Cybersecurity Professional Certificate

✓ 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.

Module 9: Ethical hacking & penetration testing

✓ Ethical hacking & penetration testing concepts:  Understand how authorised testing is used to find and fix weaknesses before attackers do.

✓ Reconnaissance techniques:  Learn how attackers gather information about a target network before an attack.

✓ Vulnerability identification:  Explore how security weaknesses in systems and applications are discovered and assessed.

✓ Basic exploitation techniques:  See how identified vulnerabilities can be used to gain access, and why this matters for defence.

✓ Industry security testing tools:  Practical demonstrations of Nmap, Metasploit, Burp Suite, Nikto, and Gobuster show 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.

✓ Core AI & machine learning concepts:  Understand the AI and machine learning fundamentals that matter most in a security context.

✓ AI for defence:  Explore how AI is applied to anomaly detection and automated threat analysis.

✓ AI-driven attacks:  Examine how attackers use AI for phishing and automated attack techniques, and the defensive strategies that counter them.

✓ Ethics, dual use & over-reliance:  Discuss the ethical and responsible-use implications of AI in security, including the risks of depending too heavily on AI tooling.