What to expect from a Cyber Security Course?

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• 03 Oct, 2023
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• 8 Mins Read

What to expect from a Cyber Security Course?

Whenever we see those tech-savvy hackers in movies, all those nerds with hoodies on sitting in front of monitors with a black terminal and green texts, it’s all fascinating ain’t it?!

A lot of you guys must be willing to start their experience in Cybersecurity and Ethical hacking. As we go further, we will be discussing Cybersecurity certifications that are worth getting, and out of those, how you can choose the right Cyber security course for you.

This article will strongly assist you in understanding how you can start off your journey as a Cybersecurity Professional, from understanding the basics to choosing the right certification and preparing for Cybersecurity job interviews!

Understanding the Basics of Cybersecurity

To start growing in a field, you must learn the basics and improve your skillset. Cybersecurity has various concepts, which include roles related to penetration testing, security assessments, incident response, etc. Following is provided the explanation of such concepts:

1. Penetration Testing: ‘To solve a crime, you must think like a criminal’ comes true here. Penetration testing refers to simulating real-world cyber-attacks at an organization, in order to identify and document the vulnerabilities existing at the organization risking their assets. Such penetration tests are professionally performed by Red Teamers. At a basic level, penetration testing has various methods varying as per the target, which may include Web Applications, Android/iOS devices, hardware devices, software, etc.
2. Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime Investigation: Electronic evidence is a component of almost all criminal activities and digital forensics is meant to investigate such components. As we talk about crimes happening through digital means, Cyber Crime Investigation focuses on investigating Cyber crimes through techniques like OSINT(Open Source Intelligence), using law enforcement standard tools, etc.
3. Incident Response: As the name suggests, this concept refers to how the organization responds to a security incident. Incident response (IR) is the process by which an organization handles a data breach or cyberattack. It is an effort to quickly identify an attack, minimize its effects, contain damage, and remediate the cause to reduce the risk of future incidents.

Top Entry-Level Cyber security Courses: Structure and Duration

1) CEH(Certified Ethical Hacker)

This is one of the most popular certification courses in Cybersecurity. The CEH certification is designed by the EC-Council for individuals who want to pursue a career in ethical hacking or cybersecurity and are currently in demand for entry-level security roles.

Course Content and Duration:

The comprehensive CEH curriculum covers the fundamentals of ethical hacking, footprinting and reconnaissance, scanning, enumeration, vulnerability threats, social engineering, SQL injection, and much more.

The CEH is a 5-days long learning program.

Following is the official course outline for CEH v12:

Prerequisites and Entry Requirements:

As the EC-Council suggests, CEH is a great place to start your career in cybersecurity, but you are required to have some requisite knowledge before getting into CEH. It’s recommended you have a minimum of 2 Years of IT Security experience before attempting the CEH Certification Exam, as this course is preferred for entry-level job roles in security.

But talking about the training program, it is beginner-friendly, hence no specific requirements for CEH training are mentioned.

Learning Methods:

The CEH training offers:

1. 5 days of self-paced training material.
2. 3000+ student manual pages.
3. 1900+ lab manual pages
4. Over 200 hands-on labs with competition flags.
5. Over 3500 hacking tools.

Assessment and Evaluation:

For CEH, there are two pathways for the exam, for passing both minimum 70% score is required:

1. CEH (ANSI): This involves a 4-hour long exam with 125 Multiple Choice Questions. For eligibility, at least 2 years of InfoSec work experience is required otherwise, you should have attended official EC-Council training.
2. CEH (Practical): This is a 6-hour long exam with 20 scenario-based practical challenges. For this exam, there are no eligibility criteria, only purchasing a voucher for the exam is enough.

Certification:

After passing the CEH(ANSI) along with the CEH(Practical), the CEH Master Certification is awarded by the EC-Council, which is valid for 3 years. This certification is globally renowned due to its real-world-based scenarios for examination as well as due to its requirements by employers worldwide.

Career Opportunities:

Following are the opportunities for CEH Certified individuals in the industry:

2) CompTIA Security+

This is another one of the most popular certification courses in Cybersecurity. Security+ is the entry-level cybersecurity credential offered by the non-profit trade association CompTIA. The CompTIA Security+ certification validates that you have the core skills necessary for a career in IT security. For many aspiring cybersecurity professionals, earning this popular entry-level certification can be a first step toward a rewarding, in-demand career.

