Cybersecurity has a reputation for being one of the most lucrative job fields and easily accessible software to learn on. But finding reliable, traditional courses can be hard to find. 

Traditional college degrees and certification programs can often be expensive for professionals looking to see if cybersecurity is the right field for their career.

Datashield believes in making information technology accessible for industry professionals at any level. All levels of an organization should be able to access cybersecurity educational content, so we’ve put together a list of free cybersecurity courses available online. 

These courses and tools are aimed at providing both IT security professionals and newcomers in the field with a list of valuable educational resources. Some courses also offer a certificate upon successful completion of the course. 

Cybrary 

Cybrary is a cybersecurity and IT workforce development platform that boasts over 2.5 million registered users. Founded in 2015, the platform offers a plethora of free and paid courses in the field of cybersecurity, cloud-based technologies, DevOps security, data science and IT topics in general. 

Cybrary offers over 150 courses covering cryptography, secure coding, advanced penetration testing, virtualization management, and other specialized classes. 

Entering a course in cybersecurity does not require a degree, especially for beginners’ courses. Nonetheless, it is advisable to have some expertise in cybersecurity for advanced classes. 

Novice learners could start with their free introductory course in cybersecurity, which explains the fundamentals, including system administration, network engineering, incident response and forensics, offensive security and penetration testing. 

What you can learn from this course: 

• Introduction to IT and cybersecurity 
  • Intro to system administration 
  • Intro to network Engineering 
  • Intro to incident response and forensics 
  • Intro to offensive security and penetration testing 
• System administration 
  • Network Engineering (Part 1 to 5) 
  • OSI Model lab instructions (Part 1 to 2) Network engineering 
• Incident response and forensics (Part 1 to 6)
• Offensive Security and Penetration Testing (Part 1 to 5) 
• Summary and overview 
• Course assessment 

SANS Cyber Aces 

SANS Cyber Aces is an initiative by the SANS Institute to provide the global cybersecurity community and individuals interested in pursuing a cybersecurity career with free courses. 

Selected courses from the professional development curriculum offered by the SANS Institute are available online and for free and provide the full core curriculum that is available to information security professionals. 

Their free online course in cybersecurity fundamentals is open to anyone and does not require registration. The course explains the basics of cybersecurity in three fundamental domains of IT: operating systems, networking and systems administration. 

What you can learn from this course: 

• Operating Systems: 
  • Linux and using a CentOS LiveCD in VMware Player. 
  • Windows and particularly Windows 7. 
• Networking: 
  • Network fundamentals with a broad overview of networking and computer attacks and defenses from a network perspective. 
  • Focus on various protocols used at each layer, with a particular focus on the networking layer. 
• Systems Administration: 
  • Focus on tools you need to perform common administrative functions in some of the most popular scripting environments. 
  • Application of PHP and PERL in the context of an Apache webserver. 
  •  Use of GNU BASH and Microsoft Powershell scripting from the command line to complete every day administrative functions. 

Springboard 

Springboard is a company offering online IT courses with offices in San Francisco and Bengaluru, India. 

Their Foundations of Cybersecurity free online course features 40 resources across nine core modules that cover topics such as: security fundamentals, common threats and security, basics of cryptography as well as penetration testing. 

What you can learn from this course: 

• What is cybersecurity? 
• Attackers and attacks 
  • The Equifax Breach 
  • The Target Hack 
  • Recent Data Breaches 
  • Types of Attackers 
• Cybersecurity job market 
  • Unfilled Jobs and Skill Shortage 
  • Cybersecurity Roles 
• Security fundamentals 
• Threats 
  • Malware general descriptions 
  • Introduction to social engineering 
  • DDoS attacks 
• Network security 
  • Understanding the OSI model 
  • Network access control overview 
  • Secure network design 
  • Network protocols 
  • Wireless security 
• Securing devices 
  • Data loss prevention overview 
  • Data security and encryption 
  • Mobile device security 
• Intermediate to advanced cybersecurity fundamentals 
• Cryptography 101 
  • What is cryptography? 
  • Applied cryptography 
  • Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI) 
  • Cryptographic transport protocols 
• Security tools 
  • Toolbox essential - tcpdump 
  • Toolbox essential - Wireshark 
  • Toolbox essential - Nmap 
  • Kali Linux 
  • Bash scripting tutorial 
• Advanced concepts 
  • Information gathering 
  • Vulnerability vs. Penetration testing 

Oxford Home Study 

The Oxford Home Study Centre (OHSC) offers free online courses in multiple disciplines, including a 20-hours online class on cybersecurity. The course is available worldwide and has no entry requirements. Those who manage to complete it successfully receive a free OHSC course completion letter issued by the college. 

Although it is a relatively short course having a total duration of 20 hours, it delves into the most fundamental concepts of today’s cybersecurity. 

What can learn from this course: 

• What is Cyber Security? 
• Importance of Security 
• Physical Security 
• Physical Threats 
• User tracking 
• Physical Protection of Data 
• What is Cyber Crime? 
• Classification of Cyber Crimes 
• Reasons for Commission of Cyber Crimes 
• Kinds of Cyber Crime 
• Cyber Stalking 
• Child Pornography 
• Forgery and Counterfeiting 
• Software Piracy and Crime related to IPRs 
• Cyber Terrorism 
• Phishing 
• Computer Vandalism 
• Computer Hacking 
• Creating and distributing viruses over internet 
• Spamming 
• Cross Site Scripting 
• Online Auction Fraud 
• Cyber Squatting 
• Logic Bombs 
• Web Jacking 
• Internet Time Thefts 
• Denial of Service Attack 
• Data Diddling 
• Email Spoofing 

Learn more about current cybersecurity tools, solutions and industry news from our free resource library.