Investigations are built on integrity, proven by diligence, and driven by our members.
Alpha Psi Psi honors cyber security and digital forensics students and professionals who pair academic excellence with the integrity their work demands.
A national honor society for the people who protect the digital world
Alpha Psi Psi is a national honor society for students and professionals in cyber security and digital forensics. We recognize members who earn academic excellence, give back through rewarding community service, and carry themselves with the integrity investigative work demands.
Membership is a lifetime credential that opens doors. College students, graduate students, college-bound high school seniors, and working professionals join a network built to help them grow, with opportunities reserved for members only.
Three characteristics define a member
Commitment to Community
Members put their skills to work for the people around them, from online-safety talks in schools to helping nonprofits secure their accounts.
Pragmatism
Members apply sound judgment to real problems, choosing methods that hold up in the lab, in the field, and in the courtroom.
Academic Excellence
Strong grades in demanding technical coursework, earned across forensics, network defense, and cybercrime law.
The two-dollar bill
The two-dollar bill is legal tender, still printed by the U.S. Treasury, and still in circulation. Yet it turns up so rarely that cashiers hold it to the light and call a manager. People doubt it not because it is false, but because they don't expect it.
That is why Alpha Psi Psi chose it as our signature. A forensic examiner's work gets the same treatment: questioned, tested, and accepted only after it is verified. The note also carries the portrait of Thomas Jefferson, a statesman who was, quietly, one of America's first cryptographers.
Rare, genuine, and often doubted. Verification required. Like digital evidence, its value is proven, not assumed.The ΑΨΨ standard
Jefferson's wheel cipher
Long before computers, Thomas Jefferson designed a device to keep the nation's messages unreadable to anyone but the intended recipient.
A Secretary of State's invention
While serving as George Washington's Secretary of State in the early 1790s, Jefferson described a cylinder of thirty-six wooden disks threaded on an iron spindle. Each disk carried the alphabet around its edge in a scrambled order.
The sender turned the disks until one row spelled the message, then copied down any other row and sent that string of letters instead. The receiver, holding identical disks stacked in the same agreed order, set the ciphertext on one row and scanned the cylinder for the single line that read as plain language. The secret was the order of the disks. Thirty-six disks can be stacked in more ways than anyone could ever test by hand.
From Monticello to the U.S. Army
- 1790s
Jefferson describes the wheel cipher, then sets the idea aside. It is largely forgotten for a century.
- 1891
French cryptographer Étienne Bazeries independently reinvents the same design.
- 1922
The U.S. Army adopts a 25-disk aluminum version as the M-94. The Navy fields it as the CSP-488.
- 1922–1943
The M-94 carries U.S. military tactical traffic for two decades, into World War II, until machines such as the M-209 replace it.
More than a century after Jefferson put it on paper, soldiers were still trusting his idea with their messages. Alpha Psi Psi members carry that same principle into every examination: a message is only as trustworthy as the method that proves it.
What membership includes
- Personalized induction certificate
- Employer verification letter on request
- Exclusive discount codes
- Chapter officer and leadership roles
- Eligibility for Society scholarships
- Relationships with industry professionals
- Professional networking opportunities
- Navy and gold ΑΨΨ graduation cords
- Exclusive event invitations
Graduation stoles are sold separately.
How to join
Check the standards
Run the self-check for your track, undergraduate or graduate.
Complete the application
Fill in your profile, academic record, field experience, and written statement.
Upload and pay
Upload your transcript and supporting documents, then pay the $85 fee.
Review and induction
Your chapter sponsor reviews the file and emails a decision. Admitted members are inducted.
Eligibility at a glance
Undergraduate
Graduate
All applicants need a clean academic integrity record, a faculty reference, and a continuing record of positive impact on their community.
“I will always move the mission forward.”
Bring ΑΨΨ to your campus
Colleges with cyber security or digital forensics programs can charter a chapter and host their own induction ceremonies.
Start a chapter →Scholarships and awards
There are various academic scholarship opportunities available to our members annually. Many of which are gratiously donated by industry professionals. Applications OPEN. Members in good standing may apply.
See scholarships →