McQuade book touts cyber ethics expertise

Sam McQuade with a copy of his just-released textbook, Understanding and Managing Cybercrime. A. Sue Weisler | photographer

Not quite two months old, 2006 has already been an eventful year for RIT’s Sam McQuade.

Previously an assistant professor of criminal justice in the College of Liberal Arts, McQuade recently moved to the College of Applied Science and Technology as coordinator of the cross-disciplinary professional studies master’s program in the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies. He’s also out with a new textbook, Understanding and Managing Cybercrime.

McQuade brings to the position an extensive background and expertise in cybercrime and cyber ethics, security policy and management, and public safety administration. Most recently, his research has focused on computer-enabled crime by adolescents, and he has conducted computer use and ethics studies involving RIT students.

His just-published textbook is the first-ever general text combining key issues such as social constructions of crime, physical and cyber attacks on information systems, cyber laws and regulations, investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes, information security management and cyber ethics. The text is ranked first on Amazon.com when the search term “computer crime” is used.

The text also provides an overview of controversial legal, social and policy issues related to cybercrime; explores the historical foundations of cybercrime; and highlights technical and administrative challenges related to the emergence, prevention and control of cybercrime. It offers a unique multidisciplinary perspective—bridging information technology, computer security, cyberspace sociology and anthropology, deviance studies, law and criminal justice, risk management and strategic thinking, McQuade says.

With 30 years experience in criminal justice and security, McQuade has also studied the technological evolution of crime and policing, high-tech crime policy issues and security imperatives, police management and organizational change, public-private policing, comparative policing and law enforcement ethics. He has two additional books in development—The Encyclopedia of Cybercrime and High Tech Crime By and Among Adolescents: How IT Gadgets are Changing American Youth Social Interactions and Culture.

The Millennial Generation: Computer savvy, but ethically challenged?

McQuade contends that a generation of computer users—today’s youth of nearly all ages—is not being properly educated in computer ethics and information security. He depicts so-called computer addiction—for which his studies have shown empirical evidence—as a public health problem. However, he adds, these areas suffer from a lack of prior research—an obstacle he is confronting by exploring the expansion of his research to primary- and secondary-school levels.

In addition to research and teaching core graduate-level courses in the cross-disciplinary professional studies program, McQuade is working with faculty from CAST and other RIT colleges to create a concentration in security technology and a center for security and safety technology that will examine various functional and technical categories of technology and their implications for organizational and societal well-being, he says.

“We see all of this as interconnected, multidisciplinary and applied in nature,” he says. “Because security technology and management play an integral role in so many disciplines, it’s important for students studying in many different fields—especially during the current era of worldwide terrorism—to be exposed to the implications for various employment sectors.”

Collaborations are planned with faculty from several RIT departments including, but not limited to, civil engineering technology/environmental management and safety in CAST; criminal justice and science, technology and society/public policy in COLA; and information technology in GCCIS.

“Sam brings boundless energy and enthusiasm, as well as his expertise in security and safety technology and security management, to the position of graduate coordinator,” says James Myers, director of the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies.

Faculty Affairs Committee member, student-group advisor As a member of the Faculty Affairs Committee, a subcommittee of RIT’s Faculty Senate, McQuade chairs an investigation of intellectual property law liability. He is also faculty advisor to the RIT Security Practices and Research Student Association, a student-run organization that helps prepare students for future employment in the managed-security industry.

McQuade joined RIT in 2001 after serving in several security and justice-related positions in Washington, D.C. A former police officer, police detective and deputy sheriff, he also served as deputy director of research and resource development with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington; study director with the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Research Council; and program manager with the National Institute of Justice of the U.S. Department of Justice.