Top computer crime fighters to speak at OSU-Tulsa

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Oklahoma State University Center for Telecommunications and Network Security will host Steven D. Shirley, executive director of the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, and Jim Christy, director of the Defense Cyber Crime Institute, on Tuesday, Oct. 31, at the OSU-Tulsa Auditorium.

The pair is scheduled to speak from 9:50-11:45 a.m. as the keynotes for the quarterly meeting of InfraGard, which is free and open to the public.

“Featuring both of these individuals at the same meeting is more than we’d ever hoped for. They have extensive backgrounds in computer crime fighting that have put them at the forefront of such efforts. We are also pleased to provide a platform for the public to get real insight into the challenges these high-tech investigators face,” said Mark Weiser, OSU CTANS director.

As executive director of the Cyber Crime Center, Shirley oversees three organizations specializing in deep criminal examinations of electronic media, a training program for computer crime investigations, and the testing and validation of forensic software and hardware for investigative applications.

Christy, director of the Defense Cyber Crime Institute, is notable for the many “firsts” in his career, including the first civilian computer crime investigator for the government, the first case agent to investigate computer espionage, the first to use a stand-alone personal computer for electronic surveillance, first to develop a technique to recover data from a cut-up diskette, and first to create a study of psychological profiling of computer criminals.

While the morning portion of the meeting will focus on cybercrime, the afternoon will be mainly devoted to Voice over IP, a method for using the Internet and other networks to carry telephone traffic. Speakers from several companies, including Cox, AT&T, and Enterprise Technologies, will speak and participate on a panel.

Again, the meeting is free and open to the public. No registration or RSVP is required to attend. The Oklahoma Chapter of InfraGard is committed to a robust exchange of information to support successful infrastructure protection efforts, especially those that help owners and operators of infrastructure assets, as well as U.S. government law enforcement and national security responsibilities. For more information, contact CTANS at 405-744-3000 or visit the website at http://ctans.okstate.edu/.