Teaching digital forensics to undergraduate students

Digital forensics isn\u27t commonly a part of an undergraduate university degree, but Deakin University in Australia recently introduced the subject as part of an IT security course. As instructors, we\u27ve found that digital forensics complements our other security offerings because it affords insights into why and how security fails. A basic part of this course is an ethics agreement signed by students and submitted to the unit instructor. This agreement, approved by Deakin University\u27s legal office and consistent with Barbara Endicott-Popovsky\u27s approach, requires students to maintain a professional and ethical attitude to the subject matter and its applications. Assignments regularly cast students in the role of forensic professional. Our teaching team emphasizes throughout the course that professional conduct establishes credibility with employers and customers as well as colleagues, and is required to perform the job effectively. This article describes our experiences with this course.