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Digital Crime Lab Open at Camp San Luis Obispo

The “Big Brass” from a number of State agencies descended on San Luis Obispo March 1 for the opening of the brand new Central Coast Cyber Forensics Lab (CCCFL).

It’s not at all the type of lab displayed in an episode of CSI or Bones, but inside officers from a variety of law enforcement agencies as well as students from Cal Poly will learn how dissect smart phones, protect electronic evidence and defend against cybercrime.

As San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow said at the inaugural event for the facility, the first of three buildings being retrofitted at the base for the California Cyber Training Complex (CCTC), “nearly every crime now contains an element of cyber or digital evidence, from DUI…to human trafficking.”

With a long list of partners to thank in bringing the site to fruition, he added that he was thrilled at the success of the Grand Opening celebrations as well, which saw, Timothy White, chancellor of the California State University system and Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, California’s Adjutant General responsible for the operation of the State Military Department, joining Dow to cut the ribbon along with Cal Poly University President Jeff Armstrong.

Maj. Gen. Baldwin used the occasion to announce the formation of a new 39 member National Guard cyber security unit which will operate out of the facility at Camp San Luis Obispo s soon as their training is completed on the East Coast.

In the future added the base commander Col. Joe Righello, such training will be able to be augmented here at home. Camp San Luis Obispo’s primary mission is already one of training for the State’s National Guard and regional law enforcement. As well they’ve had long standing pre-existing ties to the CSU.

“At the moment we have unit from a major metropolitan police department doing SWAT training on base,” said Col. Righello, adding, “With the CTCC, if some guys were up here for a class and they needed to recertify on any of the kinetic [firearm] qualifications we can take them on over to the range while they’re here.”

The site is apt for technological reasons as well though. The three buildings, including the CCCFL building affectionately nicknamed the “pizza hut” due to its appearance before the remodel, were home to the US Property and Fiscal Office of California. The work carried out there required a lot of data infrastructure and the Camp had a fiber optic line connected to the enormous data trunk line that comes ashore at Montaña de Oro State Park.

Bill Britton, interim chief information officer for Cal Poly and director of their cyber security center, said that the CCTC would have a fluctuating budget as they draw funding from multiple agencies in ebvs and flows, but that the idea is to have the infrastructure ready, then be ready to have research funded.

Classrooms and other facilities for modeling real world training scenarios are still under construction, but around 7 technicians can begin work in the lab immediately with their digital recovery uploaded to a protected, Department of Justice approved cloud service. A supervisor can also have an office on site, a luxury as forensics teams in the county have scrounged for space.

For more information as the facility develops go online to: cctc.calpoly.edu.

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