Contact: Robbie Ward
Teams of Mississippi State students will take on crime scene investigations Nov. 17 at the Meridian Naval Air Station.
Computer forensics majors in the university's Bagley College of Engineering will receive hands-on training from staff members at the NAS-based Regional Counter-Drug Training Academy.
The academy's mock city, formally known as the Military Operations in Urban Terrain site, will contain three cybercrime scenes arranged in advance by MSU faculty members. Utilizing knowledge received in class, the students will work in groups to survey the "crime" locales and collect evidence in a legal manner.
Through their coursework in the department of computer science and engineering, the students have learned how to investigate such cybercrimes as identity theft, embezzlement and child pornography. The real-time Saturday exercise is designed to significantly enhance their understanding of what's required to take an investigation from start to finish.
As a follow-up to the investigations, mock trials surrounding the crime scenes will be held later this month.
Interested members of the news media are invited to observe the exercises. To make arrangements or receive more information about the NAS event or computer forensics program, contact associate professor David Dampier as soon as possible at 662-325-8923 or dampier@cse.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.