Course Content and Duration:

The Security+ Course training is provided by CertMaster. This is a 40-hour long self-paced training.

Following are the topics the training program thoroughly covers:

1. Threats, attacks, and vulnerabilities.
2. Technologies and tools.
3. Architecture and design.
4. Identity and Access Management.
5. Risk Management.
6. Cryptography and PKI(Public Key Infrastructure).

Prerequisites and Entry Requirements:

As the CompTIA suggests, there are no prerequisites for CompTIA Security+, but at least two years of IT administration experience with a security focus and earning the CompTIA Network+ certification before taking the exam is recommended for convenience. Otherwise, the official training program for Security+ is suggested to be completed in order to pass the exam.

Learning Methods:

The CertMaster Security+ training program offers:

1. 40+ hours of self-paced engaging training content.
2. 100% coverage of exam objectives that focus on job roles.
3. 16 lessons with interactive Performance-Based Questions.
4. 160 practice questions with immediate feedback.
5. 90-question final assessment simulates the test experience.
6. Countdown calendar to keep you on pace.
7. Narrative instruction, images, videos, and games to keep you engaged.
8. Achievement badges, flashcards, and a personalized dashboard to track progress.
9. PBQs and practice questions show what you’ve mastered and what to revisit.

Assessment and Evaluation:

For Security+, the minimum score required to pass the exam is 750/900, with:

1. Maximum 90 questions( MCQ and performance-based).
2. Duration: 90 minutes.
3. Languages: English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Portuguese.
4. Testing Providers: 1) Testing Centers 2) Online Testing

Certification:

The CompTIA Security+ certification has a validity of three years from the date of passing the Security+ exam, which can be renewed. The CompTIA Security+ is one of the most in-demand certifications for security professionals. To earn this certification, one must pass the CompTIA Security+(SY0–601) exam.

Career Opportunities:

The new CompTIA Security+ certification covers the junior IT auditor/penetration tester job role, in addition to the following:

• Systems administrator
• Network administrator
• Security administrator.

Numerous organizations globally seek security professionals with Security+ certifications as their top preference.

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Conclusion

Both of the courses mentioned above are strongly preferred by organizations for security roles. Therefore, as mentioned, a basic understanding and experience are required for both of the certifications may it be CEH or Security+. 

Moreover, for such beginners, VCL Academy offers numerous courses on multiple topics to provide a deep understanding of the basics of cybersecurity concepts along with practical scenarios. These courses assist individuals in getting a strong base for the above certifications as well as preparing for cybersecurity jobs. (Also you can check out the advanced Cyber Crime Investigation Program, C3(Certified Cyber Criminologist).)

Instructors and Expertise:

All of our instructors at Virtual Cyber Labs hold strong experience in multiple domains of Cyber Security. Below is a brief overview of our mentoring team :

1. Dipanshu Parashar: Founder at Virtual Cyber Labs, a Cybersecurity EdTech platform. Authored the book “The Hacking Dimension” which made him the Youngest Cybersecurity Author at the age of 14. Also delivered over 100 public sessions on Cybersecurity, and have interacted with over 25000+ students across India.
2. Urvesh Thakkar: A seasoned cyber security enthusiast professional in various verticals of InfoSec. With 5 years of experience in Cybersecurity fields like SOC(Security Operations Center), Digital forensics, Blue teaming, threat intelligence, etc. His mentoring skills are strong as his major experience comes from training & mentoring.
3. Dr. Akashdeep Bhardwaj: A well-experienced Cybersecurity professional, with multiple research publications in cybersecurity. Dr. Akashdeep is currently working as Head of Cybersecurity at UPES, Dehradun, making his cybersecurity mentorship skills strong.
4. Kartik Khurana: Having experience as a guest lecturer at IITs, NITs, and dKartik turns out to be a skilled mentor with a strong background in Bug Bounty Hunting with 150+ bounties and 100+ Hall of Fames.
5. Gaurav Roy: Holding certifications like CEH, CCNA, CCSP, CHFI, etc. Gaurav has 8+ years of experience in cybersecurity training for numerous students as well as Indian Army and Cadets. Also, Gaurav is acknowledged by various companies for reporting security vulnerabilities.

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