This course provides an overview of the field of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity Principles covers core cybersecurity topics including computer system architectures, critical infrastructures, cyber threats and vulnerabilities, cryptography, cryptographic protocol design, information assurance, network security, and risk assessment and management.

Course Reflection

Through this course I was able to get a refresher on topics I’ve learned previously as well as learn a lot of new things. While going through several of the chapters, I realized that even though this class was designed to review core topics that I originally thought I knew, that wasn’t the case. Often times I ran into new definitions that I hadn’t heard or briefly heard, and those defnintions were explained in detail. The most enjoyable part of this course was the hands-on interactive labs that were assigned. As I went through the assignments, I realized that there were tasks that needed to be completed that I knew how to do without guidance. For example, when it came to adding and configuring users and group policies in Active Directory, or the commands that were often used in the Kali Linux terminal. Reflecting back on my coursework from my undergraduate program, I was decently surprised that I remembered how to do those things. This course helped me affirm that I knew what I thought I knew. On the other hand, it also helped me realized areas I’m not so great in, some of which I alreay knew. All that tells me though, is that I need to brush up on those areas or take some time to fully learn the topics, becasue nothing is off the table when it comes to furthering my education or knowledge. Through this course I was also able to identify areas of the Cybersecurity & Information Technology world that I may want to stray away from professionally, as it is apparently not my cup of tea. All in all , I feel like I benefited greatly from this course, and appreciate the information given. As I continue forward in my graduate program, I will always refer back to lessons of Cybersecurity Principles.

Threat Actors & Attack Surfaces.

For this assignment, students were tasked with simulating an attack on a machine. Tasks included discovering open ports on the virtual machine, using methods to exploit those open ports, and completing actions through the exploitation. After which we reviewed logs of warnings, errors, and general information that occured on the machine. This assignment highlighted avenues in which cyberattacks can take to carry out an attack and different areas in which they may attack.