Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST): Cybersecurity

Explore core security principles by clarifying threats, risk, and vulnerabilities, with real-world examples of social engineering, data loss prevention, and patching to reduce attack surfaces.

Learn system hardening with Telnet deactivation and SSH, defense in depth, and the principle of least privilege, while exploring attacker types and the ethics of ethical hacking.

Explore malware, including viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, ransomware, rootkits, and backdoors, and learn how they spread, hide, and steal data. Test antivirus defenses using the eicar file.

Explore social engineering risks, including phishing and tailgating, and learn how attackers exploit willingness to help to trick you into clicking links or granting access.

Explore physical security foundations for data centers, including access control, biometrics and multi-factor authentication, and mantraps to prevent tailgating, followed by a tour of modular data center solutions.

Explore confidentiality, integrity, and availability with real-world examples like Bitlocker encryption, VPNs, and message hashing to protect data and communications.

Understand how denial of service attacks overwhelm a web server using icmp, ddos, and syn ddos techniques. Examine distributed attacks, trojan and zombie pc roles, and why antivirus protections matter.

Explore a denial of service lab with an open source firewall and snort to block a network attack, and see how intrusion prevention and detection systems respond to icmp floods.

Demonstrate how a man-in-the-middle attack uses ARP spoofing to impersonate the default gateway, intercepting and potentially altering or viewing traffic, and how a Trojan can enable a targeted man-in-the-browser attack.

Explore triple a-authentication, authorization, and accounting with lab-based demonstrations of radius and tacacs, mfa, password policy, and real-world examples for securing Cisco devices.

Demonstrate using a radius server with Active Directory and the NPS role to authorize VPN users, log activity, and monitor health via PRTG dashboards.

Explore multifactor authentication, combining something you know, something you have, and something you are, and learn to deploy MFA for remote desktop access and BYOD security using apps and biometrics.

Explore password policies and create strong, memorable passwords through testing strength and using Keepass with a master password. Highlight offline password management, generated passwords, and clipboard security to protect credentials.

Configure password policies with Windows Server 2019 using Group Policy Objects to enforce history, complexity, and periodic changes, then refresh with gpupdate force in an Active Directory environment.

Execute a brute-force password attack on a Cisco device using Kali Linux and Medusa, configuring host, username, password dictionary, and SSH on port 22 to test authentication.

Explore encryption concepts, including symmetric and asymmetric schemes, hashing, and certificates, with examples like BitLocker, AES-256, RSA, and public-private keys.

Grasp how hashing guarantees integrity with sha and md5 to detect any modification in a message or file, and how digital signatures use private and public keys to authenticate senders.

Explore how certificates authenticate identities through a certificate authority, differentiate self-signed certs, and configure trust in browsers using public key infrastructure and a pfSense CA.

Secure data in motion with encryption and SSH instead of Telnet, and protect data at rest with BitLocker, while training staff to safeguard data in use and lock devices.

identify tcp/ip vulnerabilities such as syn-based denial of service, udp floods, and man-in-the-middle attacks, plus dns, arp, icmp, and dhcp weaknesses.

Discover how mac addresses and arp map local ip addresses to mac addresses for switches and frames, and how the arp cache supports local network segments.

Capture and inspect ARP traffic with Wireshark to observe ARP requests and replies and broadcast nature of ARP messages. See how ARP can be exploited by faking requests or responses.

Explore how a Mac flood attack in Kali Linux overwhelms a switch with fake Mac addresses, turning it into a hub and exposing denial of service and eavesdropping risks.

VLANs on switches group devices into isolated broadcast domains, preventing broadcast storms. Proper VLAN management supports security policies for wired and wireless networks, while misconfigurations can enable VLAN hopping.

Learn how private IP ranges share one public IP with NAT, see port forwarding, static entries, and a live demonstration of high availability using a hot standby router.

Map network infrastructure with dmz, intranet, and extranet zones, secure internet access via firewall and vpn, and apply access control lists, proxies, honeypots, and ids/ips to protect web services.

Explore honeypots and dmz concepts, understand proxy filtering, and compare ids and ips capabilities, illustrated with Snort signatures to block ddos and malware, including zero-day attacks.

Configure a secure wireless soho network by understanding 802.11 protocols, selecting WPA3 security, and optimizing 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies with a properly configured access point.

Explore real-world wireless performance by configuring an Asus router in AP mode and mesh, test 802.11ax capabilities with 160 MHz channels, and evaluate gigabit speeds alongside stability and DHCP management.

