Free Training for Law Enforcement
Cybercrime is one of the greatest threats facing our country and has enormous implications for our national security, economic prosperity, and public safety. The challenge facing state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) law enforcement partners includes investigating a broad variety of cybercrimes and cyberthreats by criminals, hackers, terrorists, and state actors. To meet this challenge, it is vital that SLTT law enforcement leaders ensure that appropriate agency personnel receive cybercrime training. Below we list examples of free cybercrime training designed to help SLTT law enforceemnt better understand computer technology and cybercrime issues.
In addition, the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council (CICC) and its partners developed a flyer to help raise awareness of the need for state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement leaders to ensure that appropriate agency personnel receive cybercrime training. Download the flyer here.
FBI Cyber Shield Alliance – Virtual Academy Cyber Certification Program
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Cyber Shield Alliance provides extensive resources for state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) law enforcement partners via the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal to access eGuardian as a way to report cyber incidents, to share intelligence, and to access federally sponsored training.
SLTT partners are encouraged to participate in the FBI Cyber Task Forces in their areas. Personnel will work with FBI agents and analysts on cases and receive access to the Bureau’s training curriculum through the Virtual Academy platform. The Virtual Academy contains an Introductory Class Suite (recommended below) as well as a Hardware and Software Suite, a Networking Suite, a Security Suite, and an Enhanced Security Suite, which may prove useful to FLOs depending on their specific area of responsibility (AOR) roles and responsibilities.
Introductory Class Suite:
• Basic Networking for Investigators
• Obtaining and Analyzing Digital Records
• The Cloud: It’s All About Communication
• Tracing E-Mail Addresses
• Social Media: Friend or Foe
• Exploiting Mobile Communications: Criminal Tactics and Investigative Techniques
Law enforcement personnel can sign up for the Cyber Shield Alliance through the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) at https://www.cjis.gov. LEEP was formerly known as the Law Enforcement Online (LEO) portal. Once you are on LEEP, find the Virtual Academy Special Interest Group (SIG) and begin searching the course catalog for classes and topics of interest.
National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C)
NW3C provides support for law enforcement and regulatory agencies involved in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of economic and high-tech crime. NW3C delivers training in computer forensics, cyber and financial crime investigations, and intelligence analysis; offers investigative support to agencies investigating white collar and related crimes; conducts original research on all facets of white collar crime; and partners with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) to support the reporting of cybercrime incidents to law enforcement. NW3C currently provides several cost-free federally funded courses in the fields of cyber investigations, forensics and cybercrime, network intrusions, mobile forensics, and wireless network investigations, including:
• Basic Network Intrusion Investigations (BNII)
• Intro to Security for Law Enforcement Networks (ISLEN)
• Basic Data Recovery and Acquisition (BDRA)
• Basic Cell Phone Investigations (BCPI)
• Intermediate Data Recovery and Analysis (IDRA)
• Cell Phone Interrogation (CPI)
• Advanced Wireless Network Investigation (AWNI)
• GPS Interrogation (GPSI)
• Apple® iDevice Forensics (iDevice)
• Social Media Investigations (SMI 201)
• Macintosh® Forensic Analysis (MFA)
• Macintosh® Triage and Imaging (MTI)
• Secure Techniques for On-Site Preview (STOP)
• Windows® Internet Trace Evidence (INET)
For further information on available courses, please visit www.nw3c.org.
SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics
SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, provides several computer-related online training courses for law enforcement personnel investigating crimes with a possible cyber link, such as gangs, homicide, vice, property crimes, narcotics, or high-tech crime. Online courses offed by SEARCH include:
• Crime Involving Handheld Computing Devices
• Social Networking Sites: Investigative Tools and Techniques
• Social Networking Sites: Facebook Module
• Basic Computer Skills for Law Enforcement
• Network Investigation and Digital Triage: Pre-Course Considerations
In order to access the SEARCH no-cost federally funded courses, users must request access to the online learning portal. More information is available at: https://elearning.search.org.
US Secret Service – National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI)
The National Computer Forensics Institute’s (NCFI) innovative facility and strategic partnership serve to substantially enhance law enforcement efforts to suppress the continually evolving and increasing number of electronic crime cases affecting communities nationwide, as well as improve and strengthen the prosecution and adjudication of those cases. NCFI training courses are offered to state and local law enforcement, prosecutors and judges through funding from the federal government. Travel, lodging, equipment (in some classes), and course fees are provided at no costs to attendees or their agencies. See a list of all available course at https://www.ncfi.usss.gov/ncfi/pages/courses.jsf.
Department of Homeland Security
The Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE) is an online, and on-demand cybersecurity training system for government personnel. With courses ranging from beginner to advanced levels, FedVTE exists to help the workforce maintain expertise and foster operational readiness. All courses are free to government personnel, including law enforcement. “Government” is defined as federal, state, local, tribal or territorial government. Users can download the FedVTE course catalog at http://niccs.us-cert.gov/research/fedvte-training-catalog, the FedVTE Training Pathway Guide at http://niccs.us-cert.gov/research/fedvte-training-pathway-guide, and frequently asked questions at http://niccs.us-cert.gov/research/fedvte-faqs.
