Career Training: Free Cyber Security Courses UK
If you live in the UK, and are interested in cyber security courses, you may be wondering if there is a free online course or free resources available to you, if these are worthwhile?, what type of topics do you need to learn for cyber security?, will these courses cover those topics? and will these be helpful when starting your career in cyber security?
Thankfully, the answer is Yes. There are a range of free cyber security courses and resources available, many of which are not specific to the UK, but will allow you to begin learning the skills you need for the cyber security industry.
Whether you are a complete beginner or already have some experience, there is always something to learn, and thankfully you can get started without having to pay for the information.
There are also several UK Government funded courses that are worth looking into, provided you meet a few of the prerequisites, you can enroll in a course and receive a certificate for free.
While there are many great resources, courses, and certifications which you can pay for, if you are not already working in the cyber security industry, are unsure where to begin, and don’t necessarily have the money to pay for an expensive training program, the following resources can provide a helpful starting point, which will only cost you your time.
Before investing your time and resources into a career, you should also consider if this is the type of career you want, and the information in the following post may help you to decide, detailed here.
Building your foundation of knowledge
Before delving straight into your online enrolment for free cyber security courses and progressing immediately to cyber security training, it’s important to understand that establishing a good foundation of knowledge for many information technology topics is crucial if you haven’t done this already.
While a degree can be a way to start your education, it isn’t necessary to begin a career in cyber security and there are other options available.
Security is built into and layered over all of our information technology, and so developing our existing knowledge of how the technology works is vital so that we can introduce security concepts into this foundation of knowledge.
With this in mind, there are also free information technology resources available to help build up our foundation of knowledge so that we’re in a better position to learn and understand cyber security terminology and concepts
I started my career in the offensive security sector, but many of these topics will also apply to defensive security, as understanding the underlying technology and security considerations are part of the core knowledge base for both sides of the security industry.
UK Government Funded Courses
For those of us who are in the UK, the government is currently funding a number of skills bootcamps in an effort to reduce the current skills shortage which among other sectors impacts the cyber security industry.
As there has become an increased awareness of cyber security issues it becomes more important for companies to maintain cyber security standards and protect themselves from cyber crime. Due to this, there is an increasing demand for individuals who understand cyber security and have the related key skill requirements to fulfil a cyber security role. As a result the government are funding multiple companies that offer a free cyber security course to try and close this skills gap.
Currently, there are free courses available, providing you meet the application prerequisites, the following are some of the courses which are available to you, although if you search for ” UK government funded skills bootcamps” you are likely to find others as well.
The courses offer an introduction to networking, cyber security, and other topics. While these may be considered as introductory, if you currently have limited experience these courses can be a great free option for those of us in the UK who meet the criteria requirements and want to move into the cyber security industry with an initial certification.
Free Courses for Information Technology
Cyber security can cover such a broad range of topics, many of which interact and overlap, that knowing where to begin can often be the first challenge.
While there are many niches within the cyber security industry I believe that understanding some of the fundamentals for different technologies and how security concepts and vulnerabilities can be introduced into these technologies is one of the best starting points for your career.
This core knowledge can then allow you to specialise in a certain technology, a specific testing type, or move away from the underlying day-to-day technical details and into more of a management role, or define the security policies and processes for others to follow.
If you start with the fundamentals you can pivot into your desired career path with an understanding and appreciation of how technology can integrate with policies, processes, users, business goals and security.
Free online resources for Network Technology
One of the key skill requirements to understand is Network Technology. This is a fairly broad topic in itself, as it can cover a range of device types, communication protocols, routing protocols, authentication, data transfer, and a list that is too long to fully define here.
Understanding how devices communicate with each other is an important part of many careers in IT including cyber security.
The following resources can each be accessed for free to learn the fundamentals and introductory information for network technology. While many of these platforms do offer additional paid-for content and certifications, there is a wealth of free online content available.
Free courses for Network Security
After working through the network technology fundamentals, learning the security concepts that overlay network technology can be a useful next step.
While the Udemy and Coursera platforms do have paid-for courses and certifications it is possible to sign up and search through their free courses for network security topics. Both of these platforms offer several free courses not just on network security but also a range of topics that can be useful to understand when beginning your cyber security career.
Free Online Course for Web Applications
Web applications are continually targeted for security flaws as they form the public face of many businesses and can often connect to multiple backend systems for authentication, databases, and other technologies.
Modern web applications are also often built upon a combination of different languages and systems which all work together to provide the user interface which you see within your browser.
As there are many specific technologies and also security concepts that are unique to web applications, it is important to understand how the modern web application works.
Free Training for Web Application Security
With an understanding of a modern web application and the technologies and languages which can be used by them the next stage is to understand the security issues which can be present within these applications.
Many unique issues can impact web applications, such as user access control vulnerabilities, injection-based vulnerabilities, file upload vulnerabilities, and many others. For those in the security industry, staying up to date on common and emerging threats is also important, and understanding how to respond to these threats accordingly.
The following resources provide detailed descriptions of the vulnerabilities that can exist in web applications, how these issues can be exploited as well as information on how these issues can be resolved as well as training labs to practice the exploitation process.
Cyber Security Courses for Programming
There are many coding languages which are used for many different technology solutions. These languages can also introduce different security issues depending upon how they are used.
When reviewing the security of any particular product or service, such as a web application it can be useful to understand the underlying functionality of the application and the language which has been used to develop it.
Additionally, when acting as a security analyst or security tester, it is often invaluable to be able to quickly develop a small script to automate a task, identify and exploit a unique vulnerability within the specific project being worked on, or debug and troubleshoot an issue with the testing tools you may be using.
Having a good understanding of a few coding languages can be incredibly useful when working within cyber security and the following resources can be accessed for free to start your education.
Free Cyber Security Courses
For any cyber security learners, hands-on practical skills is just as important as maintaining a good understanding of the theory of cyber security. The following resources have a range of freely accessible courses that provide an online induction to practical security testing through educational material, training, practical labs, and skills assessments.
It is important to emphasise that practical security testing, often violates multiple computer security laws where you haven’t been granted specific permission and consent to carry out the exercise. These resources and training labs provide an invaluable way to gain practical experience in cyber security in a safe, legal and controlled way.
Practical security testing should never be conducted on any device or service where you don’t have specific consent to carry out the actions.
Free Cloud Computing Education
Many companies have transitioned away from their own physical infrastructure in favour of hosting multiple business services within a cloud infrastructure. While this does bring many benefits, it doesn’t resolve all issues, and the configuration of a cloud computing environment can have its own set of challenges and security issues to resolve.
The following resources can be used to learn the fundamentals of different Cloud environments, how they are structured, and how they can be configured.
Conclusion
Depending upon your current knowledge and skillset, progressing to a career in the cybersecurity industry may take some time to achieve, and even when working in the industry you are typically always learning new skills.
While there are many useful and challenging paid-for courses and certifications which can improve your career prospects, if you are just starting your educational journey into cybersecurity you may not want to invest your money immediately without some understanding of the topics or course content.
The provided resources should hopefully guide you in the right direction and provide some options to begin understanding the topics surrounding cyber security courses.
So have patience, and keep progressing through the available resources. You can learn the skills you need for the career you want, it might just take a little time.
