Picture this … Cyberly is in chaos. Every smart kettle in the city has mysteriously stopped boiling water properly, leaving the citizens in a state of lukewarm despair. The only place still serving a proper cuppa? A suspiciously tech-heavy tea shop called Mysterious Brews. Naturally, our digital forensics students at BYTE Detective Agency (Brilliant Yet Tenacious Examiners) have been called in to investigate as part of Operation Teapot Tempest!!
So far, the students have been meticulously gathering intelligence, uncovering leads, and piecing together the puzzle of Cyberly’s Tepid Tea Tragedy. But yesterday? Yesterday was Scene Search Day. The day they swap theory for action and dive headfirst into a realistic, immersive crime scene investigation.
We purposefully use very silly and over the top scenarios to demonstrate core concepts. We explain to the students this is the same approach we take to teaching actual investigators! Why do we teach this way? Well not only does it inject a little humour, but it is also far better for practitioner mental health. This allows us to separate learning concepts from the horrors we see in the day job! It also ensures no case conflicts for students attending.
Preparing for the Scene: Lectures, Labs & Laughs
Of course, we don’t just throw our students into a crime scene and hope for the best (tempting as it may be). Before Scene Day, they go through essential preparation:
Lectures on Crime Scene Processing. I take them through real-world forensic processes, lessons learned, and tales from my 17 years of experience, including some ‘things you should definitely NOT do’ stories.
Investigation Planning Lab. Working in their investigative teams, they strategise their search, based on everything they’ve uncovered in the module so far. They get to request equipment, assign roles, and make tactical decisions before stepping foot in the scene.
Lights, PPE, Action!
When their allocated scene slot arrives, we begin with a thorough health and safety briefing. I’m not taking any chances here, so students get the rules in three ways:
1️⃣ Verbal briefing 2️⃣ Written document 3️⃣ Video presentation
(Why? Because in previous years, students have claimed health and safety wasn’t clear. Now? No excuses.)
I can also confirm that every single rule in this briefing has been broken at some point in my career (except this year … only one student suggested their own fictional rule-break which was funny and progress!).
Then, it’s time for PPE. This is where the excitement really kicks in. There’s something magical about suiting up … whether it’s the forensic jumpsuits, the gloves, or the face masks, students light up, take photos, and start to really feel like investigators.
Before heading in, they collect their essential tools: evidence bags, paperwork, UV lights, and any special request items from their pre-planned search strategy.
Entering the Scene: Suspicious Security & A Crocodile Named Fluffy
Their mission starts outside the scene, where they must deal with security. Enter our first PhD student, playing the most unhelpful security guard imaginable, dressed in a bright pink security jacket and bunny ears.
Once past security, they must handle Fluffy the Crocodile. Fluffy (played by our second PhD student in a full inflatable crocodile suit) represents a hostile individual who should be removed from the scene. The teams that succeed in politely yet firmly ejecting Fluffy? Gold stars for them! The teams that try to work around a crocodile while collecting evidence? Well, they learn a valuable lesson about securing a scene.
Searching the Scene: Clues, Chaos & Cyberly Radio
Once inside, teams begin with a full scene survey … photography, mapping, and initial documentation. Then, the real search begins.
The setting? An IT office, inside Mysterious Brews, a brand new independent tea shop! But because this is Cyberly, it’s also cluttered with old tech, hidden devices, misleading evidence, and absolute nonsense. To make it more immersive, teams are equipped with walkie-talkies to communicate with us outside … we can step in if needed, but otherwise, they’re on their own.
Challenges in the Scene:
- Far too many devices (forcing teams to be selective and strategic)
- A hidden anti-forensics alarm (triggered by at least one unlucky team, which promptly alerted the Mysterious Brews Tea shop team—I fear there may be consequences in the case!)
- A cartoon-style mock explosive device (nobody defused it—Cyberly is doomed)
- Red herrings EVERYWHERE!!
Oh, and all of this is set to the 45-minute, purpose-made Cyberly Radio playlist playing in the background. The broadcast includes a news report, custom songs, ads, a tech support show, and a weather update. Buried within? Clues to the case. But with all the distractions, only the sharpest students pick up on them.
Mission Complete: The Aftermath
As their time runs out, students get a radio warning and must exit the scene efficiently. Once outside, they receive an informal debrief, reflecting on what they found (and, in some cases, what they missed). They also get to keep their disposable PPE as a forensic fashion souvenir.
And that’s just one of the teams’ experiences. With 50 students this year, we had 10 teams entering the room!
A Long, Hilarious, Exhausting, and Brilliant Day
Running Scene Day is no small feat. Between setting up, running back-to-back investigations, resetting the scene, and clearing up at the end, it’s a solid 9-hour day of controlled chaos.
But it’s worth every second. Watching students go from theory to practice, from nervous to confident, from passive learners to active investigators … that’s why I love this day. It’s immersive, it’s educational, and yes, it’s completely, gloriously cheesy.
A massive thank you to my two amazing PhD students for playing their parts to perfection, and to Prof. Tim Norman for his support of SherFox Labs and our mission to teach digital forensics in a truly hands-on way.
Now, it’s back to BYTE HQ to analyze the devices recovered from Mysterious Brews. Could Villainous Ventures Inc. be behind Cyberly’s tea sabotage? The case isn’t over yet…
Want to know more about our Teaching and CPD?
For more information about our teaching, why not check out the links below
CPD information
For more information on our courses check out
Sherfox CPD Course List
SherFox Digital Investigation Labs. – Currently being updated with new surprises coming in April 2025!
Cyberly Chronicles News HQ
Cyberly Chronicles News Site
Your go-to source for Cyberly gossip, breaking digital crime stories, and all the latest investigative updates from the Cyberly Chronicles News team.
BYTE Detective Agency – The Cyberly Investigators
🕵️♂️ B.Y.T.E. Detective Agency
Meet the Brilliant Yet Tenacious Examiners who tackle Cyberly’s most perplexing digital mysteries, byte by byte.
Villainous Ventures Inc. HQ
Villainous Ventures Inc
The official page of Cyberly’s most notorious troublemakers, Villainous Ventures Inc. Proceed with caution … you never know what schemes they’re cooking up next!!
