Cybersecurity with Ethical Hacking & AI

✓ Cyber threats & threat actors

Identify who is behind cyber attacks and understand what motivates them.

✓ Impact of cybercrime

Explore how cybercrime affects people, businesses, and organisations.

✓ Secure network design

Understand the principles behind building networks that stay secure and reliable.

✓ Firewalls, IDS/IPS & access control

Explore how key security tools monitor, filter, and control network traffic.

✓ TCP & UDP protocols

Understand how data moves across networks and the differences between key transport protocols.

✓ TCP session management

Explore how TCP manages connections and ensures data is delivered accurately.

✓ Threat actor classification

Identify the different types of attackers and the techniques they commonly deploy.

✓ Malware & ransomware analysis

Understand how different forms of malicious software operate and cause damage.

✓ Cryptography fundamentals

Understand the role encryption plays in protecting sensitive data and communications.

✓ Symmetric & asymmetric encryption

Explore the key differences between encryption approaches and when each is used.

✓ Malware & phishing threats

Recognise the most frequent attack vectors targeting devices and users.

✓ Antivirus & HIDS tools

Learn how endpoint security tools detect and respond to threats at device level.

✓ Endpoint protection & access control

Learn how endpoint security controls keep devices secure from intrusion.

✓ EDR, sandboxing & encryption

Evaluate tools used to detect, contain, and protect against endpoint threats.

✓ Core network components

Understand the building blocks of networks and how data moves between systems.

✓ OSI & TCP/IP models

Explore the layered models that underpin modern network communication and security.

✓ Threats, vulnerabilities & risk

Establish a clear understanding of the core concepts that underpin cybersecurity practice.

✓ Hackers & indicators of compromise

Trace how attacker profiles have changed and learn to recognise signs of a breach.

Participants will gain exposure to ethical hacking and penetration testing concepts:

✓ Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing Concepts

✓ Reconnaissance Techniques

✓ Vulnerability Identification

✓ Basic Exploitation Techniques

Practical demonstrations will introduce commonly used security testing tools such as Nmap, Metasploit, Burp Suite, Nikto, and Gobuster, allowing learners to understand how attackers discover and exploit vulnerabilities.

✓ IDS, IPS, firewalls & endpoint tools

Explore the key technologies used to detect, block, and respond to security threats.

✓ Wireshark & SIEM monitoring

Gain hands-on experience with tools used to capture and analyse network traffic.

✓ The CIA triad

Use Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability as the foundation for sound security decisions.

✓ Zero trust security model

Understand why organisations are moving to a never-trust, always-verify security approach.

✓ DNS tunnelling & SQL injection

Examine how attackers exploit network services and application vulnerabilities.

✓ STIX & TAXII frameworks

Learn how structured threat data is shared across security teams and organisations.

✓ BC & DR planning principles

Learn why Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery planning are essential for organisational resilience.

✓ RTO & RPO values

Determine recovery time and recovery point objectives to prioritise what matters most.

On completion of this module, students will be able to explain the core AI and machine-learning concepts relevant to cybersecurity.

✓  Describe how AI is applied defensively for anomaly detection and automated threat analysis.

✓  Explain how attackers use AI for phishing and automated attack techniques.

✓  Identify the associated defensive strategies.

✓  Discuss the ethical and dual-use implications of AI in a security context.

Also look at the risks of over-reliance on AI tooling, and the ethical and responsible-use dimension of deploying AI in security.