New program to fight cybercrime
by Kelly Stone
UniSA
is introducing the Master of Science (Information Assurance) in 2010
to help meet the growing demand for IT security professionals in
Australia.
Dean of Research for the Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment Associate Professor Jill Slay, said producing graduates with the technical skills to solve cybercrime would be the focus of the new program.
Associate Prof Slay said graduates would assist in tackling the increasing problems of computer hacking and threats to critical infrastructure.
"In the past 10 years, the amount of electronic crime evidence requiring analysis has increased 100,000 fold," said Associate Prof Slay who is also Director of UniSA's Forensic Computing Lab.
"There is actually a limit to the number of cases that forensic computing experts can take on due to shortages of qualified staff.
"This new program will train a new generation of forensic computing, critical infrastructure, defence, law enforcement, banking industry and IT security professionals who will be able to present scientific evidence in a court of law."
The program is the only one of its kind in Australia and is supported nationally by the Australian Federal Police, all state law enforcement agencies and the private sector.