INFER: Enhancing Digital Forensics Education Through Ready-to-Use Hands-on Labs with Portable Operating Environments
摘要
As cybercrime increases annually, digital forensics, a subsection of cybersecurity that involves identifying, preserving and analyzing digital evidence, has seen a surge in demand over the years. Despite the need, there is a large shortage in the cybersecurity workforce, including digital forensics. Meanwhile, the community also faces a lack of free, interactive, and quality instructional resources for digital forensics education. In this paper, we introduce INFER (INstructional Forensics Education Resource), which develops a set of hands-on labs for digital forensics education. These labs were designed on different and essential topics from the basic to advanced levels. The hands-on activities are portable, comprehensive, expandable, adjustable, and easy to follow with step-by-step instructions and accompanying lab environments. We evaluated the effectiveness of these labs through students’ surveys. A faculty development workshop was also hosted to disseminate the INFER materials and assess the usability. Based on the evaluation results, INFER is a valuable resource for providing quality digital forensics education.