Skip to feedback

Award Abstract # 1900210
SaTC: EDU: Expanding Digital Forensics Education with Artifact Curation and Scalable, Accessible Artifact Exercises

NSF Org: DGE
Division Of Graduate Education
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN, INCORPORATED
Initial Amendment Date: July 9, 2019
Latest Amendment Date: July 9, 2019
Award Number: 1900210
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Li Yang
liyang@nsf.gov
 (703)292-2677
DGE
 Division Of Graduate Education
EDU
 Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date: August 1, 2019
End Date: December 31, 2022 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $300,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $300,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2019 = $267,505.00
History of Investigator:
  • Ibrahim Baggili (Principal Investigator)
    ibaggili@lsu.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of New Haven
300 BOSTON POST RD
WEST HAVEN
CT  US  06516-1916
(203)932-7000
Sponsor Congressional District: 03
Primary Place of Performance: University of New Haven
CT  US  06516-1916
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
03
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): FZBDVM1MBTN9
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace
Primary Program Source: 04001920DB NSF Education & Human Resource
Program Reference Code(s): 7254, 7434, 9178, 9179, SMET
Program Element Code(s): 806000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.076

ABSTRACT

In digital forensic investigations, practitioners typically find data of forensic value in digital forensic artifacts. The Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence (SWGDE) defines an artifact as "Information or data created as a result of the use of an electronic device that shows past activity". However, educational programs and resources have not kept up with digital forensics artifacts - which are the cornerstone of real-world investigations. Practitioners face the challenge of the diversity and volume of digital forensic artifacts they encounter. This makes the process of integrating artifacts into educational programs difficult. Little to no research has focused on creating scalable educational material that may be employed by instructors to teach the process of artifact curation and analysis. This is not only causing a learning gap in academic programs but is decreasing the possibility of students graduating with the necessary skills to conduct artifact analysis upon graduation. The community needs a granular, validated academic artifact dataset as well as academic exercises that employ them. This project will support the development of educational materials to address the artifact problem and will lead to graduates that understand artifacts, what they are and the process of recovering them.

By leveraging past work on the Artifact Genome Project (AGP), the researchers will curate digital forensic artifacts, and use them to design scalable, self-paced, open, online digital forensic exercises. Furthermore, artifacts produced from this work will impact practice. The work will have an impact on a multitude of organizations worldwide spanning private, local, and federal organizations. The work will also impact digital forensics education through a paradigm shift from focusing only on data dumps, to digital forensic artifacts. Lastly, the curation of artifacts over time aids in the exploration of the basic scientific principles related to what artifacts are, their ontology, and definition.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note:  When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

Andrew Mahr, Meghan Cichon "Zooming into the pandemic! A forensic analysis of the Zoom Application" Forensic science international , v.36 , 2021 Citation Details
Balon, Tyler and Herlopian, Krikor and Baggili, Ibrahim and Grajeda-Mendez, Cinthya "Forensic Artifact Finder (ForensicAF): An Approach & Tool for Leveraging Crowd-Sourced Curated Forensic Artifacts" International Conference Proceeding Series (ICPS), ARES 2021: The 16th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1145/3465481.3470051 Citation Details
Berrios, Jessica and Mosher, Elias and Benzo, Sankofa and Grajeda, Cinthya and Baggili, Ibrahim "Factorizing 2FA: Forensic analysis of two-factor authentication applications" Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation , v.45 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2023.301569 Citation Details
Johnson, Hailey and Volk, Karl and Serafin, Robert and Grajeda, Cinthya and Baggili, Ibrahim "Alt-tech social forensics: Forensic analysis of alternative social networking applications" Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation , v.42 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2022.301406 Citation Details
Thomas, Tyler and Piscitelli, Mathew and Nahar, Bhavik Ashok and Baggili, Ibrahim "Duck Hunt: Memory forensics of USB attack platforms" Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation , v.37 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2021.301190 Citation Details

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.

Print this page

Back to Top of page