CHENNAI: University of Madras criminology department will soon upgrade its library and laboratory at a cost of Rs 50 lakh to ensure a better learning experience for students, varsity officials said.
The university is one of the few institutions in the country to offer courses on criminology. Criminology department offers two postgraduate courses: M.Sc in Criminology and Criminal Justice Science and M.Sc in Cyber Forensics and Information Security. Besides, it offers Diploma courses in Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Psychology, and in Cyber Crime and Information Security.
The department is equipped with a laboratory that features crime mapping and analysis systems and its library is also stocked with a good collection of books, journals as well as reports on criminology and allied sciences. However, with each passing year, there have been advancements in technology and the authorities need to upgrade the laboratory and library according to the market needs, said head of the department, M Srinivasan. The laboratory is presently equipped with information security equipment and tools for digital forensics like EnCase, Cyber Check Suite which are required for higher learning. “We propose to upgrade the cyber forensics lab to teach the students to meet the latest requirements in the industry, law enforcement and society,” he said.
Listing the names of a few of the latest tools that authorities propose to add to the laboratory to make it more hi-tech are End Point and Network Security, Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VA/PT), Intrusion Detection, CDR Analysis, Disk and Data capture, File viewers, File analysis, Registry analysis, Internet analysis, Email analysis, mobile devices analysis and Data mining for social media forensics and bio-metrics analysis tools.“Nowadays, there has been a steep rise in different varieties of cyber crimes and we need to equip our students to efficiently deal with such cases. We need to teach our students the latest tools to meet the needs of the industry.”
The authorities have plans to upgrade the library by subscribing to leading foreign journals on criminology and cyber crimes. The upgradation work of the library and laboratory is likely to start in July. The authorities have plans to complete it within three months, said the department head.