Introduction to Cybersecurity

Course description:

This course provides an overview of the field of cybersecurity. It covers core cybersecurity topics, including computer system architectures, critical infrastructures, cyber threats and vulnerabilities, cryptography, information assurance, network security, and risk assessment and management. Students are expected to become familiar with fundamental security concepts, technologies, and practices, and develop a foundation for further study in cybersecurity.

This course enables students to examine a broad range of computer security issues and provides technical knowledge not typically addressed in traditional training. It explores the protection of proprietary information and security planning with an emphasis on networked computer vulnerabilities. It also focuses on detection (e.g., viruses, hackers, types of computer crime, computer forensic examination, etc.), as well as disaster recovery and technology law. Emphasis is placed on system security and the prevention of computer crime. Also addressed is the maturing criminal population with increased computer literacy, whose tendency is to move from violent actions to more profitable computer crime. Finally, issues of privacy and freedom of information are examined.

The course objectives are:

• Identify and prioritize information assets.
• Identify and prioritize threats to information assets.
• Define an information security strategy and architecture.
• Plan for and respond to intruders in an information system.
• Describe legal and public relations implications of security and privacy issues.
• Present a disaster recovery plan for the recovery of information assets after an incident