This deal expires on 4 October 2024 at 15:59
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2337°
Posted 4 February 2024
Open University Cyber Security Course
Shared by
Greg
Joined in 2005
9
60
About this deal
This free online course, Introduction to cyber security: stay safe online, will help you to understand online security and start to protect your digital life, whether at home or work. You will learn how to recognise the threats that could harm you online and the steps you can take to reduce the chances that they will happen to you.
With cyber security often in the news today, the course will also frame your online safety in the context of the wider world, introducing you to different types of malware, including viruses and trojans, as well as concepts such as network security, cryptography, identity theft and risk management.
This course has been developed by The Open University with support from the UK Government's National Cyber Security Programme and can be accessed free of charge.
Enrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.
Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge.
With cyber security often in the news today, the course will also frame your online safety in the context of the wider world, introducing you to different types of malware, including viruses and trojans, as well as concepts such as network security, cryptography, identity theft and risk management.
This course has been developed by The Open University with support from the UK Government's National Cyber Security Programme and can be accessed free of charge.
Enrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.
Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge.
More details at Community Updates
Edited by a community support team member, 4 February 2024
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223 Comments
sorted byAnyway I recommend looking at roadmaps >
roadmap.sh/cyb…ity
An excellent guide to plan your career journey.
mega.nz/fil…RjL
I exported to pdf so formatting is a bit off and all the interactiveness is gone, had embedded docs and stuff - but you get the idea
Anyway, those wanting to get into this field, my advice (FWIW) is start off with basic Cisco certification to get a network grounding then expand to specific security technologies like Firewalls, VPNs & Intrusion Detection/Prevention. The future however is in Cloud (Amazon AWS, MS Azure, Google GCP etc.) & Software-Defined Networking (Cisco ACI, VMware NSX, Dell Sonic etc.) - luckily I've made my money so the kids can take those on
This is why I recommend roadmap.sh/ because it gives you a framework to research further and a plan what to study.
If we look at the Cyber Security role, the Programming Skills and Knowledge section is right at the end and marked as Optional.
roadmap.sh/cyb…ity
Other useful resources are
Beginner Cisco Networking
skillsforall.com/
Intermediate Cisco Networking
netacad.com/
KodeCloud
Cloud role based pathways (paid resource)
Google IT Automation with Python Professional Certificate
coursera.org/pro…ion
Learn to Cloud: Free Study Plan for Cloud Platform Engineering and DevOps
learntocloud.guide/
netacad.com/cou…ity
Considering they are free l, they give plenty of knowledge AND they also have practical tasks.
I’d instead recommend using that time doing a more in-depth (and free) course in python or JS at freecodecamp.org. That way you’ll be much better prepared for the intellectual rigours you’ll inevitably end up facing once you really get into meat and bones of cyber sec and you’ll get a much better handle on whether it’s for you as a career. Ultimately programming isn’t for everyone and I’ve struggled like hell with it (and have only done so because it’s been forced on me by developments in my field of broadcast engineering).
Obviously it isn’t just about coding and maths but you’ll also need to have a handle on cryptography, networking, server stuff, algorithms, and even maybe some geopolitics and engineering to keep yourself relevant going forward. As someone alluded to above, only the people that really know their stuff will stay in jobs.
If anyone wants to know a bit more about the trials and tribulations of changing careers, feel free to ask as it’s something I attempted (and had to bail out from).
Can you become a ‘student’ with this ?
Source: Your academic email address - OU
You need either a .ac.uk email address or log in to your OU portal through the UniDays/Totum app in order to verify your student status.
The OU doesn’t allow access to either of these features for their free course offerings.
Looking at the course content, this is very, very basic. I can’t really see how useful it will be, and the OU badge isn’t going to land you a job interview. I guess it would be handy for a business wanting to make admin staff more knowledgeable about data security.
If you don’t know the first three or four weeks of the content already, you should probably consider learning the fundamentals of IT.
I’m studying for the CompTIA A+ certification, which feels beneath me, but I have learned a few bits I didn’t already know. I think this would be better for anyone with a remote interest in IT. Udemy does a good course for about £14. The two exams are expensive, but you don’t have to take them, and if you do, they are much more likely to get you an interview for an IT job than this course.
So there isn't a need to burn out just be better than the incompetent people and there's many of them, many many of them.
If you think there's a minimum age there isn't is my point. Start now never wait.
Handy.