CYBERCRIME DETECTION
AND DIGITAL FORENSICS
CIS 4385
Syllabus — Spring 2024

Times, People and Places

Instructor: Randolph Langley

    Email: langley@cs.fsu.edu
    Office: 410C Love Building

Class time and place

CIS4385 meets at 4:50PM - 6:05PM on Tuesday and Thursday in HWC2400.

Office hours

My in-person office hours are on Wednesdays; there are two sessions, the first from 11:00 to 12:00, and the second from 12:30 to 2:00.

If these are not convenient, or if you would like to meet using alternative means, then please contact me so that we can schedule a meeting in a different venue or format. Please send email to me at langley@cs.fsu.edu to schedule a meeting.

Additionally, while these are not official hours, you can also try visiting my office from 11:00am until 2:00pm on both Monday and Friday; while I cannot promise to be there all of the time, I will often be there and should be reasonably available if I am in the office during those hours.

Class home page

http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~langley/CIS4385-2024-1/index.html

Class Description

"Cybercrime activities leave a trail of incriminating evidence. In this course, students will focus on learning tools, techniques, and procedures for detecting cybercrime and analyzing collected data related to past and ongoing cyber offenses. The focus will be on forensic approaches that preserve the legal value of the collected evidence."

Objectives

This is a technical class focused on detecting cybercrime and analyzing collected data. In particular, our aims will be to study both traditional "post-mortem" analysis and emerging "live" response techniques.

Class Topics

Required Text

Digital Forensics, Investigation, and Response, 4th edition, 2022, Chuck Easttom

Additional recommended material

Digital Archaeology, by Michael Graves, 2013. (Abbreviated DA in class materials.)

Digital Forensics for Handheld Devices, by Eamon P. Doherty. CRC Press, 2013. (Abbreviated DFHD in class materials.)

Computer Forensics: Cybercriminals, Laws, and Evidence, by Marie-Helen Maras. Jones & Bartlett, 2012. (Abbreviated CFCLE in class materials.)

Malware Forensics Field Guide for Windows Systems, by Cameron H. Malin, Eoghan Casey, and James Aquilina. Syngress, 2012. (Abbreviated MFFGWS in class materials).

Digital Forsensics with Open Source Tools, by Cory Altheide and Harlan Carvey. Syngress, 2011. (Abbreviated DFOST in class materials)

*Windows Forensic Analysis, 2nd Edition, by Harlan Carvey. Syngress, 2009. (This will be abbreviated as WFA in class materials.)

Malware Forensics, James Aquilina, Eoghan Casey, and Cameron Malin. Syngress, 2008. (This will be abbreviated as MF in class materials.)

*File System Forensic Analysis, by Brian Carrier. Addison-Wesley, 2005. (Abbreviated FSFA in class materials.)

Digital Evidence and Computer Crime, 2nd edition, by Eoghan Casey. Academic Press, 2004. (Abbreviated DECC in class materials.)

Information Warfare and Security, by Dorothy Denning. ACM Press, 1999. (Abbreviated IWS in class materials.)

Fighting Computer Crime, by Donn Parker. Wiley Computer Publishing, 1998. (Abbreviated FCC in class materials.)

Additionally, throughout the semester, I may add topical material, generally culled from recent news articles. I will add links to this material on the class home page.

Assessment

ITEM

POINTS

Midterm #1: Thursday, February 8, in our regular classroom at our regular meeting time.

25

Midterm #2: Thursday, March 21, in our regular classroom at our regular meeting time.

25

Final Exam, 2 hours to complete. The final will be at 5:30pm-7:30pm in HWC2400 on Wednesday, May 1.

25

Assignments

25

TOTAL

100

Grades

A 90% - 100%
B+ 88% - 89%
B 80% - 87%
C+ 78% - 79%
C 70% - 77%
D 60% - 69%
F 0% - 59%

Class Policies

Problem Solving Assignments

Please turn in assignments on time. No late submission will be accepted.

Attendance

Attendance at all class meetings is expected. Please extend courtesy in class by arriving on time, staying until dismissed, and refraining from food and drink.

Excused absences

Excused absences include illness, deaths in the immediate family and other documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. Accommodations for these excused absences will be made and will do so in a way that does not penalize students who have a valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.

Communication

You should check your electronic mail frequently for information about this course, as well as the class home page. You are also encouraged to use email to ask questions and report problems.

Academic Dishonesty

There is no group work in this class. All assignments must be done solely by you. Do not solicit help from your fellow students or from any other source.

Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Do not turn in other people's work as your own; this includes, but is not limited to, unattributed copying from web pages, other students' work, books, journals, or broadcast media. Citations and clear delineation of cited material as distinguished from your own original work is mandatory.

The Florida State University academic honor policy is at http://dof.fsu.edu/content/download/21140/136629/AHP2010Revision.pdf

Official FSU statement on the Academic Honor Policy: 

	ACADEMIC HONOR POLICY:
	
	The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the
	University's expectations for the integrity of students'
	academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of
	those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of
	students and faculty members throughout the process.  Students are
	responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living
	up to their pledge to "... be honest and truthful and
	... [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at
	Florida State University."

University ADA statement

	ADA
	
	AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT:
	Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should:
	
	(1) register with and provide documentation to the Student
	Disability Resource Center; and
	
	(2) bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for
	accommodation and what type.  This should be done during the first
	week of class.
	
	This syllabus and other class materials are available in
	alternative format upon request.
	
	For more information about services available to FSU students with
	disabilities, contact the:
	
	Student Disability Resource Center
	874 Traditions Way
	108 Student Services Building
	Florida State University
	Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167
	(850) 644-9566 (voice)
	(850) 644-8504 (TDD)
	sdrc@admin.fsu.edu
	http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/

Please advise me at your earliest convenience (within one week) if you have a disability that will require a reasonable accommodation for the successful completion of this course. Also, as indicated above, you should register with the and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center, and provide me a letter indicating the need for accommodation and indicating what type.

Summary

If you are experiencing difficulty or are concerned about your progress, please speak with me immediately.



The above schedule and procedures in this class are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances, university schedule changes, or calendar errors on my part.