Jim Jones
Current University
George Mason University
Research Area
Cybersecurity and digital forensics
Research Summary
Jim Jones and his students collect and analyze digital clues and fragments, much like a traditional archaeologist works with old pieces of pottery or a detective works with crime scene evidence. This analysis helps them look backwards in time to understand cyber attacks, find malware infections, detect system and device misuse, and recover lost data.
Background
Jones serves as the director and digital forensics lead for George Mason University's DHS Center of Excellence for Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis. Past and current research sponsors include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
Jones has been a cybersecurity and digital forensics practitioner, researcher, and educator for over 25 years in industry, government, and academia. That experience drives his teaching, which blends theory and practical applications, and his research, which focuses on the extraction, analysis, and manipulation of full and partial digital artifacts.
Alma Mater
Jones' formal education is complemented with work experience and extensive self-learning, driven by an insatiable curiosity and a need to know how things work, how they break, and what we can learn from both. He received his in B.S. in systems engineering from Georgia Tech, his M.S. in mathematical sciences from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. in computational sciences and informatics from George Mason University.