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Cyber Threats and Attack Vectors

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HomeInformation TechnologySecurity

Cyber Threats and Attack Vectors

University of Colorado System

About this course: Data breaches occur nearly every day. From very large retailers, down to your fantasy football website, and anywhere in between, they have been compromised in some way. How did the attackers get in? What did they do with the data they compromised? What should I be concerned with in my own business or my systems? This course is the second course in the Practical Computer Security. It will discuss types of threats and attack vectors commonly seen in today’s environment. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but threats are all over the place! This course isn’t designed to insight fear that there is no hope for keeping systems and business secure, but rather educate you on how attacks are carried out so that you have a better sense of what to look out for in your business or with your systems.

Who is this class for: This course is for everyone who wants to understand how computer attacks are carried out and what to watch out for if you have information that you need to protect. This course is for those individuals that are looking to be able to discuss computer security with their colleagues and superiors and offer suggestions on what to look out for. The project at the end of the course will also allow you to investigate data breaches and be able to determine where attacks came from and how they were carried out. This course will help you identify and classify attack vectors and how to protect yourself, your business, and your systems from attacks.


Created by:  University of Colorado System
University of Colorado System

  • Greg Williams

    Taught by:  Greg Williams, Lecturer

    Department of Computer Science
Basic Info
Course 2 of 4 in the Cybersecurity for Business Specialization
LevelBeginner
Language
English
How To PassPass all graded assignments to complete the course.
User Ratings
4.5 stars
Average User Rating 4.5See what learners said
Syllabus
WEEK 1
THREATS AND ATTACK VECTORS IN COMPUTER SECURITY
Welcome! This week we'll explore users and user based attacks. User based attacks are common because it may be easier to compromise a human rather than a computer.
5 videos, 3 readings, 1 practice quiz
  1. Video: Introduction
  2. Reading: About this course
  3. Video: About the Instructor
  4. Reading: Digital Identity - Required Reading
  5. Video: Phishing
  6. Video: Social Engineering
  7. Video: Authentication based attacks
  8. Reading: Lecture Slides
  9. Discussion Prompt: What do you want out of this course?
  10. Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz - Week 1
Graded: Week 1 - User based attacks
WEEK 2
Network and system based attacks
Threats against networks and systems are the most common type of attack method. This week will explore these concepts.
3 videos, 4 readings, 1 practice quiz
  1. Reading: Viruses and Worms
  2. Video: Network based attacks
  3. Video: Denial of Service attacks
  4. Reading: DDoS Attacks
  5. Video: Wireless based attacks
  6. Reading: Mobile Based Attacks
  7. Reading: Lecture Slides
  8. Discussion Prompt: Attacks
  9. Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz - Week 2
Graded: Week 2 - Network and system based attacks
WEEK 3
Cloud Security
You use the cloud every day; you may not even realize it! This week will focus on the cloud and security surrounding cloud and cloud services.
4 videos, 3 readings, 1 practice quiz
  1. Video: What is "The Cloud"?
  2. Video: Why do we need to be concerned with “The Cloud”
  3. Video: SaaS
  4. Video: Database Security
  5. Reading: Real Cloud Based Attacks
  6. Reading: Cloud Security Alliance
  7. Reading: Lecture Slides
  8. Discussion Prompt: The Cloud
  9. Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz - Week 3
Graded: Week 3: Cloud Security
WEEK 4
Common Vulnerabilities
The week will focus on common vulnerabilities that systems face and how they work.
4 videos, 3 readings, 1 practice quiz
  1. Video: Misconfiguration
  2. Video: Operating Systems
  3. Video: Software: Buffer Overflows
  4. Video: Software: Web Based Applications
  5. Reading: Software: Injection
  6. Reading: Shadow Brokers
  7. Reading: Lecture Slides
  8. Discussion Prompt: Vulnerabilities
  9. Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz - Week 4
Graded: Week 4: Common Vulnerabilities
WEEK 5
Data Breaches
Data breaches occur daily. Sometimes they are announced right away, other times they are found out months after the compromise. This week will focus on the course project.
1 video
  1. Video: Discovering Data Breaches!
Graded: How data breaches are found out

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Creators
University of Colorado System
The University of Colorado is a recognized leader in higher education on the national and global stage. We collaborate to meet the diverse needs of our students and communities. We promote innovation, encourage discovery and support the extension of knowledge in ways unique to the state of Colorado and beyond.
Pricing
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Ratings and Reviews
Rated 4.5 out of 5 of 56 ratings

MY

i get alot knowledge through this plateform

Viseth

Great Intro and Follow-Up to First class, will be taking other Cyber-Security Classes to supplement this one and reinforce knowledge.

BC

Enjoyed the course. The more of these I take the better they seem to get. Could move a little faster. These are significantly better than the NYU offering.

JP

Still a good introductory course with some detailed explanation. I was expecting a bit more practice rather than security concepts, since this course has already been dealing with real-life attacks. But maybe practice comes in the following two courses of this series.



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