Forensic Investigation (Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity Option)

The Canadian criminal justice system is an adversarial system which pits the accused person against the State. The adversarial process follows a well-defined series of procedural steps from initial complaint to verdict and sentencing. This course provides a detailed examination of the legal procedures that govern criminal proceedings in Canada including the tendering of evidence by both Crown and defence, with a particular emphasis on issues applicable to forensic investigators and technicians.
Prerequisite(s):

• Admission to a Forensic credential program or permission of the Program Coordinator.

This hands-on course aims to introduce the student to the basics of how to acquire sound forensic evidence from the most common digital devices found today. From laptop/desktop computers, mobile phones, tablets, servers, USB drives, RAID arrays or proprietary CCTV DVR's; each device type often requires a unique combination of techniques and forensic tools to capture a forensic image that can be used for evidentiary purposes.
Prerequisite(s):

• Admission to a Forensic credential program or permission of the Program Coordinator.

The course provides an introduction into digital forensics. It familiarizes the students with basics of digital forensics, computer structure, storage structure, networks, mobile devices, etc. The course will also cover the basic techniques to research and document scenes and evidence.
Prerequisite(s):

• Admission to a Forensic credential program or permission of the Program Coordinator.

This course is an introduction to cybersecurity, with an emphasis on the fundamental skills needed to design and maintain secure systems. Topics will include access control, logging and monitoring, and hardening systems. The course will also cover the foundations of network communication, and students will be taught the basic scripting skills required to automate key cybersecurity tasks. Through lectures and hands-on labs in a Linux environment, student will learn the foundational skills required to move on to advanced courses in Network Security and Administration. This course is an introduction to cybersecurity, with an emphasis on the fundamental skills needed to design and maintain secure systems. Topics will include access control, logging and monitoring, and hardening systems. The course will also cover the foundations of network communication, and students will be taught the basic scripting skills required to automate key cybersecurity tasks. Through lectures and hands-on labs in a Linux environment, student will learn the foundational skills required to move on to advanced courses in Network Security and Administration.
Prerequisite(s):

• Admission to a Forensic credential program or permission of the Program Coordinator.

This is a course in advanced composition and rhetoric, in which students will develop skills in complex critical analysis and interpretation by analyzing and evaluating materials from a variety of discourses or genres, including visual, online, and print; developing and writing essays, including critiques and research papers; applying and discussing principles of rhetoric and critical theory; examining and using methods of interpretation and analysis from the humanities and social sciences; evaluating the credibility of primary and secondary sources, including as it applies to media literacy, and for the purposes of academic research; situating discourses within their historical context and relevant to rhetorical theories of different periods (for example, Aristotle in the ancient world and Bakhtin in the twentieth century). The course format will include lecture, discussion, and both individual and group activities.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCIT ENGL 1177 or equivalent, or 6 credits BCIT Communication at 1100-level or above, or 3 credits of a university/college first-year social science or humanities course.

Forensic evidence is subject to all the general rules related to the admissibility of evidence in the criminal trial process and is also subject to certain unique rules of scrutiny. This course examines the fundamental laws of evidence within the adversarial process and provides a context for the expert in their role as witness.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 7001

This course is intended to develop the student’s advanced research and analytical skills. It will focus on the theory of inquiry, the logic, reality, and structure of investigative enquiry, as well as data analysis, methodologies of measurement models and reporting of results. Emphasis will be placed on data gathering and statistical techniques. The student will be introduced to multivariate statistical analysis techniques, using SPSS for application in the law enforcement and forensics fields. Various models of measurement, including quantitative, qualitative and data mining techniques with hands on data sets will be covered. Groups will be required to prepare a mini research project using all the statistical applications covered in class.
Prerequisite(s):

• Admission to a Forensic credential program or permission of the Program Coordinator.

This course will introduce students to forensic issues related to mobile devices that may use cloud resources. Students will learn what data can be retrieved from a mobile device, and they will get hands-on experience using current tools to perform the extraction. Students will analyze this data and align it with records from network security providers to inform an investigation. Cloud resources will also be addressed using industry standard software. Technical and legal issues will be considered.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 7510

Students will learn how to identify, collect, and preserve digital evidence with an emphasis on evidence collected from the Windows operating system. Topics include fundamental computer forensics principles, information extraction, legal issues, and challenges posed by variations in both data sources and devices. Students will use specialized forensic software to collect and use evidence in a forensically sound manner, to support an investigation. ​
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 7509 and 60% in FSCT 7510

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of network administration, with particular emphasis on network security monitoring. Students will learn fundamental concept related to the design of secure networks, including the deployment of security devices and sensors. Students will get hands-on experience in network traffic analysis, using packet sniffers and other network monitoring tools. Intrusion detection, attacks and defenses will be introduced to prepare students for more advanced courses in network security administration.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 7511

The course provides an introduction and an overview on planning and implementation of contingencies in case of a disaster. The course intends to familiarize students with technology focused on the business aspects related to disaster recovery planning and management.
Prerequisite(s):

• Admission to a Forensic credential program or permission of the Program Coordinator.

