Digital Forensics Education: A Multidisciplinary Curriculum Model

This paper reports experiences and lessons learned in the process of developing and implementing an undergraduate curriculum for digital forensics over the last three years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The project addresses the challenges of developing a higher-education standardized curriculum for digital forensics that meets the needs of the digital forensics community. The curriculum provides degree options and considers the growing employability of digital forensics students in an increasing range of jobs. The approach builds on the multidisciplinary nature of the field. The findings include a curriculum model, detailed course content, exams, and an evaluation package for measuring how students respond to the courses. This paper summarizes the model, results, challenges, and opportunities.