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About the Center
This section of the CIFA website contains information about
the center. This is divided into the following sections:
Rationale
Information technologies offer great promise for government
administration and rapid communication, but they also present
opportunities for crime, violations of privacy, and failures of
information accessibility and accuracy. In an increasingly
digitized society the educational and governmental institutions
have an interest and obligation to inform, train, and educate
students, public employees, and citizens in information privacy,
security, assets, and infrastructure protection. To address this
need, the University at Albany, State University of New York, and
the State of New York, Office of Cyber Security and Critical
Infrastructure Coordination and State Police, have in partnership
created the New York State Center for Information Forensics and
Assurance (CIFA).
History
CIFA was founded in 2003 through funding by federal and state government grants including those from the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Education, and the National Institute of Justice. As of 2004, CIFA also participates in the activities of the Northeast Regional Forensic Institute (NERFI), a collaborative partnership between the University at Albany and the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center designed to address a nationwide shortage of forensic scientists, which has created critical casework backlogs in labs across the nation. In 2005, the Capital Region Cyber Crime Partnership (CRCCP) was created. The New York State Police, district attorneys from eight counties in the Capital Region, the New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI), and members of CIFA are working together to specifically reduce computer crime case backlog through research in the computer forensics field and creation of training materials.
Organization
CIFA is organizationally located within the University at Albany, College of Computing and Information Computer Science Department, but is run by a
Management Team that includes the following members:
- Robert Bangert Drowns, Associate Dean, School of Education
and Associate Professor, Department of Educational Theory and
Practice
- Peter Bloniarz, Associate Provost for Informatics and Dean,
College of Computing and Information
- Jagdish Gangolly, Associate Professor, Department of
Accounting & Law, School of Business
- Sanjay Goel, Assistant Professor, Information Technology
Management Department, School of Business
- Laura Iwan, State Information Security Officer, New York
State Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure
Coordination
- Ronald R. Stevens, Computer Crime Unit, New York State
Police
Teaching Hospital Model
CIFA's operation will emulate that of a teaching hospital where
educational cases based on real problems provide learning
opportunities for students and practitioners to hone their skills
under the guidance of seasoned experts. In the figure below, this
is referred to as case-based learning, which takes place in the
Educational Research and Learning Laboratory. The knowledge
gained can be applied to real problems using case-based
reasoning. In addition, problems for which there are no known
solutions will be the subject of research (problem-based
learning), which takes place in the Collaborative Research
Laboratory. As problems are solved, they will be developed into
new cases as the basis for future student learning experiences.
More details about the Educational Research and Learning
Laboratory and Collaborative Research Laboratory are provided in
the Facilities section.
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