Subject Overview

An applied introduction to protecting computer networks, covering security principles, threats, cryptography, access control, secure architecture, defensive technologies, monitoring, vulnerability management, incident response, governance, cloud security and emerging practices.

Learning Goal

Students will be able to identify network risks, select and configure fundamental security controls, interpret security data, respond to common incidents, and support secure, ethical and policy-compliant network operations.

Syllabus

1. Network Security Foundations and Terminology

Learning Objective: Explain assets, threats, vulnerabilities, exploits, risk, attack surfaces, controls, trust boundaries, the CIA triad, AAA, least privilege, defense in depth and zero-trust principles.

Category: foundation

2. Network Protocols, Traffic and Security Models

Learning Objective: Relate OSI and TCP/IP layers, addressing, ports, routing, DNS, DHCP, ARP and common application protocols to security weaknesses, controls and traffic-flow analysis.

Category: foundation

3. Threat Actors, Malware and Attack Techniques

Learning Objective: Identify cybercriminal, insider, state and hacktivist threats; analyze malware, phishing, spoofing, sniffing, scanning, password attacks, denial-of-service, session hijacking and man-in-the-middle attacks.

Category: core

4. Cryptography, PKI and Secure Communications

Learning Objective: Apply encryption, hashing, digital signatures, certificates, key management and public key infrastructure; distinguish secure uses of TLS, SSH, IPsec and VPN technologies.

Category: core

5. Identity, Authentication and Network Access Control

Learning Objective: Implement passwords, multifactor authentication, authorization, accounting, role-based access, directory services, RADIUS, TACACS+, privileged access controls and network access control.

Category: core

6. Secure Network Architecture and Segmentation

Learning Objective: Design secure topologies using zones, VLANs, subnets, DMZs, microsegmentation, bastion hosts, redundancy and secure remote access while balancing security, performance and availability.

Category: application

7. Firewalls, Proxies and Intrusion Prevention

Learning Objective: Compare packet-filtering, stateful and next-generation firewalls; create basic rules; and explain proxies, web filtering, IDS/IPS, network detection and prevention techniques.

Category: application

8. Device, Service and Endpoint Hardening

Learning Objective: Harden routers, switches, servers and endpoints through secure configuration, patching, service reduction, administrative access protection, backups, configuration baselines and change control.

Category: application

9. Wireless, Mobile and IoT Network Security

Learning Objective: Secure Wi-Fi using current authentication and encryption standards; recognize rogue access points and wireless attacks; and manage risks from mobile, BYOD, operational technology and IoT devices.

Category: contemporary

10. Security Monitoring, Logging and Analytics

Learning Objective: Collect and interpret logs, packet captures, flow records and alerts; establish baselines and indicators of compromise; and use SIEM, dashboards and threat intelligence for operational decisions.

Category: application

11. Vulnerability Assessment and Security Testing

Learning Objective: Conduct authorized discovery, scanning and basic testing; interpret severity scores, validate findings, prioritize remediation and document results while observing legal and ethical boundaries.

Category: application

12. Incident Response, Recovery and Resilience

Learning Objective: Follow preparation, detection, containment, eradication, recovery and lessons-learned processes; preserve evidence; communicate incidents; and support backup, disaster recovery and business continuity.

Category: core

13. Risk Management, Governance and Compliance

Learning Objective: Perform basic risk assessment and control selection using recognized frameworks; develop policies and metrics; address privacy, acceptable use, audits, third-party risk, ethics and regulatory obligations.

Category: strategic

14. Cloud, Zero Trust, Automation and Emerging Security

Learning Objective: Explain shared-responsibility security for cloud and virtual networks, SASE and zero-trust implementation; assess automation, AI-assisted detection, adversarial AI, post-quantum cryptography and evolving workforce requirements.

Category: advanced