Crime Investigation: A Course in Computer Forensics

The growing amount of crime, such as corporate frauds and virus attacks, in the last two decades highlights not only the importance of computer forensics in crime investigations but also the lack of forensic specialists in this area. An urgent need exists for universities to provide courses on computer forensics to ease the shortage of forensic specialists. This paper proposes a six-dimensional knowledge model for computer forensic courses. The six dimensions include categories of crime, computer technology, security, legislation, investigation process, and forensic tools. The paper describes in detail how the model was implemented in a postgraduate introductory computer forensic course. A brief summary of the lessons learned by the author in the course development and delivery is also presented.