Updated for 2014: Online Classes for the Information Security Professional

Almost 18 months ago, I wrote:

If you’ve never heard of Coursera, you should. ”The World’s Best Courses. Online, for Free.”

Today, there is an even greater group of online course providers along with the courses they provide.

For the information security professional, we now have 3 categories of course and 11 recommended courses to consider.

Computer Security Overview Courses

1. Computer Security

In this class you will learn how to design secure systems and write secure code. You will learn how to find vulnerabilities in code and how to design software systems that limit the impact of security vulnerabilities. We will focus on principles for building secure systems and give many real world examples.

2. Information Security and Risk Management in Context

Explore the latest techniques for securing information and its systems, from policies and procedures to technologies and audit. Learn from leading experts who share proven practices in areas such as mobile workforce safety, security metrics, electronic evidence oversight and coping with e-crime and e-discovery. Study the protection of Cloud computing information. Discover how to foster the development of future information security leaders.

3. Building an Information Risk Management Toolkit

In this course, you will explore several structured, risk management approaches that guide information security decision-making. Course topics include: developing and maintaining risk assessments (RA); developing and maintaining risk management plans (RM); regulatory and legal compliance issues affecting risk plans; developing a control framework for mitigating risks; risk transfer; business continuity and disaster recovery planning from the information security perspective.

4. Designing and Executing Information Security Strategies

This course provides you with opportunities to integrate and apply your information security knowledge. Following the case-study approach, you will be introduced to current, real-world cases developed and presented by the practitioner community. You will design and execute information assurance strategies to solve these cases.

5. Introduction to Cyber Security

This course provides an overview of the evolving field of cybersecurity, with an introduction to cybersecurity standards and law. Students will learn about common cyber attacks and the techniques for identifying, detecting, and defending against cybersecurity threats. They will also gain a basic understanding of personal, physical, network, web, and wireless security, as well as a foundation for more advanced study of cybersecurity.

In Depth Topical Courses

1. Cryptography

This course explains the inner workings of cryptographic primitives and how to correctly use them. Students will learn how to reason about the security of cryptographic constructions and how to apply this knowledge to real-world applications.

2. Cryptography II

This course is a continuation of Crypto I and explains the inner workings of public-key systems and cryptographic protocols. Students will learn how to reason about the security of cryptographic constructions and how to apply this knowledge to real-world applications.

3. Malicious Software and its Underground Economy: Two Sides to Every Story

Learn about traditional and mobile malware, the security threats they represent, state-of-the-art analysis and detection techniques, and the underground ecosystem that drives such a profitable but illegal business.

4. Open Security Training (22 Classes on Information Security and Testing Techniques)

OpenSecurityTraining.info is dedicated to sharing training material for computer security classes, on any topic, that are at least one day long.

InfoSec Related Courses

1. Securing Digital Democracy

This course will provide the technical background and public policy foundation that 21st century citizens need to understand the electronic voting debate. You’ll learn how electronic voting and Internet voting technologies work, why they’re being introduced, and what problems they aim to solve. You’ll also learn about the computer- and Internet-security risks these systems face and the serious vulnerabilities that recent research has demonstrated. We’ll cover widely used safeguards, checks, and balances — and why they are often inadequate. Finally, we’ll see how computer technology has the potential to improve election security, if it’s applied intelligently.

2. Public Privacy: Cyber Security and Human Rights

Wild, wild web: Is the Internet a lawless no man’s land? Based on the recent public debate on data protection and massive privacy infringements, this course will explore the connection between cyber security and human rights.