Michael G. McCartney

Michael G. McCartney is president of Avalon Cyber in Buffalo, N.Y., 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 U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Western District of New York. He is an internationally known expert in computer crime investigations and computer forensics and has worked on some the nation's largest cyber-crime investigations. Beginning in the mid 1990s, Mr. McCartney 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 that are still used as the standard today by law enforcement. Mr. McCartney was 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. He has been responsible for investigating several complex, high- profile, national and international computer crime cases ranging from unauthorized computer intrusion, theft of intellectual property, white collar crimes, securities fraud, investor protection and narcotics to child pornography. Mr. McCartney was responsible for one of the largest national undercover internet investigations, which netted over 200 arrests and convictions, as well as for coordinating a complex international takedown of a group of organized law-breakers. In this role and after the terror 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 federal government. Mr. McCartney 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's (NIST's) Electronic Crime Partnership Initiative (ECPI). He is a past president of the High Technology Crime Investigators Association's (HTCIA's) Northeast Chapter, and currently serves on the HTCIA International Executive Committee as a co-chair of the International Conference. Mr. Mc- Cartney 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 U.S. to federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as the American Bar Association, District Attorneys Associations and the National Association of Attorneys General, and to numerous trade and professional organizations, including AICPA, NYSSCPA and IIA. He has also written several publications that have been published nationally and regularly interviewed by numerous media and print organizations. Mr. McCartney served as an adjunct professor at Hilbert College, teach- ing network security and computer forensics. He received his Bachelor's degree from Canisius College and is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Management Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.