I recently finished the Champlain College Masters of Digital Forensics program. I have a background in telecommunications and networking and have very strong experience in areas of cyber security like Firewalls, web proxies, logging and vulnerability management. I took the program because I wanted to build my experience in digital forensics and help enhance my team's capabilities in that area. In spring of 2020 covid hit, and I figured that if I wasn't going to be doing much on nights and weekends because of shutdowns and quarantines; it was the best time to take on the additional work of a master's degree.
I first learned of the Champlain while attending the Open Source Digital Forensics Conference in 2019 https://www.osdfcon.org/ At that conference I saw a presentation by Champlain forensics professor, Ali Hadi and his students. Hadi and his team presented on Linux Forensics. I was impressed by their presentation and the technical research they did. After that presentation I had my eyes set on the Champlain Digital Forensics degree as a program where I could obtain an excellent technical education in digital forensics.
The program ended up being more difficult and more work than I expected. After a few months the covid quarantine relaxed. On nights and weekends while immersed deeply in forensics labs and assignments I often wondered, why am I adding all this extra work and stress to my life? In the end I completed the program in early 2022, and greatly increased my skills and the capabilities for my team. I also gained a greater appreciation for all of the great work law enforcement does in the area of digital forensics. I work in private industry, but typically more than half of my classes were law enforcement. I always appreciated their experiences and their work to make the world a safer place for everyone!
The Champlain Masters of Digital Forensics program currently has the following courses:
CMIT 500 - Information Technology and Security
DFS 500 - Digital Forensic Science
DFS 501 - The Practice of Digital Investigations
DFS 510 - Scripting for Digital Forensic
DFS 520 - Operating System Analysis
DFS 530 - Incident Response and Network Forensics
DFS 550 - Mobile Device Analysis
DFS 570 - Legal Principles of Dig. Investigations
DFS 575 - Digital Investigations for Civil Litigation
DFS 580 - Capstone Research Thesis
Two electives:
DFS 540 - Malware Analysis
DFS 560 - Digital Forensics and Encryption
DFS 565 - Computer Forensics Lab Operation & Management
To better understand the program, I created some course comparisons between SANS courses and Champlain Masters of Digital Forensics courses.
Much of the content of the SANS 500 Windows Forensics https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/windows-forensic-analysis/ and SANS 508 Advanced Incident Response, Threat Hunting and Incident handling https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/advanced-incident-response-threat-hunting-training/ are covered in the Champlain courses DFS500 Digital Forensic Science, DFS501 The Practice of Digital Investigations, DFS520 Operating System Analysis.
Much of SANS SEC573: Automating Information Security with Python https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/automating-information-security-with-python/ is covered in Champlain course DFS510 Scripting for Digital Forensics.
Much of SANS SEC503: Intrusion Detection In-Depth https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/intrusion-detection-in-depth/, and SANS FOR572: Advanced Network Forensics: Threat Hunting, Analysis, and Incident Response (https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/advanced-network-forensics-threat-hunting-incident-response/ is covered in Champlain course DFS530 Incident Response and Network Forensics.
Much of SANS FOR610: Reverse-Engineering Malware: Malware Analysis Tools and Techniques https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/reverse-engineering-malware-malware-analysis-tools-techniques/ is covered in Champlain DFS540 Malware Analysis.
SANS FOR585: Smartphone Forensic Analysis In-Depth https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/advanced-smartphone-mobile-device-forensics/ compares to Champlain DFS550 Mobile Device Analysis.
SANS has a legal class titled, LEG523: Law of Data Security and Investigations https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/cybersecurity-law-data-security/ Champlain has two legal classes in the program; DFS570 legal Principles of Digital Investigations, and DFS575 Digital Investigations for Civil Litigation.
SANS does not offer a course I know of that is dedicated to encryption like Champlain's DFS560 Digital Forensics and Encryption, but encryption comes up as a sub-topic in many of the SANS courses.
Finally, the Champlain program has DFS580 Capstone Research thesis which provided an excellent experience to synthesize prior courses along with research.
Overall, I think the Champlain program has excellent coverage against SANS courses and is an excellent training program in the area of digital forensics. More information on the Champlain program can be found at the link below.
Comments