The world runs computers. From small to large businesses, from the CEO down to level 1 support staff, everyone uses computers. This course is designed to give you a practical perspective on computer security. This course approaches computer security in a way that anyone can understand. Ever wonder how your bank website is secure when you connect to it? Wonder how other business owners secure their network? Wonder how large data breaches happen? This is practical computer security. It will help you answer the question – what should I focus on?

Data breaches occur nearly every day. From very large retailers, down to your fantasy football website, and anywhere in between, they have been compromised in some way. How did the attackers get in? What did they do with the data they compromised? What should I be concerned with in my own business or my systems? This course is the second course in the Practical Computer Security. It will discuss types of threats and attack vectors commonly seen in today’s environment. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but threats are all over the place! This course isn’t designed to insight fear that there is no hope for keeping systems and business secure, but rather educate you on how attacks are carried out so that you have a better sense of what to look out for in your business or with your systems.

Computer attacks and data breaches are inevitable. It seems like every day a data breach occurs and the victims of the data breach suffer. Their information is stolen or posted online. The company’s or businesses who had the breach go on, learn a little from the attack, and just give credit monitoring out as if nothing happened. What if you could help prevent a data breach in your organization? This is the third course in the Practical Computer Security specialization. This course looks at detection and mitigation of threats and attack vectors and discusses how to use tools and principles to protect information. By the end of the course you should be able to make suggestions on what type of detection and mitigation strategy is right for your systems or business given the known threats and attack vectors. You should be able to discuss what features you want in a firewall, or how cash registers or sensitive data systems should be secured. The project at the end of the course will allow you to apply what you have learned to argue what type of detection and mitigation strategies should have been employed by companies and businesses that have suffered a data breach.