This 6months program prepared me to understand the following; the importance of cybersecurity practices and their impact for organizations. I was exposed to how to Protect networks, devices, people, and data from unauthorized access and cyberattacks using Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools. I understood how to Identify common risks, threats, and vulnerabilities, as well as techniques to mitigate them. I gained hands-on experience with Python, Linux, and SQL. Through well curated videos, labs, in-video quiz, graded quiz, optional quiz,and study materials, i was trained to fit into to entry level cybersecurity roles. Below were my areas of focus:
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FOUNDATIONS OF CYBERSECURITY: Here i was trained to recognize core knowledge and skills needed to be a cybersecurity analyst, how business operations can be impacted by security attacks, explain security ethics, and the ability to identify tools used by cybersecurity professionals. I gained the following skills; cloud networks, network security, security hardening, network architecture, transmission control protocol/internet protocol(TCP/IP).
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MANAGE SECURITY RISKS: In this course i was trained on how to identify common threats, risks and vulnerabilities to business operations, check how organizations utilize security framworks and controls to protect business operations, security information and event management(SIEM) tools commonly used, and how to used a playbook to respond to threats, risks and vulnerabilities. Here i gained the following skills; Information security, security audit, incident response playbooks, NIST Risk management framework(RMF) and NIST Cybersecurity framework(CSF).
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NETWORKS AND NETWORK SECURITY: Here i was exposed to the components and types of networks, an illustration of how data is sent and received from a network, understand how networks are protected against intrusion tactics and techniques for system hardening. I gained the following important skills: command line interface(CLI) and Bash.
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Linux and SQL: I learnt to explain the relationship between operating systems, application and hardware, comparison of a graphical user interface and a command line interface, how to navigate and manage file system using Linux commands throguh the bash shell and using SQL to retrieve information from a database. I ganined the following skills here; Linux, SQL,
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ASSETS, THREATS AND VULNERABILITIES: I understood how to how to classify assets, analyze an attack surface to find risks and vulnerabilities, identify threats like social engineering, malware and web-based exploits, and summarizing the threat modeling process. I gained sills on vulnerability assessment, threat analysis, authentication, cryptography, and asset classification. Others are stakeholder communication, integrity and discretion, and escalation.
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DETECTION AND RESPONSE: I learned the necessary steps to contain, eradicate and recover from an incident, how to analyze packets to interpret network communication, understand basic syntax, components of signatures and logs in intrusion detection systems like suricata, and Network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) tools, and performing queries in security incident and event management (SIEM) tools like Chronicle and Splunk to investigate events. I mastered tools like SPLUNK, SURICATA, CHRONICLE.
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AUTOMATE CYBERSECURITY TASKS WITH PYTHON: Here i understood how and why the Python programming language is used in cybersecurity, how to create new user-defined Python functions, How to use regular expressions to extract information from text, and then how to debug code. I gained the Python and automation skills here.
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PREPARE FOR CYBERSECURITY JOBS: I learned to determine when and how to escalate a security incident, engage with the cybersecurity community, find and apply for cybersecurity jobs, and how to prepare for job interviews.
This portfolio and others to come is a testament of my commitment to master cybersecurity skills to the expert level, in order to offer the much needed skills in the industry, espcially as technology is advancing, threats are evolving and the need for cybersecurity experts are increasing. I am willing to go through any training offered in order to fit perfectly in any role i'll be offered.