Security Fundamentals
Core information security for every IT role: threats, controls, cryptography, identity, secure networks and incident basics, at the level of CompTIA Security+.
CYB-101 Year 1 3 credits 12 lessons · 4 h 50 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · IT Foundations
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Explain confidentiality, integrity and availability and use them, with the terms asset, threat, vulnerability and risk, to describe security problems.
- Compare threat actors by motive, resources and targeting, and identify the attack vectors a small business is most likely to face.
- Recognize common attacks, including phishing, malware, password attacks, injection and denial of service, and name the controls that stop each.
- Classify security controls by category and type, score risks by likelihood and impact, and apply defence in depth.
- Explain symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashing and salting, and why organizations use proven algorithms instead of inventing their own.
- Describe how certificates, certificate authorities and the chain of trust make secure web connections possible, and manage certificate expiry.
- Apply current password guidance, password managers and multi-factor authentication, and explain how authenticator app codes work.
- Secure a small network with segmentation, firewall rules, secure Wi-Fi and remote access.
- Harden computers and mobile devices with updates, encryption, endpoint protection, least privilege and device management.
- Collect and review security logs, write simple detection rules and recognize suspicious patterns such as repeated failed sign-ins.
- Follow the incident response life cycle, preserve evidence and meet breach notification duties.
- Carry out a basic security review of a small business and turn the findings into a prioritized plan.
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 50 min total · final exam
- 1 Why security matters: confidentiality, integrity and availability 25 min · quiz
- 2 Threat actors and their motives 24 min · quiz
- 3 Common attacks and how they are stopped 24 min · quiz
- 4 Security controls and defence in depth 24 min · quiz
- 5 Cryptography basics 24 min · quiz
- 6 Public key infrastructure and certificates 25 min · quiz
- 7 Identity, authentication and multi-factor 25 min · quiz
- 8 Securing networks 23 min · quiz
- 9 Securing endpoints and mobile devices 24 min · quiz
- 10 Security monitoring and logging 24 min · quiz
- 11 Incident response basics 25 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: a security review of a small business 23 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Core information security for every IT role: threats, controls, cryptography, identity, secure networks and incident basics, at the level of CompTIA Security+.
Part of the Information Technology stream, typically taken in year 1.