Cybersecurity Fundamentals

Course Overview

This is the first course in the Graduate Certificate Program in Cybersecurity. This course will introduce the networking and cybersecurity background that you’ll need to succeed in the other courses in the certificate program.

Cybersecurity emphasizes prevention of attacks that are perpetrated using the Internet. It includes application security, information security, and network security. Because the foundations of cybersecurity rely so heavily on knowledge of networking, this course will cover networking background before discussing details of cybersecurity.

Course Goals and Objectives

After completing this course, students should have a strong foundation in the principles of the Internet architecture, an awareness of vulnerabilities in the Internet protocol stack, and an introduction to issues in cybersecurity. They should be prepared to take follow-on courses in the CS CyberSecurity certificate. After successfully completing the entire certificate program (4 courses), students should be able to pass the CompTIA Security+ Certification ExamLinks to an external site..

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

• Gain experience with the online course system.
• Explain the general architecture of the Internet, including the main functions of end systems and routers.
• Describe the basic client-server architecture and how typical network applications (web, email) fit into the architecture.
• Explain how web pages are requested and delivered using HTTP.
• Explain in general how DNS enables our use of the Internet and, in particular, how hosts determine the IP address of network servers.
• Explain how MAC addresses are used and assigned to a packet as it traverses a network.
• Differentiate between wireless LANs and wired LANs.
• Explain how IP CIDR addressing is performed and how an IP address is assigned from a group of available addresses.
• Explain the core functions of TCP including details of connection setup.
• Analyze and differentiate among types of malware and attacks.
• Analyze and differentiate among types of wireless attacks and application attacks.
• Identify vulnerabilities potentially present in DNS, databases, and web applications.
• Summarize general cryptography concepts.
• Describe how certificates can be used for authentication and encryption.
• Explain how firewalls and VPNs can be used to protect a network.

Assignments

Term Assignment

Assignments

Discussion boards