An interview with a specialist...

A sneak preview at an upcoming podcast episode and a chance to win a free Packt eBook! [View this email in your browser]( An Interview with a Specialist... Hello again! We decided to roll out a little teaser for all our readers this week. I spoke with [Bill Oettinger]( a specialist in computer forensics and a friend of the [_secpro]( who gave us a load of helpful tips about improving your forensics game. We're planning to release the full chat in a few weeks as part of the new _secpro podcasts, but a little look at our conversation couldn't hurt, could it? Of course, that's not all. Unless you've been living under a rock since November (not advised for a cybersecurity professional), you're probably well aware of [ChatGPT](. Although initially assumed to be a novelty AI chatbot, the creation from [Open AI]( has taken the internet by storm. And depending on which side of the fence you fall on, people are calling this everything from [the greatest leap forward since the microchip]( to an absolute abomination. Controversial stuff. So, we thought "what do the [_secpro]( readers think?" If you're interested in sharing your ideas around [ChatGPT]( fill in the [survey]( below. Click the link and give us your answers and we'll send out a credit to the first 25 respondents. Cheers! [Austin Miller]( Editor-in-Chief [TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!]( An interview with Bill Oettinger How did you get involved with law enforcement and cyber-forensics? I started in law enforcement back in the early 90s. And I did the traditional route, you go through a police academy, and then you work in patrol. And when I tested to go to an investigative unit, the first unit I was assigned was investigating child sexual abuse. And this would have been in 2000. So AOL for AOL, and the Internet, a whole was just waking up. People were just realizing you can have a computer and a home and have email. All this was brand new, and no one had almost no idea how to investigate it. Some of the initial investigators who started didn't have forensic tools, at least my was able to come in and start forensic tools are there and recognize that we had a need, and companies are starting to develop them. How different is corporate and government forensic work? The main difference between a criminal investigation or a corporate investigation is the different goals. In a criminal case, we're looking to preserve the evidence and bring somebody to trial or hold the accused for trial, or to prove or disprove the allegations against the accused. And as we're going through, it's like, yeah, this wasn't him. It's just as important as finding "Yeah, that is him". With a corporate investigation, that's not your goal. Your goal is going to be set by your C-suite, your executives who are in charge of the organization, on what your left and right lateral limits are going to be. And unless there is some kind of regulatory requirements, your report is going to them, and they're all going to make a decision on which way to go with it. It may be to report it to the government; it may be to settle outside of the requirements; or, settle with an outside agency. That's the biggest part in corporate - it's not so much as to "catch the bad guys", so to speak, but protect the organization, within the limits that are financially sound, or within all the regulatory environments. How do you stay up to date with emerging technology? I read a lot. I got to read it a lot. As questions come up. I'm part of several lists with IAC. So other investigators are always posting questions. So I'm reading their questions and their answers. I do annual training. This year, I wanted to do an advanced network investigation course, but it got canceled. So, now I'm doing a Windows 11 investigation course. Could you tell us a little bit about your new book? So, what I was looking for I wanted the book to be a resource for a new investigator. Because when you first come in, it's like a firehose of information coming at you. And it's all coming from different locations. I wanted this to be a resource where they could have on their desks. They could look in the index, open the page, and there it is. So if they had a question, and they needed a refresher, it's there. I saw a lack of resources available for non-law enforcement. The preparation, what to do, how do you pick the equipment, how you pick personnel. And during my career, I've been able to work with a lot of different countries to help them to do the process of selecting personnel selecting equipment, and standing up brand-new digital evidence processing facilities or labs. This resource was designed for somebody brand new in the field to come in, and to give them the basics, the ground-level approach for them to build on. We've also now included academic resources - I was getting a lot of requests [for the first edition] from instructors who wanted to use the course or use the book for their course. When we came back to do the second edition, I specifically wanted to add those resources for them. And I've gotten requests from high schools. In fact, I had a high school request today. I've had requests from instructors in Islam, about Pakistan, from the UK, Canada, Qatar, I mean, I've actually I've had requests from academic academics, academics, from instructors, from all over the world wanting access to the academic resources, so they can use my book to teach digital forensics. It's very humbling as I think about it, just like it's going everywhere. And it's having a reach that I could only dream of when I first started down this step from a random email from Packt, hey, do you want to write a book? And it's pretty humbling at times when I think about it. If you found this snippet useful, make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming Packt Cybersecurity Podcasts! [FORWARDED THIS EMAIL? SIGN UP HERE]( [NOT FOR YOU? UNSUBSCRIBE HERE]( Copyright © 2023 Packt Publishing, All rights reserved. As a GDPR-compliant company, we want you to know why you’re getting this email. The _secpro team, as a part of Packt Publishing, believes that you have a legitimate interest in our newsletter and the products associated with it. Our research shows that you opted-in for communication with Packt Publishing in the past and we think that your previous interest warrants our appropriate communication. 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