NIST to Digital Forensics Experts: Show Us What You Got

Forensic science illustration shows a box with a human brain inside, with "Input" to the left and "Output" to the right.

Digital forensics experts often extract data from computers and mobile phones that may contain evidence of a crime. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will conduct the first large-scale study to measure how well those experts do their job. But rather than testing the proficiency of individual experts, the study aims to measure the performance of the digital forensics community overall.

In this study, to be conducted online, participants will examine simulated digital evidence, then answer questions that might arise in a real criminal investigation. The exercise should take about two hours, and participation is voluntary. Enrollment is now open, and the online test will be available for approximately three months.