How to become a cybercrime investigator

Introduction

Cybercrime has hit record levels, with an expected $7 trillion USD to be made from cybercriminal activity by 2021. Investigating these sorts of crimes can be complicated and lengthy. The job of looking into the damage of cybercrime activity goes to the cybercrime investigator, who is the super sleuth of computing.

If you enjoy drilling down into the details of a problem, you should look at a career as a cybercrime investigator.

What does a cybercrime investigator do?

The title “cybercrime investigator” essentially sums up what the job is about. It’s a job that sits at the intersection of computing and law enforcement. A cybercrime investigator performs the digital equivalent of crime investigation and typically come into a situation after a security incident has already happened.

Cybercrime covers a myriad of areas, and the cybercrime investigator may specialize in one or more of these areas. A cybercrime investigator will often work as part of a consultancy, offering services to both enterprises and law enforcement. Alternatively, they can work directly for a law enforcement organization like the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) or Europol.

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The areas that cybercrime covers are wide and highly varied. They include everything from data theft to cyberstalking and darknet activity such as drug smuggling. The role can also include being involved in areas such as human trafficking and child abuse, which can be emotionally difficult to deal with.

A large part of the job of cybercrime investigator involves data gathering and analysis. This may include collecting data that is otherwise extremely difficult to collect, as the source has been damaged or even deliberately destroyed. This is a key requisite of the role and requires specialist computing skills to carry out.

Cybercrime investigators use their skills to look for evidence in order to find the source (Read more...)