Fighting Cybercrime: UAB Names First Director of Research in Computer Forensics

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has named Gary Warner, nationally renowned in the field of cybersleuthing, its first director of Research in Computer Forensics.

August 27, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has named Gary Warner, nationally renowned in the field of cybersleuthing, its first director of Research in Computer Forensics. Through this research area, an initiative of the UAB Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) and Justice Sciences departments and the UAB Office of the Vice President for Research and Development, UAB will be a resource for local law enforcement and corporations dealing with identity thieves, bank fraudsters and other cyber criminals.

Warner will direct researchers seeking to improve techniques and develop new tools to reveal the truth – the “who, what, when and where” – of cybercrime. He is fond of the phrase “there can be no justice without truth.”

Forensics is the use of science and technology to investigate and establish facts in criminal or civil courts of law. Computer forensics focuses that investigation on the domain of the digital world. “To many of us, including law enforcement, what happens in the digital world is a mystery.” Warner said. “Criminals use their superior technical abilities to contrive elaborate schemes to hide their activities.

“With Computer Security being one of the hottest employment tracks in the technology world,” Warner said, “we believe that we will also be providing a red-hot and marketable career path to students who choose to pursue CIS and Justice degrees at UAB and join us in our research.”

Warner has corporate IT experience. Corporations and law enforcement agencies frequently seek him out to assist in cases of network intrusion, phishing and spam. “Phishing” refers to the use of sophisticated electronic “lures,” such as e-mail, to obtain victims’ financial information and passwords. In 2001, Warner started the Birmingham Chapter of InfraGard, a partnership between corporate security personnel and the FBI.

In 2003, he was elected to the national board of directors of InfraGard. He also has served on the national board of the Energy Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) and shares cybersecurity expertise and information with both the Department of Homeland Security and FBI.

Warner has presented on dozens of topics related to computer security at local, regional and national security events and is an active member of the FBI's Digital PhishNet, the AntiPhishing Working Group, and Team Leader of PIRT: the Phishing Incident Reporting and Termination Squad. He also has been an active collaborator with the UAB Department of Computer and Information Sciences and UAB Department of Justice Sciences in the areas of computer forensics and spam research.

“Gary's hire is a turning point for cybercrime research at UAB and nationally,” said Anthony Skjellum, chair of UAB CIS. “Now the nation has a leading mind in the prevention and reduction of cybercrime working with leading researchers in data mining and high performance computing to tackle these immense problems of security and economic interest.”

The first major research project for UAB Computer Forensics researchers is in data mining of thousands of spam e-mails to identify if large numbers are generated by the same source.

Warner also will teach classes for UAB’s Certificate Program in Computer Forensics, which provides both degree and non-degree seeking graduate students the opportunity to obtain graduate-level knowledge, training and skills in computer forensics.