Ibrahim Baggili
American cybersecurity scientist (born 1981)
Ibrahim "Abe" Moussa Baggili was named the Chair of the Division of Computer Science and Engineering at Louisiana State University and the Roger Richardson Professor in 2024. He is also a digital forensics and cybersecurity scientist with a joint appointment between the college of engineering and the Center for Computation and Technology. Before that, he was the founder and director of the Connecticut Institute of Technology (CIT) at the University of New Haven. Baggili was a
Early Life and Education
Ibrahim "Abe" Moussa Baggili is a Jordanian/Arab American and a first-generation college graduate. He earned a Bachelor of Science with distinction from Purdue University's Purdue Polytechnic Institute in December 2002, followed by a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Computer and Information Technology from the same institution. During his doctoral studies, he was awarded the prestigious Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship at Purdue University in 2008. He is recognized as the first Jordanian and Arab to pursue a PhD with a focus in cyber forensics.
Career
Baggili began his professional career as a Digital Forensics Consultant for Cryptic Software Ltd. in the United Kingdom and as a Security Policies, Procedures and Standards Consultant for BISYS Education Services. In 2005, he founded Security Triangle in Amman Governorate, Jordan, and in 2010 co-founded Viral Labs/Technologies, a startup in the United Arab Emirates.
From 2009 to 2013, Baggili served as an assistant professor at Zayed University, where he conducted digital forensic research and chaired the second annual ICDF2C Conference. He also founded and directed the Advanced Cyber Forensics Research Laboratory at Zayed University, which provided training in network and small-scale device forensics to individuals in both the public and private sectors.
In 2013, Baggili joined the University of New Haven as an associate professor and assistant dean. He later became a full professor and held the Elder Family Endowed Chair in Computer Science and Cybersecurity, a position he was named to in 2015. At the University of New Haven, he founded the Connecticut Institute of Technology (CIT) and served as its director. He also established the Cyber Forensics Research and Education Group (UNHcFREG) and created the Artifact Genome Project (AGP), an NSF-funded database developed in collaboration with Purdue University's VACCINE center. AGP provides a centralized repository for digital forensic artifacts and has attracted contributions from federal agencies, universities, and private companies, accumulating over 1,200 artifacts since its inception. Baggili also served as editor-in-chief for the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security, and Law during his tenure.
In August 2022, Baggili joined Louisiana State University as a full professor with a joint appointment between the College of Engineering and the Center for Computation and Technology. In 2024, he was named Chair of the Division of Computer Science and Engineering and appointed the Roger Richardson Professor at LSU.
Notable Work
Baggili and his student research teams are credited with several firsts in the field of digital forensics. His group was the first to explore memory forensics, disk forensics, and network forensics of consumer virtual reality (VR) systems, and the first to demonstrate proof-of-concept attacks on consumer VR platforms — work that contributed to the creation of the X-Reality Safety Initiative (XRSI). His research has collectively uncovered vulnerabilities affecting an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide.
Among his most-cited publications are studies on the forensic analysis of social networking applications on mobile devices, cloud forensics definitions and criteria, network and device forensic analysis of Android social-messaging applications, and WhatsApp network forensics.
Baggili has received multiple National Science Foundation grants supporting cybersecurity education, digital forensics artifact curation, and the exploration of VR security.
Recognition
Baggili has received numerous awards throughout his career. In 2021, he received the Connecticut Civilian Medal of Merit for training the Connecticut National Guard in cybersecurity, one of only five recipients at the time. That same year, he was named a full professor elect at the University of New Haven. In 2022, he was inducted into the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE). In 2023, the Military Cyber Professionals Association awarded him the Order of Thor medal at HammerCon. He has also received Best Paper Awards at ICDF2C (2014, 2018) and ARES WSDF (2021), and was named a European Alliance for Innovation Fellow in 2020, a distinction held by approximately 0.1% of the organization's members. In 2019, University of New Haven President Steven Kaplan named him the university's Last Lecturer.
