Foundation Certificate in Cyber Security

Foundation Certificate in Cyber Security

The objective of the course is to provide a comprehensive but necessarily high level overview across industry standard technology and platforms, illuminating the technology and its specific cyber governance, risk and assurance challenges without technically challenging the learner to hands-on labs.

The course takes the learner back to computer basics to build the individuals understanding common technology platforms through to the network layer and on via virtualisation technologies, cloud systems, telecoms and modern communications and finishing with an insight into the world of protective monitoring, challenges and pitfalls of security events logs and analysis. Common methods of attack provides the learner with an insight into many of the most popular attack vectors today. Closing the third day with a module focused on the benefits and pitfalls of encryption.

Day four begins with the cyber law and the context in which security practitioners and organisations have to operate within. Each of us has a digital footprint and the technology we use within our enterprise as an attack surface, the next module joins these two principles and explains the challenges for assurance around leaky data. During the remainder of day four and five we introduce the layered cyber concepts and the deeper governance required throughout the entire lifecycle covering a number of specialist areas essential to the rounded security practitioner.

Each day provides insight into the technical subject matter with the crucial security subtext. Knowledge check exercises, where delegates work in groups to discuss and provide solutions to scenarios offering an explanation with a rationale in each instance of why this is important from a security assurance perspective.

During the delivery we will provide the delegates with access to recorded video demonstrations of the technical subject matter, which will enhance the learners experience whilst preserving any technical confidence as there are no requirements for the learner to undertake any 'hands-on' labs.

IISP Skills Alignment

This course is aligned to the following Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP) Skills. More details on the IISP skills framework can be found here.

IISP Skills: A1, A2, A6, A7, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, E1, E2, E3, F2, G1

Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

CPD points can be claimed for NCSC accredited courses at the rate of 1 point per hour of training for NCSC accredited courses (up to a maximum of 15 points).

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course, however, participants are expected to have a basic understanding of computers and the internet.

Agenda

Day 1

• Computing Foundation, Data Storage & Memory
• OSI Protocol Stack
• TCP/IP

Day 2

• Network Architecture
• Internet Primer
• Network Security
• Modern Communications
• Virtualisation & Cloud Technologies

Day 3

• Protective Monitoring
• Common Methods of Attack
• Encryption

Day 4

• Cyber and the Legal Framework
• Digital Footprints
• Information Assurance landscape
• Risk Management
• Risk Treatment
• Physical Security
• Personnel Security

Day 5

• Service Assurance & Standards
• Software Security Assurance
• Secure Development Process
• Threat Modelling
• STRIDE Mitigation
• Security Best Practices
• Introduction to Security Architecture

Course Outline

Day 1

Computing Foundation, Data Storage and Memory
Computer system components, operating systems (Windows, Linux & Mac), different types of storage, file systems (FAT & NTFS), memory management.

OSI Protocol Stack
Switched networks, packet switching vs circuit switching, packet routing delivery, routing, internetworking standards, OSI model, and 7 layers.

TCP/IP
TCP/IP protocol suite, types of addresses, physical address, logical address, IPv4, IPv6, port address, specific address, network access control,

Day 2

Network Architecture
Network fundamentals, network types (advantages & disadvantages), WAN vs LAN, DHCP

Internet Primer
How does data travel across the internet? End to end examples for web browsing, send emails, using applications - explaining internet architecture, routing, DNS.

Network Security
Secure planning, policies and mechanisms, Active Directory structure, introducing Group Policy (containers, templates, GPO), security and network layers, IPSEC, SSL / TLS (flaws and comparisons) SSH, Firewalls (packet filtering, state full inspection), application gateways, ACL's.

Modern Communications
VoIP, wireless LAN, Network Analysis and Sniffing, Wireshark.

Virtualisation & Cloud Technologies
Virtualisation definitions, virtualisation models, terminologies, virtual models, virtual platforms, what is cloud computing, cloud essentials, cloud service models, security & privacy in the cloud, multi-tenancy issues, infrastructure vs data security, privacy concerns.

Day 3

Protective Monitoring
Security Information Event Management (SIEM) processes and architecture, SIEM features, user activity monitoring, real time event correlation, log retention, file integrity monitoring, security auditing & automation auditing, what to audit, implementation guidelines, what to collect, Windows Event Log, UNIX Syslog, logging at an application level, audit trail analysis, approaches to data analysis.

Common Methods of Attack
Cyber exploits, understanding malware, cross site scripting, SQL Injection, DDOS, input validation, buffer-overflow, targeted attacks and advanced persistent threats (APT).

Encryption
Uses of encryption technology, symmetric / asymmetric key encryption, public and private keys, weaknesses, decryption, hashing, digital signatures, PKI, certificates authorities, data at rest and in transit, SSL.

Day 4

Cyber and the Legal Framework
Legislation, chain of custody, reporting and assurance within the context of a legal framework. Inc. overview of Data Protection Act (DPA 2018) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Digital Footprints
Internet foundations, domain name system, whois (Inc. worked example), Traceroute, Internet analysis, search engines, Tools for finding information on people and companies, username searchers, email lookups, disposable emails, passwords, internet communities and culture, deep web directories and leaking websites.

Information Assurance
Overview - the drivers for UK Information Assurance, initiatives and programmes, risk assessment vs risk management, risk components.

Risk Management and Risk Treatment
Business context and risk management approach, risk management lifecycle, who delivers risk management - where in the lifecycle, understanding the context, legal and regulatory. Risk Treatment - Identify the ways of treating risks, methods of gaining assurance, understanding the nature of residual risk, collecting evidence that supports decisions, risk management decisions.

Physical Security
Physical security - lighting, CCTV, fencing, intrusion detection, screening, destruction, UPS and generators, access and control of entry.

Personnel Security
People, employees, contractors, customers (resource, vulnerability, threat), recruitment, screening, Social Engineering, Common People Exploits, T&C's, in role, change in role, termination, insider threat, supply chain challenges.

Day 5

Service Assurance & Standards
Assurance perspective – including CPA, CAPS, FIPS, CE, Common Criteria, SPF. Summary of common industry standards. (Inc. OWASP, ISO27001, PCI-DSS)

Software Security Assurance
Principles for software security, (securing the weakest link, defence in depth, failing securely, least privilege, separation of privilege), IA design principles

Secure Development Process
Secure by Design, Secure Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Threat Modelling
What is threat modelling, threat modelling processes

STRIDE: Risk Mitigation
Risk mitigation options

Security Best Practice
Reduce the attack surface, defence in depth, test security, weaknesses and vulnerabilities, secure coding, learn from mistakes

Introduction to Security Architecture
Security design architecture, enterprise design frameworks (TOGAF, ZACHMAN, SABSA), patterns (NCSC, Open Security Architecture)

Knowledge check, scenario exercise questions based upon days 4 - 5 delivery.

Exam Information

Independent APMG Examination sat on the final day of the class.