Cybersecurity Essentials

Establish the vocabulary and mental models that the rest of the course builds on. You'll learn what security professionals are actually protecting and why, and how to reason about risk.

• 1.1 What Cybersecurity Is and Why It Matters
  Preview 18:40
• 1.2 Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability
  32:15
• 1.3 Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Risk
  29:50
• 1.4 Defense in Depth and Security Controls
  24:05
• 1.5 Lab: Mapping Assets and Risks
  41:30

Understand how attackers operate so you can defend against them. Covers malware families, phishing, and social engineering — taught from a defender's perspective with no offensive instructions.

• 2.1 Malware Types: Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Ransomware
  37:20
• 2.2 Phishing and Email-Based Attacks
  33:45
• 2.3 Social Engineering and Human Risk
  28:10
• 2.4 Denial-of-Service and Network Attacks
  26:55
• 2.5 Threat Actors and the Attack Lifecycle
  22:40
• 2.6 Lab: Spotting and Reporting a Phishing Email
  35:30

Learn how networks move data and where security controls fit. Covers the TCP/IP model, common protocols and ports, and defensive devices such as firewalls and VPNs.

• 3.1 TCP/IP, the OSI Model, and Common Protocols
  40:15
• 3.2 Ports, Services, and Network Segmentation
  34:20
• 3.3 Firewalls, IDS/IPS, and VPNs
  38:50
• 3.4 Securing Wireless Networks
  27:35
• 3.5 Lab: Reading Network Traffic with Wireshark
  52:10

Demystify the cryptography that protects data in transit and at rest. Covers symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashing, digital certificates, TLS, and public key infrastructure (PKI).

• 4.1 Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Encryption
  36:25
• 4.2 Hashing and Message Integrity
  31:00
• 4.3 Digital Certificates, TLS, and HTTPS
  39:15
• 4.4 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
  28:45
• 4.5 Lab: Inspecting a TLS Certificate
  33:50

Learn how systems verify who users are and what they're allowed to do. Covers authentication factors, MFA, single sign-on, and access control models including least privilege and RBAC.

• 5.1 Authentication Factors and Strong Passwords
  30:30
• 5.2 Multi-Factor Authentication and SSO
  34:55
• 5.3 Authorization and Access Control Models
  32:20
• 5.4 Least Privilege and Role-Based Access Control
  26:10
• 5.5 Lab: Configuring MFA and Role Permissions
  38:00

Apply practical hardening techniques to workstations, servers, and mobile devices. Covers patch management, secure configuration, endpoint protection, and backup strategy.

• 6.1 Operating System Hardening Fundamentals
  35:40
• 6.2 Patch and Vulnerability Management
  31:25
• 6.3 Antivirus, EDR, and Endpoint Protection
  29:15
• 6.4 Backups, Recovery, and Data Protection
  24:50
• 6.5 Lab: Hardening a Virtual Machine Baseline
  46:30

Understand the most common web application risks and how to defend against them. Organized around the OWASP Top 10, with a focus on secure coding and configuration rather than exploitation.

• 7.1 How Web Applications Work and Where They Break
  33:10
• 7.2 Injection and Broken Access Control
  37:45
• 7.3 Cross-Site Scripting and Authentication Failures
  35:30
• 7.4 Secure Coding and Input Validation Practices
  29:20
• 7.5 Lab: Reviewing a Web App Against the OWASP Top 10
  44:15

See how security teams detect and handle incidents in practice. Covers logging, SIEM concepts, the incident response lifecycle, and basic threat intelligence.

• 8.1 Logging, Monitoring, and SIEM Basics
  36:50
• 8.2 The Incident Response Lifecycle
  34:20
• 8.3 Detection, Containment, and Recovery
  31:40
• 8.4 Threat Intelligence and the MITRE ATT&CK Framework
  27:15
• 8.5 Lab: Investigating Alerts in a Log Dataset
  48:05

Connect technical security work to the policies, frameworks, and regulations that drive it. Covers security policies, risk management, common frameworks, and privacy regulations.

• 9.1 Security Policies, Standards, and Procedures
  30:00
• 9.2 Risk Management and Risk Assessment
  28:45
• 9.3 Frameworks: NIST, ISO 27001, and CIS Controls
  33:20
• 9.4 Privacy and Compliance: GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS
  31:10

Bring everything together in a guided capstone where you secure and monitor a small environment, then document your findings — all using safe, self-contained lab resources.

• 10.1 Capstone Scenario and Lab Setup
  29:30
• 10.2 Capstone Part 1: Harden and Configure Controls
  58:20
• 10.3 Capstone Part 2: Detect and Respond to an Incident
  61:45
• 10.4 Documenting Findings and Next Steps Toward Security+
  26:40