I agree with the suggestion of trying a university. Or even a high school, as they may have more experience teaching people who haven't self-selected into IT courses or at least have lower levels of prior technical experience.

I'd suggest not asking for a "forensic cybersecurity expert speaker". That's like asking for a surgeon when you're trying to remove a splinter: a) you really don't need that level of expertise and b) even if they can do it they'll have a terrible bedside manner.  The "forensic cybersecurity expert speaker" will be used to training people who already have a solid understanding of IT and just want to upskill in this specialty - they won't have a clue how to talk to the average community member who's fuzzy on the difference between email and the web.

What you want to do is say "We want someone to [talk for an hour / give a hands-on workshop / answer questions]. The audience will be [how many] members of the community with [level of expertise - eg will they be people who are already confident with somethings or people who struggle to use a mouse?] At the end of the session we want them to be able to [learning outcome - eg identify and deal appropriately with phishing and other email and social media scams]."

There should be more discussion when you've been connected with someone but that should help get you started. That way you don't get someone who turns up and talks about forensic cybersecurity at a level that goes waaay over everyone's heads and doesn't answer the problems you're trying to deal with anyway.

Deborah

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From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of charles meyer
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 11:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] forensic cyber security certifying organizations

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I certainly respect that.

What other orgs or path to a forensic cybersecurity expert speaker would you suggest?

Thank you.

Charles.

Date:    Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:49:39 +0000
From:    "Hammer, Erich F" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: forensic cyber security certifying organizations

You wouldn't expect to call up the NBA and be able to send personal email to any one of the players.

I had the privilege of taking a SANS course about 20 years ago.  300 people @ $3500 each, 4.5 days @ 8 hrs and one instructor (and I never witnessed any support staff).  These instructors are some of the most knowledgeable people in the world, in high demand by well-funded organizations and governments, and as with any expert, they have to always research and explore new areas of interest.  Not only are they incredibly busy, but I would expect that they are high-value targets for spear fishing themselves, so the SANS organization isn't going to just put anyone in contact with them.

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