Explore secure remote access technologies, including access control lists, firewalls, and network access control, and deploy an OpenVPN server on a router for encrypted, private network access.

Set up a vpn server on an Asus router, deploying openvpn for remote access with ipsec ike v2 as an option; connect via a downloaded openvpn client using a profile.

Explore the cloud through familiar cloud services like OneDrive and backups, and compare infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service.

Master Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security to create inbound and outbound rules, specify protocols and ports, and integrate Windows security features like BitLocker and TPM.

Explore essential Windows and Linux commands for endpoint security, including ipconfig, ping, nslookup, and route; learn about privilege escalation and UAC, and see how PowerShell enables automation and user management.

Explore NTFS and share permissions on Windows 10 and 11, including read, change, and full control. Learn to set advanced sharing, map network drives, and assess effective access.

Learn to use netstat, nslookup, and tcpdump to inspect network connections, domain name system queries, and traffic captures, with practical Windows and Linux demonstrations and pcap outputs.

Manage endpoints through centralized asset management and monitoring, deploy updated software via GPO or Microsoft Intune, enforce backups and compliance, and align devices with security policies and standards.

Explore how PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR protect payments, health records, and personal data, while addressing BYOD challenges and the need for strong policies to safeguard end users.

Learn to manage patches and updates across Windows, applications, drivers, and firmware, including Windows updates, with backups and cautious patching for Cisco devices.

Explore Windows Event Viewer and the three key logs—application, security, and system—to monitor events, differentiate information from warnings and errors, and use Reliability Monitor to assess updates and PC performance.

Explore how to view event viewer logs and forward switch logs with syslog, configure a dedicated syslog server, and verify log levels and backups using tftp64.

Explore antivirus configuration with Malwarebytes, enabling real-time protection, rootkit scanning, and advanced options, and verify safety with VirusTotal.

Explore identification, management, and mitigation of vulnerabilities through port scanning and firewall verification, emphasizing keeping applications up to date and testing patches to prevent exploits.

Use Nmap to scan a switch, quickly listing open ports such as SSH, Telnet, HTTP, and HTTPS, then explore MSF and TCP Christmas scan for evading and detecting attacks.

Use threat intelligence techniques to identify potential network vulnerabilities. Leverage OpenDNS and Cisco Umbrella for DNS security, plus documented processes within structured cybersecurity teams.

Explore how CVE identifiers relate to Cisco Identity Services Engine vulnerabilities, understand CVSS base score metrics across versions 2 and 3, including attack vector, complexity, privilege, BitLocker, and CIA impact.

Identify, assess, and prioritize information risks to assets using a risk matrix that weighs likelihood and severity, then decide to avoid, transfer or mitigate and report to senior managers.

Learn how to mitigate risk using technical, administrative, and physical controls, from firewalls and encryption to NDAs and biometric access, plus data risk, GDPR compliance, assessments, and change management.

Disaster recovery and business continuity planning are core to cybersecurity; DRP restores IT systems, while BCP sustains operations against ransomware with tested backups and preventive, corrective, and detective controls.

Explore SIEM and SOAR by showing how SIEM collects and analyzes security events logs from multiple sources to detect threats, while SOAR automates responses with threat intelligence and endpoint protection.

Compare cyber kill chain, mitre attack matrix, and diamond model to understand adversary tactics, techniques, procedures, and evidence handling, including chain of custody and incident response.

Explore the NIST special publication 800-61 on incident response. Learn to apply its life cycle—preparation, detection, eradication, recovery, and post-incident activity—and the policy and plan guidance.

Explore compliance frameworks and incident handling, with a focus on notifications, including Firpa, Fisma, and GDPR. Learn that data breach notices must occur within 72 hours of awareness, not occurrence.

PowerShell unlocks vast capabilities; open it, use tab completion, and manage Active Directory tasks with get net ip configuration, add user, and new group using universal scope.

Explore a Cisco access point from unboxing to mounting, featuring 802.11ac wave two up to 1.7 Gbps, K9 or K9 C controller options, and app-based setup with a live dashboard.

Explore virtualization with VirtualBox to run multiple VMs, including Kali Linux, using preconfigured images; verify downloads with MD5/SHA checksums and ensure CPU virtualization is enabled for network security testing.

execute an advanced man-in-the-middle lab by spoofing arp to route traffic through Kali, verify ips and gateway, configure target and router addresses, and monitor arp results.