Cyber security has become a top priority for companies these days. Every organization collects a massive amount of data and analyzes it to draw actionable insights and make more informed decisions. While gathering such huge data comes with loads of benefits, there are always cyber risks associated with it. The sensitive information of companies is always under the radar of malicious hackers who seek to gain unauthorized access to it and compromise it for their personal gains. Cyber security is what helping these companies deal with every possible intrusion.
Companies hire cyber security experts who know what security protocols are to be followed in an organization to keep its data and systems secure. Those professionals who achieve various cyber security certifications have all the basic to advanced skills in this field and are preferred over other candidates by the hiring managers. Today, it has become easier for everyone to gain industry-recognized skills in cyber security by taking online courses. There are some reputed training providers whose courses have flexible learning options and teach you all the cybersecurity concepts from scratch.
This article has listed some of the top cyber security courses you can take to upgrade your skills in this field and become more employable.
Best Courses in Cyber Security
Mentioned below are the top cyber security courses from recognized training providers, along with their description, syllabus, and skills covered.
Post Graduate Program in Cyber Security
Offered by – Simplilearn
This Post Graduate Program in Cyber Security gives you the foundational to advanced security skills through industry-leading certification courses (part of the program). This 6 months program needs you to spend 5 to 10 hours per week for completion. The program helps you stay updated with all the latest trends in cyber security. What makes it a unique program is that it contains learning modules from MIT Schwarzman College of Computing (MIT SSC) as well as the prestigious EC-Council.
There are more than 150 hours of applied learning modules along with industry case studies, capstone projects in 3 domains, and more than 25 hands-on projects. Moreover, you’ll get access to CEH v11 iLabs and 24 hacking challenges from the EC-Council. The program also covers 6 months of IIMJobs Pro Membership to help you prepare for interviews.
Here are the courses covered in the program:
- Design systems to secure applications, networks, and devices
- Build a hacker mindset and defend against future attacks (from EC-Council)
- Design, engineer, and manage the overall security posture of an organization
- Cyber Security – Technology, Application, and Policy (from MIT SSC)
- Cyber Security Capstone Project
Top skills covered – Network packet analysis, IDS Firewalls and honeypots, network security, advanced hacking techniques, identity and access management, and cryptography OSI and TCP/IP models.
IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate
Offered by – IBM on Coursera
This comprehensive program helps you develop knowledge of cyber security analyst tools like data protection, endpoint protection, systems and network fundamentals, and SIEM. You’ll learn about key compliance and threat intelligence topics that are important in today’s cybersecurity landscape. This flexible learning program requires you to spend 4 hours per week and can be completed in around 8 months.
You will get expert instruction from industry leaders working in Google, IBM, Facebook, and more. Learners also gain job-ready skills and experience with hands-on projects using industry-standard tools and techniques.
The syllabus includes eight courses:
- Introduction to Cybersecurity tools and cyber attacks
- Cybersecurity roles, processes, and operating system security
- Cybersecurity compliance framework and system administration
- Network security and database vulnerabilities
- Penetration testing, incident response, and forensics
- Cyber threat intelligence
- Cybersecurity capstone: breach response case studies
- IBM cybersecurity analyst assessment
Top skills covered – Information security analysis, IBM new collar, malware, cyber attacks, database vulnerabilities, SQL injection, and network security.
Master’s Degree in Cybersecurity
Offered by – Georgia Tech on EdX
Georgia Tech’s OMS Online Master of Science in Cybersecurity is an interdisciplinary degree in cybersecurity from a U.S. News and World Report Top 10-ranked public university. By enrolling in this program, you will understand the nature of risks and pathways of threats to cyber and cyber-physical systems and develop an awareness of vulnerabilities to software, network, and computer systems. It is a 2 years fully online program that consists of 10 comprehensive courses.
The OMS Cybersecurity degree requires 32 hours of coursework.
Introductory Core – 9 hours
Specialized tracks – 12 hours
Electives – 6 hours
Practicum – 5 hours
Learners will have the flexibility to focus on a specific area of interest by selecting to concentrate on one of the following three tracks:
- Information Security Track
- Cyber-Physical Systems
- Public Policy Track
There are certain application requirements to be fulfilled for becoming eligible to take the course.
Wrap Up
The list mentioned above is by no means exhaustive, and learners may find even other in-depth courses to learn the basics of cyber security. You can check out the websites of the mentioned training providers and find out all the other details of the course. Enroll in a course that best matches your learning needs and get certified. You will then be able to apply for promising cyber security roles and command huge paychecks. A lot of opportunities are available for cyber security experts currently, and their demand isn’t going to reduce any time soon.