Vigo County/Indiana State University High Tech CyberCrime Unit (HTCU)

The Vigo County Prosecutors Office and Indiana State University School of Criminology and Security Studies were awarded 1 of 10 High-Tech CyberCrime Units (HTCU) in the state of Indiana by the Indiana Prosecutors Attorney Council (IPAC) in November 2021. The project is the result of collaboration between the Vigo County Prosecutor’s Office, the ISU School of Criminology and Security Studies, the Terre Haute Police Department, and the Vigo County Sheriff’s Office. As part of the award, the Vigo County Prosecutors's office was given a grant for 2 years beginning January 2022. The grant was used to pucrhase hardware and software for the HTCU as well as provided money for paid internships for students majoring in Cybercriminology and Security Studies Cybercrime. As a result of the success of the HTCU in Indiana, the state of Indiana renewed the HTCU grant for another 2 years through 2024 and 2025.

The student investigators are sworn in as digital forensic investigators for the Vigo County Prosecutor’s Office and have law enforcement powers while on duty. They will help law enforcement recover and review evidence from digital devices for investigations and prosecutions in Vigo County. This important work, to be done in a lab on ISU’s campus, will allow officers access to digital evidence in a timely fashion, and that data can have an impact on criminal investigations.

The HTCU is a digital forensics unit under the supervision of the Vigo County Prosecutor’s Office. The overall purpose of the HTCU is the location, preservation and analysis of digital evidence related to investigations in West Central Indiana. The HTCU conducts unlocking, extraction, processing, and analysis on all digital devices, including mobile devices (phones and tablets), DVRs, computers, hard drives, thumb drives, etc. In addition, the HTCU recently added vehicle forensics to their capability.

If you have a question regarding any service offered, please Email contact information to isu-cyber@indstate.edu.

If you would like to request access to the HTCU submission system go to the following link and sign up https://relay-app.monolithforensics.com/indiana-state-university