ISU students have the opportunity to learn about cyberterrorism and counteracting cybercrime in a computer and network forensics seminar class being offered this semester.

Yong Guan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer and night work forensics, said the new computer and network forensics class, Computer Engineering 592, allows students to learn the fundamental knowledge of forensics.

The class is offered to both graduate students and undergraduate students, he said. Seventeen students are enrolled at this time, and Guan said he hopes to make the seminar a regular class by fall 2004.

Similar computer forensic classes are being offered at University of South California, Oregon Graduate Institute, University of West Virginia, University of Central Florida and Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, he said.

Students in the computer and network forensics class will learn about privacy protection techniques for the Internet, computer security policy, and night walk surveillance, he said.

Matt Regennitter, senior in computer engineering, said the majority of the students are taking the class because they are in the information insurance program, which requires them to commit two years of working for a company.

“The [students] need to practice their trade before they go into it,” Regennitter said. “We’re learning proper procedures of collecting and preserving digital evidence.”

Guan said the seminar class is being funded by the National Science Foundation. The foundation also funded the new cyberspace forensics lab, which will probably be located in Coover Hall, he said.

Guan said there is an immediate need for people qualified to work in computer forensics labs. Guan said a speaker at Iowa State last year said there are between 150 to 200 immediate openings in the computer forensics market.

“There is a large number of cybercrime every day,” Guan said. “We need to introduce this class and give students hands-on experience.”

Students with computer and network forensics experience will enhance their marketability in the job market, he said.

Brett Myers, graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, said he is taking the class to learn about the opportunities in computer forensics.

“We will learn how to trace back cyber-attacks and learn how to defend against them,” Myers said.