Essentials of Cybersecurity

This course serves as an introduction to the exciting field of cybersecurity.

As our daily lives become more and more dependent on Internet-based tools and services, and as those platforms accumulate more of our most sensitive data, the demand grows for experts in the field of cybersecurity.

In this course, you will gain an overview of the cybersecurity landscape as well as national (USA) and international perspectives on the field. We will cover the legal environment that impacts cybersecurity as well as predominant threat actors.

The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in any given organization serves a leadership position, protecting the data and digital systems that a company’s employees as well as its customers depend upon.

This course delves into the role that the CISO plays in cybersecurity operations.

Throughout the lessons, learners will explore answers to the following questions: How does cybersecurity work across industries? What is the professionals' point of view? How do we keep information secure?

Coursework will fully explore the CISO’s view from the top, as well as the position’s toolkit, which includes policy, procedures and practices, technologies, awareness training, and audit. It will also dive into the approaches taken in private industry, government, academia, and the military.

Technologies are always being defeated.

If you own an information asset that’s valuable enough to the right adversary, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a breach. Today’s technologies attempt to keep adversaries out, but the sad fact is they will inevitably be defeated. This means a successful cybersecurity professional needs to have an expanded arsenal in their toolkit that extends far beyond technical proficiency.

Cybersecurity professionals need to be agile, multifunctional, flexible, and dynamic given how quickly things can change. They need to be able to adapt to change and problem solve quickly, have diverse knowledge to perform many activities, respond to new threats and shift priorities to meet the challenge of the day.

The purpose of this course is to give learners insight into these type of characteristics and skills needed for cybersecurity jobs and to provide a realistic outlook on what they really need to add to their “toolkits” – a set of skills that is constantly evolving, not all technical, but fundamentally rooted in problem-solving.

Students will learn from thought leaders from both the academic and practitioner communities.