Apple AirTags - Concerns and Challenges

Michael McCartney - Apple AirTags - Concerns and Challenges

Michael McCartney was most recently interviewed by NewsNation, WBEN 930am, and ABC 7 WKBW News on the safety concerns of Apple AirTags being used to track people. 

During this session you will learn: 

• What are Apple AirTags?
• How are they used?
• What to do when you suspect an Apple AirTag is near you?
• How to find the device?
• Law enforcement involvement?
• Other ways to protect yourself?

About the presenter:

Michael McCartney is the national director of cybersecurity for Avalon Cyber and is a highly decorated, 22-year veteran member of the law enforcement community having served as an assistant chief investigator for the New York State Attorney General’s Office (NYSAG), as well as five years with the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Western District of New York. Michael was the co-founder and president of DIGITS LLC, a cybersecurity and digital forensics company that merged with Avalon in 2016. He is an internationally known expert in computer crime investigations and computer forensics and has worked on some the nation’s largest cybercrime investigations. 

Beginning in the mid 1990s, Michael initiated and established the Computer Forensic Unit and authored law enforcement evidence-processing standards for the NYSAG. He also established several covert and undercover electronic evidence collection procedures, which are still used as the standard today by law enforcement. Michael was also one of the original founders of the Western New York Regional Computer Forensic Lab and authored its original policies and procedures for evidence handling and processing. 

Michael has been responsible for investigating several complex, high-profile, national and international computer crime cases, including unauthorized computer intrusion, theft of intellectual property, white collar crimes, securities fraud, investor protection, narcotics, and child pornography. He was responsible for one of the largest national undercover internet investigations, which netted over 200 arrests and convictions, and coordinated a complex international takedown of a group of organized law breakers. In this role, and after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, he was assigned as a task force officer (TFO) for the FBI and investigated numerous critical infrastructure and national security matters for the U.S. government. 

He has served as a board member and committee chair member on numerous national and international panels, overseeing high-technology crime and computer forensic policy, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Electronic Crime Partnership Initiative (ECPI). Michael is the past president of the High Technology Crime Investigators Association (HTCIA) Northeast Chapter, and currently serves the HTCIA International Executive Committee as a co-chair of the international conference. He is a past board member of the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS) and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Buffalo. 

He has lectured extensively throughout the United States to federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as the American Bar Association, District Attorneys Associations, the National Association of Attorneys General, and numerous trade and professional organizations, including AICPA, NYSSCPA, and IIA. He has written several publications that have been published nationally as well as regularly interviewed by numerous media and print organizations. 

Michael also served as an adjunct professor at Hilbert College, teaching network security and computer forensics. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Canisius College and is a graduate from the University at Buffalo’s School of Management Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. 

Achievements and awards: 

• Buffalo Business First 40 Under 40 recipient
• Buffalo Business First 612’ C-Level recipient
• Buffalo Business First Fast Track 50 recipient
• InfoTech Niagara Executive of the Year recipient
• HTCIA International Case of the Year recipient
• NYSAG Outstanding Performance and Superior Service recipient

Publications: 

• Electronic Crime Scene Investigations: A Guide for First Responders, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, (July, 2001), NCJ 187736.
• Forensic Examination of Digital Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, (2004), NCJ 199408, 2004
• Electronic Crime Scene Investigations: A Guide for First Responders, Second Edition, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, (April, 2008), NCJ 219941
• Compliance & Ethics Professional Magazine Compliance & Ethics Professional Me: A Publication of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, Organized Hackers Target Law Firms & CPA firms (September/October 2013).
• Forensic Examination of Digital Devices in Civil Litigation: The Legal, Ethical and Technical Traps, American Bar Association, The Professional Lawyer Vol. 24 No.1 (2016).