who focused on the narrative, which traditional approaches don 麻豆精品 S檛 address. 麻豆精品 S
Pollitt says his background in investigations meshed well with the humanities approach in the T&T program. 麻豆精品 S淲hat digital forensics forces you to do is think about security in a human context. It 麻豆精品 S檚 not the threats that do us harm; it 麻豆精品 S檚 the people behind the threats. And, by extension, it 麻豆精品 S檚 not the computer systems that get hurt; it 麻豆精品 S檚 the users of the computer systems. 麻豆精品 S
As part of the NSF grant, Pollitt and Craiger have formed partnerships with schools in four states to establish cybersecurity training programs. The schools will work to build a larger network of digital forensics trainers and programs in the Southeast.
The grant marks the first time the NSF has financially supported digital forensics, according to Pollitt. 麻豆精品 S淚 can remember going to meetings at NSF as an FBI representative and saying that this is the kind of research we need for digital forensics, 麻豆精品 S he recalls. 麻豆精品 S淪o, it 麻豆精品 S檚 pretty amazing that 10 years later, I 麻豆精品 S檓 doing it. 麻豆精品 S