To test their cybercrime knowledge, USC students take the virtual witness stand
An intern at a defense firm gains access to top-secret information, steals it and tries to sell it to a foreign power.
Called in to investigate as a cybercrime expert, you must carefully piece together the plot using evidence from the intern’s laptop, records of online video calls and other digital information.
Then you step into the hot seat: the witness box in a criminal courtroom. Attorneys interrogate you relentlessly as you testify, searching for weaknesses in your knowledge as a judge watches solemnly from the bench.
Hunter Collins, an intelligence and cyber operations major at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and a dozen other USC students faced that precise scenario this spring. They took the stand as part of the capstone project in their advanced digital forensics class at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. In years past, students in the class traveled to a real courtroom, but this year the COVID-19 pandemic pushed them to a digital venue: a videoconference on Zoom.
Students showcase cybersecurity skills for employers
Dozens of industry professionals from tech firms, consulting companies and cybercrime investigation agencies also watched carefully.
Although perhaps not as intense as a real-life court case, the exercise had high stakes. Perform well, and the students might get a job offer on the spot. Past graduates drew interest from the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, Apple and major consulting and investigative firms.
Demand is high for recent graduates with expertise in digital forensics — a field of science that focuses on investigation and recovery of digital material.
And for good reason: Cybercrime is estimated to cost $6 trillion a year by 2021, with a ransomware attack against businesses occurring every 11 seconds, according to a private research firm. Another analysis found the costs of identity fraud alone reached $16.9 billion in 2019.
And cybersecurity is a booming business — the global market is worth an estimated $173 billion.
“At last check, there were more than a million open jobs in the U.S.,” said Joseph Greenfield, associate professor of information technology practice who has held the mock trial each May for the past 12 years. “Starting salaries since 2010 have increased by $5,000 per year on average, so graduates are looking at between $78,000 to $110,000.”