UCF Master's of Science in Digital Forensics

samurai86

Hi All,

I just wanted to briefly share with you guys about my experience at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in the Master's of Science in Digital Forensics program (MSDF). First I haven't seen it mentioned on here before, and I may just have missed it, but I wanted to make sure it was represented.

I graduated from UCF in May of 2012, and completed the program online. With that said this program was the most hands on I had than in any other college programs I attended. We would download forensic images, VMs, and perform our analysis. Most of the instructors were adjuncts that worked for local law enforcement, and one worked for or with the Secret Service I believe. The first two courses (Computer Forensics 1 and 2) were primarily done in Linux. These courses really made you appreciated what forensic tools like EnCase, or AccessData FTK can do. We started out utilizing a lot of open source tools, like the Sleuthkit w/Autopsy (in linux), to perform our analysis. However, there is a tool called Winhex, and I had the "Specialist" version, about $300 it was handy through several courses. The free version was used in a few courses, but the specialist was recommended.

So for those of you are interested in security, forensics, or incident response, and are looking for a graduate degree check it out. The cost was pretty good for a Master's when I attended.

If there was one recommendation I would make to the program, it would be to have a network forensics course. They do have a wireless forensics course, but it was one of the very few on campus only classes. (at least when I went)
See the link here:
Master of Science in Digital Forensics, UCF

If you any of you have questions about the program hit me up, I would be happy to talk about it.

Mike-Mike

this all sounds pretty cool

Danielm7

Do you work in forensics now? A friend works at a forensics research lab but most of them didn't have any forensics experience before they started there, I imagine they had to get a ton of training.

coty24

I would like to know how much this program costs when it's all said and done. I might jump ship after this term at WGU if the price point is at least a little affordable...

Edit - 35,000 out of state for program 30 credits. Yikes!

But it definitely looks worth it! I hope I can swing it

samurai86

I currently do not have a "full time" forensics job. But just prior to graduating I received a promotion to our IT Security team. They were interested in having that skill set on the team. So I do a lot of other security stuff, but when it comes to investigations (which do come up), and analyzing incidents such as malware and other compromises I am very involved in those processes as they relate to forensics. I have also had my supervisor invest in some cost effective forensics tools that have greatly assisted in investigations.

This past week I have done nothing but forensics to an incident that occurred, but that is not the norm in my job.

Yea I imagine the out of state costs are much more. I do live in FL and I payed about 17,000 for tution. I looked at Nova and I thought the cost was around $500 a credit hour, when I looked. UCF was $306 a credit hour when I started and increased to $336 a credit hour by the time I left. But IMHO the UCF cost was very low for a graduate degree. I had a hard time finding anything else that was close in regards to costs, so that was a factor for me signing up for that program.

harsh3090416

I have two questions for you. I am planning to apply for the UCF program. 1.) How many hours per week do you think you have to put aside for each class? 2.) I see there are 2 options one being the thesis and the another one internship and 9 classes. I am going to be working full time my question is can I substitute a full time security position for the internship? I just graduated from RIT with a BS in Computing Security and I am going to start working full time next week as a security analyst I am in the study phase right now so you speak and I don't feel like i shouldn't take a break and just start my masters too.

Raystafarian

Interesting - it's interdisciplinary and I'd consider this a pro. I got my BSBA from UCF and I'm not too impressed with the college of Business.

Khaos1911

*Super Bump*

I'm looking at Master degrees myself and was wondering if anybody else had any experiences with the UCF MSDF program? I don't have forensics experience but this does sound interesting and the classes sound more entertaining than from alot of what I'm finding in different Masters programs.

jaluca

Hi, I will be applying into the program this fall semester. In addition to Linux and TCP/IP proficiency, what programming language(s) do you think will be helpful with helping one succeed?