UNIVERSITY of South Wales senior lecturer Gareth Davies has been elected chairman of digital forensic forum F3.

Cyber specialist Gareth will lead the group, which was established in the 1990s to ‘provide an open forum for all forensic computing practitioners, to enable them to share their collective knowledge through discussion and training’. It is the largest independent digital forensic expert forum in the UK.

F3 has a membership in excess of 1,600 individuals who are actively employed in more than 290 organisations in the UK and overseas, including law enforcement departments, the National Crime Agency, GCHQ, and The National Technical Assistance Centre.

Gareth said: “The F3 Committee and its members strive to ensure that F3 remains focused on that aim and concentrates primarily on cyber related investigations and forensic examination of digital evidence.

“It has no politics and no hidden agendas, and does not seek to align itself with or endorse any service or product.

“Regardless of whether you are involved in law enforcement, defence, or the private sector, everyone involved in forensic computing is equally welcome to join F3.

“There are no restrictions on membership other than that as a member you must be actively employed in the industry either as a forensic IT practitioner, expert or research leader.”