Abstract
Many technical mechanisms across computer security for attribution,
identification, and classification are neither sufficient nor necessary
for forensically valid digital investigations; yet they are often
claimed as useful or necessary. Similarly, when forensic research
is evaluated using the viewpoints held by computer security venues,
the challenges, constraints, and usefulness of the work is often
misjudged. In this talk, Dr. Walls will discuss key aspects of
digital forensics with the goal of ensuring that research seeking
to advance the discipline will have the highest possible adoption
rate by practitioners. He will enumerate general legal and practical
constraints placed on forensic investigators that set the field
apart. Dr. Walls will also discuss several of his projects in this
space, including his work on extracting evidence from NAND flash.
Speaker's Biography
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Robert Walls is an assistant professor in the Department of
Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Walls'
interests lie at the intersection of security and digital
forensics. In part, he seeks to analyze and secure the
large-scale, complex, inter-connected systems underpinning
critical internet services. His past efforts have focused on
multiple aspects of this problem, including the development of
novel data collection methodologies, the analysis of partially
structured data, and the transition of research results into
practical tools and techniques. Before joining WPI, Dr. Walls
worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State University.
While there, his research focused on developing a science of
systems security. Previously, he attended the College of
Information and Computer Sciences at the University of
Massachusetts. In 2011, he received the Yahoo Key Scientific
Challenges Award for his work in Security & Privacy.
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