Cybersecurity Prep Course for Absolute Beginners

Understand memory versus storage and how RAM and hard drives affect performance. Discover why data moves from storage to memory, how fragmentation and solid-state drives compare to magnetic drives.

Demystify the central processing unit and processor, explain how each core executes one instruction at a time, why multiple cores boost speed, and how memory powers computer performance.

Learn how software boils down to input, processing, and output, and how code becomes machine language through compiled and interpreted paths such as Python, Java, and C#.

Put together core concepts of how code becomes an executable, loads into RAM, and flows through the processor via memory addresses, preparing you for advanced topics in cybersecurity.

Learn that a network is two or more devices that communicate, using wired infrastructure like Ethernet and underwater cables to move data (ones and zeros) across continents.

Explain IPv4 as the most common IP address and how it separates network and host using octets and a subnet mask, noting internal private vs external public addresses.

Learn how port numbers access different services on an IP address, such as web, database, and file services, using the IP:port notation.

Explore common web protocols and their ports, including http 80, https 443, ssh 22, ftp 21, and email protocols smtp, pop3, imap, while noting tcp vs udp and encryption differences.

Explore how internet traffic is broken into packets with bits and bytes forming data, and how TCP packets carry version, length, protocol, addresses, ports, and sequence numbers to ensure delivery.

Identify key network devices such as routers and switches. Learn how firewalls block traffic by ports on internal networks and how mac addresses guide switch delivery.

Learn how the OSI model describes how data travels across layers, from physical connections and switches to transport protocols, presentation, and application, with examples like email.

Learn the CIA triad—confidentiality, integrity, and availability—and apply the identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover framework to safeguard digital assets while balancing security with usability.

Explore essential network security concepts, including dos and distributed denial of service attacks, cloud defenses and access controls, and the principle of least privilege and default-deny perimeters that protect servers.

Explore ethical hacking as a job, covering penetration tests, strict scope and guidelines, bug bounty avenues, and the process from reconnaissance to maintaining access and covering tracks.

Advance your cybersecurity journey by pursuing the CompTIA Security+ as the standard entry-level certificate, while deciding whether to add Network+ or interleave networking concepts with security study.