Your go-to guide to most if not all the FREE Cybersecurity resources on the internet.
Whether you're a beginner in Cybersecurity or already in the field, these are some absolute must-check Cyber items that just can't be missed.
41% of participants in a nationwide survey conducted by Champlain College Online said that they would think about going back to school for a cyber degree or certificate in order to get ready for a career in the sector, and 72% stated they would be willing to do the same if their present company offered to pay for their training.
Cybersecurity is one of the most in demand career right now, so here is our ultimate Cybersecurity resources list (focused mostly with video-based learning and/or with labs):
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Providers - free in Audit mode or free with limited access i.e. no certificate will be provided
Coursera - is an online education platform that offers tutorials, degrees, certificate programmes, and courses in many different subjects. Instruction is offered by more than 300 prestigious colleges and businesses, such as Stanford, Duke, Google, and IBM.
edX - an online learning platform that provides everyone with the primary goal to oversee a range of services, such as boot camps for elite brands i.e. Harvard, MIT, etc..
Udacity - an educational organization where it now concentrates more on professional vocational courses than on university-style courses, which was its initial focus.
FutureLearn - It is a platform for learning degrees, microcredentials, and massively open online courses (MOOCs). It has more than 250 domestic and foreign partners as of November, including business and governmental entities.
Udemy - an online platform for teaching and learning offered by an education technology company where most of the courses are made by individuals rather than from traditional school institutions.
Khan Academy - an online learning platform with a mission to provide a free, world‑class education for anyone, anywhere. The courses are targeted mostly for primary school learners but there are also industry focused courses.
OCW MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare is a collection of videos, tests, and lecture notes that are free. No need to register. Most of the Cybersecurity related content is with lecture notes only (no videos) except this one below.
OpenClassrooms - An online learning environment offering courses in digital skills, entrepreneurship, technology, and information technology for vocational training.
openHPI - the digital education platform of the Hasso Plattner Institute that offers Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). To improve the learning experience, these courses feature personalized learning environments with social media and e-portfolio systems.
Saylor Academy - a nonprofit organization dedicated to the Free Education Initiative, which has produced 241 courses that account for ten of the most popular majors in the US. (text only, no videos)
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2. Country’s Government Cybersecurity Initiatives and Programs
US Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE) public courses - FedVTE is designed for Federal government employees and contractors, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) government employees and U.S. military personnel and Veterans. But it does have a general public list of courses free of charge and without login requirements.
UK Introduction to cyber security: stay safe online - UK National Careers Service has introduced a free online learning platform to assist individuals in gaining digital skills during a lockdown via The Open University.
More free training is provided by various government bodies through grants (you need to be a citizen of the listed countries below).
3. Tech and Cyber Organizations and Learning Platforms
SANS Cyber Aces - a for-profit business with a focus on cybersecurity training, information security, and certification (via Global Information Assurance Certification aka GIAC). Their Cyber Aces lists free cyber security training materials mostly through webinars.
MITRE CTI Trainings - a nonprofit organization that oversees federally financed research and development facilities that serve numerous federal departments in the domains of cybersecurity, homeland security, aviation, defense, and healthcare.
Cybrary - an online platform that provides resources and online courses for individuals who are interested in IT and cybersecurity.
Tryhackme - interactive cyber security training platform that you can use in your browser, covering blue, red, and purple teams for all ability levels.
Hackthebox - an online platform that gamifies cybersecurity upskilling, certification, and talent assessment for individuals and organizations to improve their offensive and defensive security knowledge.
Codecademy - an interactive platform that initially offers free coding classes in various different programming languages like Python, Java, etc. and now offers cybersecurity courses as well.
LinkedIn Learning - LinkedIn is a business and employment-focused social media platform where they’ve also created a feature which covers online courses led by experts.
4. Product Companies
Fortinet Free Cybersecurity Training for IT Professionals - Fortinet is a cybersecurity company popularly known for its network security products. The free courses cover fundamentals for new cyber professionals.
CISCO Networking Academy - Cisco is a digital communications technology company that sells computer network devices and telecommunications products. They offer Cybersecurity courses on top of other areas like networking, programming, etc.
AWS Security - AWS is the most popular cloud computing company to date. With various services and training programs, this one covers the Security Learning Plan for security.
Azure Security - Microsoft’s cloud computing platform is Azure. They have created different learning path depending on the role:
Veracode - a provider of SaaS application security that incorporates application analysis into development processes and offers application security services. This training which has its own lab focuses on improving secure coding.
Portswigger Web Security Academy - PortSwigger is the company that developed Burp suite, one of the most popular web security tools out there. Their training which covers different learning paths teaches you web security by taking advantage of their own lab.
5. Webinars
Replays from Top Cybersecurity conferences
RSA Conference - a series of IT security conferences where you’ll learn about the latest trends especially in technology since most of the talks are led by product vendors.
Blackhat - A series of cybersecurity events that offer information security research that is current and primarily technical.
DEF CON - An annual hacker convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada involving software, hardware and anything that is hackable.
And many more…Check out local organizations and meetups near you!
ISACA Digital Videos - ISACA is a global professional organization specialized in IT Governance. Their popular Cybersecurity certifications are CISA, CISM and CRISC.
BrightTALK - a webcasting platform that covers technology and cybersecurity topics mostly presented by vendors.
Information Security Magazine Webinars - Information Security Magazine is one of the popular websites to hear about the latest trends in cybersecurity and data breaches.
Youtube channels and videos - Needs no further explanation…Some of the popular cybersecurity channels are HackerOneTV, HackerSploit, etc.
If you’re the type of person that can digest all of this information, then please share this blog to others so many can benefit.
For those that took the time to study on their own but still has questions or want to know what’s next? Or if you cannot decide which ones to start because you don’t know where it ends, I’ve created this Free Cybersecurity Workshop: 3 Secrets to Become a Cybersecurity Professional to help you in the process. Because in most cases, you need regular feedback from a coach/mentor to check if you’re still in the right direction and be with a community of like-minded individuals to share the experience and also to have accountability.
What topic would you like next? Email me at hello@jonarmarzan.com.
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