Get Your Start in DFIR is a non-profit founded by Elan Wright, the creator of DFIR Diva with the goals of improving diversity in the DFIR field and providing training, certification, and book scholarships to those with limited financial resources. Funding relies entirely on donations. All monetary donations are tax-deductible.
“Having people of different races, ethnicities, genders, socioeconomic status, and backgrounds within a workplace can drive innovation, problem-solving, and competitiveness. Research has shown that diverse teams perform better, are more creative, and outperform homogeneous teams.”
The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in the Forensic Sciences
How it Works
When enough funding is received, scholarship applications will open for two weeks. Prerequisites are knowledge of general IT, cybersecurity fundamentals, and networking (for free training, see Part 1 – Core of the Incident Response Training Plan).
The training, certification, and books each recipient receives is based on their existing knowledge and their area of interest within the Digital Forensics & Incident Response field.
Scholarship recipients will have profiles on Get Your Start in DFIR that will stay updated with their progress until they are hired into a DFIR role. These profiles will also be shared on social media to introduce scholarship recipients to the DFIR community and let potential employers know they’re interested in entering the field.
This will repeat each time enough funding is received.
What is Included in the Scholarship?
Each recipient will receive training and a practical/hands-on certification, a book bundle of up to 4 books, and a learning plan. Below is the training that can be purchased using the scholarship funds.
Confirmed Training & Certification Options
- Blue Team Level 1 (BTL1) Training/Certification
- MDFIR – Certified DFIR Specialist
- INE Training/eLearnSecurity Certification Voucher (eCIR, eCDFP)
- Zero2Automated Malware/RE Training
- Cyber 5W Digital Forensics Training
- Pluralsight (has several DFIR courses)
- Hands-On Kusto Query Language (KQL) courses (Blu Raven)
Get Your Start Book Bundle (Examples)
- The DFIR Investigative Mindset
- Incident Response & Computer Forensics
- Applied Incident Response
- Investigating Windows Systems
- Practical Malware Analysis
- Practical Packet Analysis
- The Art of Memory Forensics
- Windows Internals
- Mobile Forensics Investigations
How the DFIR Community Can Help
If anyone in the DFIR community is interested in volunteering to provide mentorship to scholarship recipients, helping select scholarship recipients, or looking over the application form and giving suggestions (the form is still in the works), feel free to contact me on social media or use the contact form on this site.
How Training Providers Can Help
If you offer paid training related to Digital Forensics, Incident Response, Malware Analysis, or OSINT and are able to offer free or discounted training to scholarship recipients, please fill out the Training Partner Form.
Thank you to Cyber 5W for becoming our first training partner!
Free Get Your Start in DFIR Job Board
There is also a free job board on the Get Your Start in DFIR site where employers and recruiters around the world can post DFIR jobs and internships requiring no prior work experience in Digital Forensics or Incident Response. No registration is required to post jobs. The “Apply” button can either link directly to your job application page, or you can add your email for applicants to send their resumes directly to you.