Industrial engagement in information security and digital forensics: achieving the transitional blend from academia to industry

The worldwide economic recession resulted in changes in UK government HE policy. This has in turn forced HE institutions to focus more than ever on the employability of students often through increased industrial engagement. Whilst the impact of governmental HE policy may have an adverse effect on certain HE domains, Information Security and Digital Forensics appear to have enjoyed increasing interest from students and look set to remain popular. Information Security and Digital Forensics is a rapidly evolving discipline which carries with it a series of challenges many of which are unique and require continuous industrial engagement within the programmes. This paper reflects on the experiences of two academics in the Information Security and Digital Forensics domain across three institutions. We highlight the way in which the programme teams have managed industry engagement within the respective programmes and also the benefits of that engagement to the student, the industrial organisation and the University.