I’ve written in the past about the importance of having a workplace culture that emphasizes cybersecurity. Education about cybersecurity is key to creating this type of culture, but cybersecurity can be an incredibly complex topic and many of the resources available are geared toward professionals such as myself who have spent years studying and working in the field. Or, these resources can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. It can be hard to know where to start as a layperson who wants to learn more about cybersecurity. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of free resources for people who want to learn the basics.

Cybrary.it

After signing up for a free account, the dashboard can be a little intimidating, but there are few things to highlight:

• “Career Paths” are collections of trainings designed to prepare someone for a career in cybersecurity.
•  “Certification Prep” are courses that will help learners prepare for a specific technical certification test.
• “Assessments” allow learners to measure their level of understanding of a variety of topics.

Coursera

By signing up for a free account, you will have access to more than 8,000 courses created by universities and major companies like Harvard University or Google. You can search for specific courses or use the filters to narrow down the results. You can also sort courses by the difficulty level from beginner to advanced, by duration and by specific skills or educators.

edX

A similar platform to Coursera, but with less overall courses. There is a specific category of courses on cybersecurity, including courses taught at companies like IBM or universities such as Harvard University and Rochester Institute of Technology. Cybersecurity courses are several weeks long and range from introductory level to advanced.

YouTube

A platform that everyone should be familiar with, there are tons of free videos ranging from tutorial videos explaining a specific topic to full-blown courses and certification preparation programs. Whereas the other three resources mentioned are focused on full-fledged courses, YouTube is a great resource for quicker learning sessions on more discrete topics.

The truth remains: The more aware we all are of how cybersecurity works, the more prepared we are to play our role in protecting our organizations from attack. I hope these resources can help align you and your organization as you move forward.

To learn more about Altera’s cybersecurity efforts, you can read some of my previous blogs here and here.

FREE EBOOK

Sunrise™: The flexible EHR for the outcomes you want

DOWNLOAD