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February 16, 2008

AT&T awards UCO $1 million grant for new lab

Courtney Bryce

EDMOND — As technology continues to develop, cyber crime continues to rise and law enforcers need more resources to process digitalevidence.

The AT&T; Foundation recognized this need and awarded the University of Central Oklahoma a $1 million grant to include the AT&T; Digital Evidence and Cyber Security Lab as part of the UCO Forensic Science Institute, which will be completed August 2009.

The grant will be awarded in $250,000 installments during the next four years and will be used to purchase digital forensics software and equipment, eight examiner lab stations and other equipment.

“AT&T; supports a lot of universities and colleges because we believe in education and what it can do for society,” said Don Cain, AT&T; Oklahoma president.

W. Roger Webb, UCO president, said cyber crime has taken crime to the next level as people use digital media for cyber hacking, stalking, terrorism and sex crimes.

Webb said the new lab will serve federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

“What AT&T; has provided is a one-of-a-kind entity,” said Dwight Adams, UCO forensic science director.

Adams said the lab will allow a variety of law enforcement agencies to work together in a task force approach. He said digital evidence can be lifted from cell phones, computers and even pike passes.

“Criminals are getting sophisticated,” Adams said.

He said steganography allows people to hide images or evidence in other images. The lab will provide law enforcers with the resources and equipment they need to find the hidden evidence in a rapid way.

Adams said the lab will employ eight qualified digital evidence examiners, a supervisor and a support assistant.

Dee Cordry, OSBI computer crimes, said the Oklahoma City and Edmond Police Departments, OSBI and the Attorney General’s office all have expressed interest in having employees work in the lab. He said OSBI hopes to have two or three agents working full-time.

“Our goal is to move our computer crime unit from Oklahoma City and be here at UCO full-time,” Cordry said. “The great thing is we’re all there together and can collaborate and share technologies and work as a team.”

He said some people specialize in lifting digital evidence from cell phones, while others specialize in recovering electronic mail.

The OSBI computer crime unit has worked 100 cases a year for the past two years, Cordry said. He said most of these cases involved child exploitation and pornography.

Cordry said examples of the equipment they will have in the lab include more updated and modern devices that preserve the integrity of evidence.

“When we take a hard drive we want to prevent writing on it,” he said.

Write blocking devices allow them to copy and read the evidence without writing over it.

Ground is expected to break on the UCO Forensics Institute in April. The institute also will focus on DNA and trace evidence research, analytical chemistry research, evidence recovery and counter-terrorism.

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