Students will learn advanced concepts in digital forensic analysis and investigation. The course will cover the investigation and response process from the focus of a computer forensics analyst. Topics include analysis of evidence from computers, networks, and mobile devices; event reconstruction; interpretation of digit evidence; and anti-forensic techniques, including encryption, steganography and rootkit hiding. Throughout this course, extensive hands-on exercises provide the students with practical experience in performing computer forensic investigation in the real world.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 8513

This course covers advanced topics in network security and intrusion detection. In-depth coverage of perimeter protection and firewall designs. Advanced Intrusion Detection and IDS/IPS design and implementation. Students will be familiarized with network monitoring and security tools and use them to perform traffic and IDS signature analysis, and network forensics. Also covered will be reverse engineering and machine code analysis techniques. These will be used to analyze malicious code and malware.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 8540

This course is a study of prototyping security tools using high-level languages such as Ruby, Python, and Lua. Implementation of basic communication applications using the TCP/IP protocol suite will be introduced. Security applications that will be designed and implemented as part of the course will include packet sniffers, backdoors, logfile parsers, packet crafters, variety of spoofing applications, simple Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems. Also covered will be shell scripting techniques and implementation of shell-scripts to perform system-related tasks. As part of implementing defensive applications, students will also be introduced to basic Linux-based tools and utilities such as Netfilter, cron, etc.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 7511

Under the supervision of the graduation project research methodologist, faculty mentor(s) and industry subject matter expert, the student will build upon the project concept initiated in FSCT7910 and complete a theoretical or applied independent research proposal. The course will focus on research themes relevant to the student’s chosen areas of specialty in forensic investigation. He/She will conduct a comprehensive literature review, prepare a research design and protocol, validate the measurement model(s), conduct reliability and validity studies, and undertake a pilot study to ensure measurement instrument reliability. The research proposal should be innovative, experimental or explanatory in nature to demonstrate the practical application of knowledge and skills. It should be comprehensive, covering all the operational aspects of the project and the measurement instrument to be employed. The research models employed and the research protocol followed will be well articulated and defined. This course will be focusing on building a foundation that leads to FSCT8621, Graduation Project 2.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 7910
• Completion of all framework courses and all specialty courses or permission of program coordinator.

This course provides practice in written and oral communication skills used in forensic science and investigation careers. The emphasis is on explaining technical material in plain language and communicating investigation results in reports and presentations. The course also includes techniques for e-mails, letters, reports, and for making oral presentations. Students prepare a professional job application and LinkedIn profile and examine strategies for maintaining their online reputation as professionals.
Prerequisite(s):

• 6 credits of COMM 1100 level or above, or 3 credits of university/college writing course.

This course teaches students the art and science of securing data in the presence of an adversary, namely cryptography. The course begins with the mathematical foundations of cryptography, including pseudo-random number generation, and hence proceeds with a coverage of secret key algorithms and public key algorithms. The students learn the principles of operation of such cryptographic techniques, along with representative algorithms from both fields. The students also learn attack techniques that apply to secret key algorithms and public key algorithms. The course teaches students the design and use of stream ciphers as well. The students learn various schemes to securely manage and exchange cryptographic keys. The students also learn applications of one-way functions to compute and verify hashes and digital signatures. The course also teaches students the principal identification schemes currently in use. Throughout the course, the students also learn the use of various cryptographic tools.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 7511

The course covers a wide range of topics from common vulnerabilities and tools that are used to exploit, to incident response and handling. Addresses theoretical and practical issues in malicious programs and scripts, stegonagraphy, worms and different types of network exploits and attacks.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 8540

In this second of three capstone graduation courses, and under the supervision of the course instructor, the student must complete the data collection and analysis as specified in the graduation project proposal developed in FSCT8611. The student will apply the chosen research methodology and collect the requisite data needed to answer the research questions of interest. At defined intervals, the student must present his/her progress orally to the class and in writing to the course instructor. The student must complete this phase of the project to a satisfactory level, as determined by the course instructor, program coordinator and subject matte expert (where applicable) before registering for the third and final course, FSCT8631.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 8611

Fosters abilities and values required for ethical decision making at work. Develops skills in logical analysis, a working knowledge of moral principles and theories, and the ability to diagnose and resolve moral disagreements commonly found at work. Examines and applies moral principles to historically famous cases in manufacturing, human resources, management, engineering, health care, and computing.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCIT ENGL 1177, or 6 credits BCIT Communication at 1100-level or above, or 3 credits of a university/college first-year social science or humanities course.

The student will conclude the project proposed and conducted in FSCT8611 and FSCT8621 respectively. The student is required to prepare a formal research paper (akin to a scientific publication), submit a research poster and present the final research report to fellow students, faculty and industry guests at the yearly the Research Day. The poster and the presentation are expected to clearly highlight the research questions posed, the model of measurement utilized, data analysis and key research findings.
Prerequisite(s):

• 60% in FSCT 8621