CYBER SECURITY VIT103

Cyber security fundamentals - Intrusion detection , prevention & recovery

Cyber Security is currently the fastest growing sector in the I.T. industry. The demand for Cyber Security experts is increasing at a rapid pace due to the increased threat of cyber terrorism, state sponsored hacking and other attacks such as ransomware and identity theft which has the potential to cripple businesses and organisations of all different sizes.

Microsoft predicted in 2010 that Cyber Security would be the ‘next big thing’ in the industry and many organisations are now desperate to find experiences cyber security experts to protect their digital assets.Why wait to learn what the potential risk on the internet are and how to prevent and overcome them. Learn about cyber security now and be prepared for what may come..

Many people use the internet and computers without knowing the dangers that are associated with using this technology. There are many various ways that you can be adversely affected by using a computer, mobile phone, or electronic device that contains your information.

This course will help you learn what the potential vulnerabilities are, how to prevent them and what to do if you become a victim. Learn to better manage security of computer systems, how to detect potential threats, and strategies for recovery and protection

Learn about cyber security, prevention, detection and recovery

11 lessons filled with easy to understand instructions

Screenshots of working examples

100 hours total study with up to 12 months to complete

No classes, submission dates or schedules!

This is a must have skill for anybody looking to learn about security on the internet, how it works and what the potential risks and threats are and how to prevent and minimize them.

Study online at your own pace

Using our modern online portal for study is a simple and effective way of learning.

Once enrolled, you will receive your online account to our login.training system that will give you all the lessons assignments and self-assessment tests so you can start studying straight away.

Why learn cyber security?

In today’s digital world, where computers and electronic devices are at the centre of almost everything we do in our lives, it is more important than ever for every individual to ensure their digital information and devices are constantly protected against invisible attackers. Sometimes we don’t even have to use a computer for our personal information to be compromised as your information is stored in many computers without you even being aware of it. Computer security is a lot like house or car security, there is so much that we can do to protect it, but there is always someone who will come up with ways of breaching that security.

In this course, you'll study different types of attacks, potential recovery strategies, and learn key aspects of protecting your data.

COURSE CONTENT

This course is divided into eleven lessons:

Introduction to Cyber Security and cyber attacks/defences
Vulnerability Assessment
Securing the facilities and networks
Securing your online digital footprint
Internet Security and Digital Certificates
Wireless Network Vulnerabilities, Attacks and Security
Firewalls, IDS and IPS
Cryptography
Access Control and Authentication
Cyber attack Disaster Recovery strategies
Ongoing Security Management

Course Duration - 100 hours

Example Lesson….

THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBER SECURITY

In today’s digital world, where computers and electronic devices are at the centre of almost everything we do in our lives, it is more important than ever for every individual to ensure their digital information and devices are constantly protected against invisible attackers. This lesson will introduce the concept of Cyber Security and explain the various types of threats available resulting in cyber-attacks and the defence mechanisms available.

In today’s growing world of computers and reliance on computer systems for our daily lives, there also come a growing number of threats that can occur when using computers. Sometimes we don’t even have to use a computer for our personal information to be compromised as your information is stored in many computers without you even being aware of it. Companies and businesses collect your personal information and it is stored in databases that can be kept for years, and if those databases are ever compromised, so is your data and information about you. In our personal lives we can often use a piece of technology, such as a computer or mobile phone, and not realise what information of ours is being collected and stored.

Cyber security is something that needs to be treated as important by both personal users as well as business that collect and store information. Computer security is a lot like house or car security, there is so much that we can do to protect it, but there is always someone who will come up with ways of breaching that security. It is like a game of cat and mouse, whereas ways of securing data are implemented to stop people gaining access to data and systems, there are people who find ways of getting around these protections to gain access. Security companies are constantly monitoring the global networks for new threats or ways that people are using to break into or circumvent security in order to gain access to systems, this leads the security companies come up with new ways to protect systems, and the cycle continues again.

It is important to have security in cyber space because without it we are more susceptible to having our information available to people who may not have the best intentions and can use this in ways that can cause many forms of loss or harm to personal users and businesses.

Many forms of data breaches can be a result of human error or unintentional use of computer systems. This is the reason why even at a personal level we should be vigilant with who and what type of information we give out. Even if we not writing on a computer, this information may be entered into a computer by someone else and then retrieved by an unauthorised third party.

Threats to cyber security

There are many different types of threats to cyber security. Some are obvious, and some are unseen until it is too late to do anything about it, some may never be seen. There are basically two ways that attacks can occur, passive and active.

Passive Attacks

In a passive attack, there is usually a program that does the work of scanning systems for vulnerabilities, information and flaws in systems in order to gathering ways in which the system can possibly be breached. They will scan for known vulnerabilities in systems that may not have been secured correctly, they may not do anything with this information or they may use it to implement a more specific active attack. Passive attacks to systems are what accounts for most of the attacks that happen.

Active Attacks

In an active attack, there is a more specific target and a more specific goal for the attack, posing a greater threat to the intended target. These attacks often have the goal of changing the system in some way, gathering specific data, gaining full access to systems or retrieving information on those systems. This can be very dangerous to the intended target because when an unintended third party has this level of control or access to a system they can do many things that can be destructive to the owner of the system.

A brute force attack is a common active attack that will attempt to gain access to a system by cracking the password used to legitimately enter a system. This type of attack can be easy or hard, depending on the strength of the password, the power of the system making the attack and the ability of the attacker, usually this is performed with software, a dictionary attack can also be used which is faster and uses a list of known words to try and guess the password. It can vary on the time it takes them to be cracked depending on a number of factors and complexity of the password used.

People who perform these attacks are often referred to as “Hackers”, although another term is “Cracker”.

Learn About Digital Certificates

Digital certificates are used for security and identification. A digital certificate consists of an electronic file, or document, that contains information. The easiest way to understand digital certificates is to compare them to traditional physical certificates since the contents of both are very similar.

A traditional certificate will contain information pertaining to the following:

The issuer of the certificate, such as the name of the organization or authority that issued the certificate
The name of the person or organization the certificate was issued to
The expiry date (if it exists) of the certificate
The wax seal stamp (if it exists).

Similarly, looking at the data inside an electronic certificate should reveal a lot of information, most importantly the name of the certificate issuing authority, who the certificate was issued to (such as a user, a computer, a device or a web page), a digital signature and an expiry date. If the expiry date associated with an electronic or digital certificate is reached, it means the certificate can no longer be used.

A common piece of data contained in a digital certificate but does not exist in a physical certificate is the public key. A public key allows data to be encrypted and only be decrypted using the private key.

The big issue with the issuing authorities of both traditional and digital certificates relates to trusting the issuing authority. There are multiple websites on the internet offering to provide fake certificates to users, so it is important to be able to trust the issuing authority in order to trust the authenticity of the certificate.

Why is Cyber Security so important, why should you learn about it?

Cyber crime and security is set to become one of the biggest fields in IT. Everyone should be concerned with cyber security as it will affect us all in one way or another.

As the world transitions to relying on computer systems the importance of security becomes greater. Business will be required to have IT security in place and you can benefit with these skills. Not only for your own personal life, but having this knowledge can lead to employment. Employment in the security field of Information technology will only increase in the future.

You can benefit from this course if you have no IT experience at all, experienced IT professionals can also gain additional knowledge and strategies to add in their skill set.