Cloud Computing and Cyber Security Course

Lesson 1 • Cloud Deployment Models

Examines public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud architectures with trade-offs. Prepares students to match deployment models to organizational requirements.

Lesson 2 • Cloud Computing Concepts and History

Traces the evolution from mainframes to modern cloud platforms and defines core terminology. Establishes the conceptual baseline for all subsequent cloud topics.

Lesson 3 • Cloud Service Models Explained

Differentiates IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS by responsibility boundaries and use cases. Connects service model choice to cost, control, and operational overhead.

Lesson 4 • Core Cloud Infrastructure Components

Covers virtualization, containers, storage tiers, and networking primitives that underpin cloud services. Provides the technical vocabulary needed for security discussions.

Lesson 1 • Threat Landscape Overview

Surveys malware types, social engineering, insider threats, and nation-state actors. Contextualizes the adversary environment students will defend against.

Lesson 2 • Core Security Principles

Introduces the CIA triad, authentication, authorization, and non-repudiation as the pillars of security design. Grounds all later technical controls in these principles.

Lesson 3 • Security Frameworks and Standards

Introduces widely adopted security frameworks and compliance standards used to structure organizational security programs. Provides a reference structure for later policy work.

Lesson 4 • Vulnerability and Risk Concepts

Defines vulnerability, exploit, risk, and attack surface with practical examples. Connects risk quantification to prioritized security investment decisions.

Lesson 1 • Data Security in Cloud Environments

Addresses encryption at rest and in transit, key management, and data classification in cloud storage. Protects sensitive data across its full lifecycle in cloud systems.

Lesson 2 • Zero-Trust Architecture Principles

Applies never-trust, always-verify design to cloud workloads, identities, and network segments. Replaces perimeter-based thinking with continuous verification.

Lesson 3 • Shared Responsibility in Cloud Security

Maps security duties between cloud providers and customers across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Prevents security gaps caused by misunderstood ownership boundaries.

Lesson 4 • Secure Cloud Network Design

Covers virtual private clouds, subnetting, security groups, and traffic inspection placement. Translates network security principles into cloud-native constructs.

Lesson 1 • Privileged Access Management

Addresses just-in-time access, privileged account vaulting, and session recording for high-risk accounts. Reduces the attack surface of administrative credentials in cloud systems.

Lesson 2 • Identity Management Fundamentals

Defines identity lifecycle, directory services, and identity providers in cloud contexts. Establishes the foundation for all access control implementations.

Lesson 3 • Authentication Mechanisms

Compares password policies, multi-factor authentication, and passwordless methods for cloud access. Strengthens the first line of defense against credential-based attacks.

Lesson 4 • Federated Identity and Single Sign-On

Explains SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect protocols for cross-domain identity federation. Enables secure, seamless access across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Lesson 1 • Cloud-Native Threat Detection Tools

Surveys cloud provider security services for anomaly detection, configuration monitoring, and threat intelligence. Leverages built-in capabilities before adding third-party tooling.

Lesson 2 • Cloud Logging and Audit Trails

Configures cloud-native logging services to capture API calls, resource changes, and user activity. Creates the evidentiary foundation for detection and forensic investigation.

Lesson 3 • Behavioral Analytics and Anomaly Detection

Applies user and entity behavior analytics to detect insider threats and compromised accounts. Moves detection beyond signature-based methods to statistical baselines.

Lesson 4 • Alerting, Dashboards, and Reporting

Designs alert workflows, escalation paths, and executive dashboards for continuous security visibility. Connects technical detection outputs to operational and leadership decision-making.

Lesson 1 • Cloud Forensics and Evidence Collection

Addresses volatile data capture, disk imaging, and log preservation in ephemeral cloud environments. Maintains evidentiary integrity despite infrastructure impermanence.

Lesson 2 • Containment and Isolation Strategies

Applies network isolation, account suspension, and workload quarantine to limit breach propagation. Balances speed of containment against business continuity requirements.

Lesson 3 • Incident Response Lifecycle

Maps the preparation, detection, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons-learned phases to cloud contexts. Provides the procedural backbone for all response activities.

Lesson 4 • Eradication and Root Cause Analysis

Removes malicious artifacts, patches exploited vulnerabilities, and traces the attack path to its origin. Prevents recurrence by addressing root causes rather than symptoms.

Lesson 1 • Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

Designs recovery time and recovery point objectives, failover architectures, and DR test plans for cloud workloads. Ensures organizational resilience against outages and catastrophic events.

Lesson 2 • Cloud Compliance Program Design

Structures a continuous compliance program using control mapping, evidence collection, and audit readiness. Transforms point-in-time audits into ongoing compliance operations.

Lesson 3 • Third-Party and Supply Chain Risk

Evaluates vendor security posture, contract terms, and supply chain attack vectors for cloud dependencies. Extends the organization's risk management perimeter to external parties.

Lesson 4 • Risk Assessment Methodologies

Applies qualitative and quantitative risk assessment techniques to cloud asset inventories and threat scenarios. Produces prioritized risk registers that guide security investment.

Lesson 1 • Security Automation and Orchestration

Builds automated response playbooks, remediation workflows, and security orchestration pipelines. Reduces mean time to respond by eliminating manual steps in common scenarios.

Lesson 2 • Security Metrics and Program Maturity

Defines key risk indicators, maturity models, and board-level reporting structures for cloud security programs. Enables data-driven improvement and executive communication of security posture.

Lesson 3 • Infrastructure as Code Security

Applies security linting, policy-as-code, and drift detection to IaC templates before and after deployment. Prevents misconfiguration at the source of cloud resource provisioning.

Lesson 4 • DevSecOps and Secure CI/CD Pipelines

Embeds security scanning, policy enforcement, and secrets management into software delivery pipelines. Shifts security left to catch vulnerabilities before production deployment.