Full course description
Given the increasing reliance on digital systems across all industries and the growing range of cyber threats targeting those systems, cybersecurity literacy has become an essential skill for today’s learners and workforce professionals. This introductory, 10-week online asynchronous course provides students with a foundational understanding of cybersecurity principles and practices needed to recognize, evaluate, and respond to risks in personal and organizational digital environments.
Designed for beginners with no prior cybersecurity experience required, this course introduces core concepts such as threats, vulnerabilities, risk, data protection, governance, privacy, identity management, and defensive strategies. Students will also explore how cyberattacks occur, how defenders respond, and how security practices are operationalized across systems and organizations.
Throughout the course, students will examine both offensive and defensive cybersecurity perspectives to better understand how systems are compromised and how they are protected. Emphasis is placed on practical awareness, critical thinking, and developing a security mindset applicable to both personal digital safety and professional environments.
This self-paced course requires approximately 10 hours of work per week and includes formative checks for understanding throughout the term, culminating in a final applied project in which students develop a cybersecurity policy proposal addressing a real-world organizational or personal security need.
A certificate of completion will be awarded to students who successfully complete the course.
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Define the foundational cybersecurity concepts for creating and maintaining safer digital communities.
- Assess basic threats and indicators of compromise that pose risks to personal and organizational networks, endpoints, and infrastructures.
- Outline a security program that increases the security posture of a personal or organizational technological framework.
- Differentiate between cyber policies and laws to develop cyber governance strategies.
- Explain basic methodologies and techniques to defend technological frameworks from adversary attacks.
- Describe best practices of online privacy to maintain identity protection.