March 9, 2010

Gary Warner. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Gary Warner, the director of research in computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been named the country's "Most Popular Security Blogger" after a vote of information-security peers and blog readers.

The popular blogger vote was hosted by Secure Computing Magazine. Warner's win was announced during a magazine sponsored awards dinner in San Francisco March 2. The dinner was held in conjunction with the annual RSA Conference, a five-day event for the information security industry that is considered to be the county's most influential.

Warner's blog, CyberCrime & Doing Time, is read by thousands each month. Site visitors range from information-security insiders to media members who report on the technology beat to novice computer users concerned about cyber crime threats. Read the blog at http://garwarner.blogspot.com.

"This is a big honor for me, and it is wonderful to be recognized for something that I am passionate about producing," Warner says. "I see the blog as extension of the teaching I do inside my classroom at UAB, and I want my readers to understand the cyber threats that exist and the ways they can protect themselves.

Dating back to 2006, CyberCrime & Doing Time is oftentimes the first Web site to announce new cyber attacks and threats to the public. Warner has linked cyber-attack campaigns to pop star Michael Jackson's death and uncovered Twitter users' unwitting role in computer attacks against Iranian government Web sites during that country's contested 2009 presidential elections. He hopes readers find the blog to be a powerful tool in the securing their personal information.

"There are very few people out there anymore who are not using some form of technology that could potentially put their personal information at risk," Warner says. "So knowledge of the threats is power; the more informed we are the less likely cyber criminals are to take advantage of us."

About UAB Computer Forensics Research

UAB Computer Forensics Research is on the front lines of cyber-crime and takes a three-part approach in its response to the problem: academic training to prepare the next generation cyber-crime investigators, increased public awareness of cyber-crime and research to develop cutting-edge options for battling cyber-criminals.