Intro to

Cybersecurity

Course Syllabus

Course Details:
The goal of this year long course is to introduce students to basic cybersecurity concepts and
inspire interest in cybersecurity careers. This course does not require any prerequisite knowledge in
computing or cybersecurity for either the student or teacher. The course can be delivered completely
on Chromebooks with no specialized equipment. It includes the use of the CYBER.ORG Range, which
is a no cost cyber range for all K-12 educators. The course is meant as an introduction course to CYBER.
ORG’s Cybersecurity course.

Catalog Course Description:

This course is designed for students who are interested in exploring careers in Cybersecurity. The focus
of instruction will include the implementation and monitoring of security on network and computer
systems. Students will investigate strategies to identify and protect against security threats such as
hackers, eavesdropping and network attacks. The basics of cryptography and logic reasoning will be
explored. Hands-on labs in the CYBER.ORG Range provide practice in the configuration and mitigation
of system vulnerabilities. Each unit integrates current events and related cyber ethics and law. *Ethics
agreement must be signed by all students and parents during the first 2 weeks of class.

This content is based upon work supported by the US Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security
Agency under the Cybersecurity Education Training and Assistance Program (CETAP).

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Learning Objectives
• Compare and contrast different types of social • Examine the laws and rules that apply to digital
engineering techniques. activities.
• Define the CIA Triad and key principles of • Define techniques for reconnaissance of digital
cybersecurity. targets.
• Identify authentication methods, types of • Apply Google Dorking methods for advanced
attacks on authentication and best practices for searching.
mitigation. • Identify how the Internet structure and Domain
• Identify types of malware and methods of Name System can be used for reconnaissance
mitigation. and attacks.
• Define social engineering techniques, • Use the Terminal for Linux commands and tools.
phishing and tools for OSINT (Open Source • Configure network IP addressing and subnetting.
Intelligence).
• Identify types of network-based attacks
• Use the Terminal for Linux and Windows including DoS, Spoofing and MITM.
commands and tools.
• Define the vulnerabilities of Wireless and
• Apply best practices for secure device Mobile technologies.
configuration.
• Examine the use of Virtual Private Networks to
• Apply threat modeling to home and personal protect public communications.
IOT threats
• Explore the use of cybersecurity tools for
• Compute binary and hexadecimal numbers. pentesting and for exploits.
• Apply basic encoding and cryptographic • Define cyberwar and examine the use by nation
ciphers. states of cybersecurity attack tools.
• Identify key parts of a PC and define interaction • Identify vulnerabilities in web applications
of PC components. including cookie manipulation, input validation,
• Identify the components, major services and command injection, XSS, and buffer overflow.
protocols deployed on TCP/IP networks. • Define databases, SQL and the steps of a SQL
• Capture and analyze network packets. injection attack as well as best practices for
• Complete tasks with cyber tools including protection.
Wireshark, CyberChef, binwalk, exiftool, hex • Apply basic cryptographic ciphers including
editor, vulnerability scanner and bash scripting. hashes and symmetric.
• Explore career opportunities in cybersecurity • Apply advanced cryptographic ciphers including
and evaluate the skills and education asymmetric and digital signatures.
requirements in areas of career interest. • Identify organizations and tools available
• Explore ethical issues associated with to assist with vulnerability assessment and
information security. mitigation.

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Instructional Units
Unit 1 - Foundations & Threats
• 1.0 - Cybersecurity Careers, course objectives and Ethics Agreement
• 1.1 - The CIA Triad and Authentication
• 1.2 - Identifying Security Threats
• 1.3 - Introduction to CLI (Command Line Interface)

Unit 2 - The Human Factor

• 2.1 - Social Engineering
• 2.2 - OSINT & Phishing

Unit 3 - Data Safety and Best Practices

• 3.1 - System Hardening
• 3.2 - IOT Threat Modeling

Unit 4 - Cryptography and Linux

• 4.1 - Bits, Binary and Encoding
• 4.2 - Basic Concepts of Cryptography
• 4.3 - Advanced Linux Command Line Interface
• 4.4 - Crypto Issues of Privacy vs Security

Unit 5 - Devices and Networking

• 5.1 - Computing Devices
• 5.2 - Networking Fundamentals
• 5.3 - Protocols and Packets

Unit 6 - Law & Ethics

• 6.1 Impact of Law and Ethics on Cybercrime

Unit 7 - Reconnaissance
• 7.1 Recon Introduction and Google Dorking
• 7.2 WHOIS and Nslookup
• 7.3 Network Scanning

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Unit 8 - Network & System Threats
• 8.1 Net Attacks - Denial of Service (DoS)
• 8.2 Spoofing & Sniffing
• 8.3 Wireless, Mobile & VPNs
• 8.4 Pentesting & Exploits
• 8.5 Cyber War

Unit 9 - Online Threats

• 9.1 Basic Web Concepts
• 9.2 Web Vulnerabilities
• 9.3 SQL Database Attacks

Unit 10 - Encryption Security Tools

• 10.1 Symmetric & Asymmetric Encryption
• 10.2 SSL for Online Security

Cyber Competitions: through course labs students will be introduced to cyber competitions including
the National Cyber Cup, PicoCTF, CyberStart America, and CyberPatriot. These events provide students
with opportunities to independently expand their cybersecurity learning, to win scholarships, and to
access career pathways.

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