Cyber Crimes Unit holds first camp for women in digital forensics at Notre Dame

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ST. JOESPH COUNTY, Ind.—The St. Joseph County Cyber Crimes Unit held its first Women in Digital Forensics day camp during the week of June 10 at the University of Notre Dame.

For five days, local female high school students worked with the Cyber Crimes Unit and Notre Dame Student Investigators to learn about topics related to digital forensics by tracking locations, extracting information from cloud accounts, and diving into phone data.

“One of those most amazing things we’ve done so far is going and looking at information and seeing their heart rate, where they are at what times, specifically, where they stopped, how long they were somewhere,” said Madison Boothe, a camp participant and rising senior at St. Joseph High School. “It’s just been really cool to see all of the behind the scenes things that you don’t know your phone stores.”

Boothe says the camp has put a career in digital forensics on her mind and hopes to explore the field more during her senior year of high school.

The camp, held at the Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame, aims to present career options within digital forensics as well as encourage young women to enter the field through lectures, tutorials and mock investigations.

“Women are underrepresented in both the fields of technology and law enforcement,” said Notre Dame Police Chief Keri Kei Shibata, who spoke with the camp on Friday.

Shibata is the first female police chief at the Notre Dame Police Department. She got her start in residence hall security and in 2016, after receiving her MBA from Notre Dame, became the department’s chief.

“We need more women to be involved, so it’s a great opportunity for women to come explore that and realize that they are needed and that they are wanted and that it might be a good option for them,” Shibata said. “For us to have diversity represented it makes us stronger, it makes us smarter, it makes us able to connect with the community better.”

Mitch Kajzer, Director of the St. Joseph County Cyber Crimes Unit, runs the camp with help from Notre Dame student interns.

He says the camp’s first year has been a success and will continue.

Anyone with interest in learning more about careers in digital forensics should reach out to the Cyber Crimes Unit by sending an email to [email protected]

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