IT Security and Cloud Computing Technician Course

Lesson 1 • Core Security Concepts and Principles

Covers the CIA triad, authentication models, and security terminology. Provides the conceptual baseline required for all subsequent security topics.

Lesson 2 • Threat Landscape and Attack Vectors

Examines malware types, social engineering, and common exploitation techniques. Connects threat awareness to proactive defensive decision-making.

Lesson 3 • Security Controls and Frameworks

Surveys preventive, detective, and corrective controls aligned to industry frameworks. Prepares students to map controls to organizational requirements.

Lesson 1 • VPN and Encrypted Tunneling

Covers site-to-site and remote-access VPN protocols and encryption options. Students deploy and troubleshoot encrypted tunnels for secure connectivity.

Lesson 2 • Network Traffic Analysis

Teaches packet capture, protocol dissection, and baseline profiling. Connects traffic analysis skills to threat detection in later chapters.

Lesson 3 • Secure Network Design Principles

Introduces segmentation, DMZ architecture, and zero-trust networking. Prepares students to evaluate and improve network topology security.

Lesson 4 • Firewalls, IDS, and IPS

Explains stateful inspection, signature-based detection, and inline prevention. Students configure rules and tune alerts to reduce false positives.

Lesson 1 • Key Management and Storage

Addresses key generation, rotation, escrow, and hardware security modules. Ensures students can design secure key lifecycle processes.

Lesson 2 • Hashing and Data Integrity

Covers hash functions, MACs, and digital signatures for integrity verification. Students apply hashing to file validation and authentication protocols.

Lesson 3 • TLS and Secure Protocol Implementation

Covers TLS handshake, cipher suite selection, and common misconfigurations. Students harden web and application services using current TLS standards.

Lesson 4 • Public Key Infrastructure

Explains certificate authorities, certificate lifecycle, and trust chains. Prepares students to deploy and manage PKI for organizational services.

Lesson 1 • Cloud Identity and Access Management

Introduces cloud IAM roles, policies, and federated identity. Prepares students to enforce least-privilege access across cloud environments.

Lesson 2 • Cloud Networking and Connectivity

Covers virtual networks, subnets, gateways, and cloud-native connectivity options. Connects cloud networking concepts to on-premises security knowledge.

Lesson 3 • Cloud Storage and Data Services

Examines object, block, and file storage types and their access control mechanisms. Students apply appropriate protections to cloud-hosted data assets.

Lesson 4 • Shared Responsibility Model

Clarifies security ownership boundaries between provider and customer per service model. Students map controls to the correct responsible party.

Lesson 1 • Data Protection in the Cloud

Addresses encryption, tokenization, DLP, and data residency controls. Students implement end-to-end data protection strategies for cloud workloads.

Lesson 2 • Container and Serverless Security

Examines image hardening, runtime protection, and function-level security. Students apply security controls to modern cloud-native compute workloads.

Lesson 3 • Cloud Security Posture Management

Introduces CSPM tools for continuous misconfiguration detection and remediation. Students use posture management to maintain compliant cloud environments.

Lesson 4 • Cloud Security Design Principles

Extends defense-in-depth and zero-trust to cloud-native architectures. Students evaluate design decisions against security and operational requirements.

Lesson 1 • Multi-Factor Authentication and SSO

Explains MFA factors, authenticator types, and single sign-on protocols. Students deploy MFA and SSO to reduce credential-based attack risk.

Lesson 2 • Identity Lifecycle Management

Covers provisioning, de-provisioning, and access reviews for user accounts. Connects identity hygiene to reducing insider threat and credential risk.

Lesson 3 • Endpoint Detection and Response

Introduces EDR capabilities, behavioral detection, and threat hunting on endpoints. Students triage EDR alerts and contain compromised devices.

Lesson 4 • Endpoint Hardening and Configuration

Covers OS hardening, patch management, and configuration baselines. Students apply CIS-aligned benchmarks to reduce endpoint attack surface.

Lesson 1 • Log Management and SIEM Operations

Covers log collection, normalization, and correlation rule development. Establishes the monitoring foundation for effective incident detection.

Lesson 2 • Digital Forensics Fundamentals

Introduces evidence preservation, chain of custody, and forensic artifact analysis. Students collect and document evidence to support incident investigations.

Lesson 3 • Threat Detection and Alert Triage

Teaches indicator-based and behavioral detection methods and alert prioritization. Students reduce mean time to detect by efficiently triaging high-fidelity alerts.

Lesson 4 • Incident Response Lifecycle

Applies the preparation, detection, containment, eradication, and recovery phases. Students execute structured response actions using documented playbooks.

Lesson 1 • Security Metrics and Reporting

Defines KPIs, KRIs, and reporting cadences for security program visibility. Students produce actionable metrics that communicate risk to technical and business audiences.

Lesson 2 • Patch and Remediation Management

Addresses patch prioritization, testing, deployment, and verification processes. Students operate a structured remediation cycle that reduces exposure windows.

Lesson 3 • Penetration Testing Concepts

Introduces scoping, reconnaissance, exploitation, and reporting phases of pen testing. Students understand tester methodology to better interpret and act on findings.

Lesson 4 • Vulnerability Scanning and Assessment

Covers authenticated scanning, CVSS scoring, and scan result interpretation. Students prioritize remediation based on exploitability and business impact.