The U.S. Department of Labor forecasts that computer security and related computer-support specialties will be among the fastest-growing occupations through 2012. CompTIA's Security+ certificate is widely regarded as the entry-level certificate for this fast-growing field. Getting that certificate requires passing CompTIA's challenging SY0-101 exam.

In this six-week course, you'll learn everything you need to know to pass the exam and get your Security+ certificate. This is not a course on how to study for the exam. This course is fully self-contained and contains everything you need to know to ace the exam and leave the exam center with your Security+ credential in-hand.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Computer security and related computer-support specialties are among today's fastest-growing occupations. Getting a CompTIA Security+ credential is your first step to gaining entrance into this exciting, fast-paced field. By the time you finish this first lesson, you'll know what's required to achieve a Security+ credential. You'll also understand the basic goals, tools, and techniques of computer security.

Friday - Lesson 02

In the world of computer data, you need a way to keep confidential information away from prying eyes. That's what access control is all about and it's the focus of this lesson. You'll learn the different methods security administrators use to protect data from unauthorized disclosure and modification. You'll also discover the most common technique attackers use to gain unauthorized access—social engineering.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

The computer world is a lot like the movies—filled with good guys and bad guys constantly battling each other. By the time you finish today's lesson, you'll know many of the attack methods the bad guys use to do their dirty work. You'll learn about malware, password guessing attacks, buffer overflows, spoofing, and DoS (Denial of Service). You'll also discover the tricks behind the oddly-named Ping of Death, Smurf, Fraggle, Bonk, and Boink attacks. And then you'll find out the tools and techniques the good guys use to thwart such attacks.

Friday - Lesson 04

Attackers love to target Internet servers. So today, we'll discuss the tools and techniques you can use to protect these servers. You'll also find out about securing e-mail, how secure Web pages work, instant messaging vulnerabilities, and more.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Every network is vulnerable to attacks and intrusions. A security administrator needs to know what these threats are and how to disable them. In this lesson, you'll learn how to secure wireless networks, mobile devices, directory services, and remote access. You'll also discover how tunneling lets people create secure connections across the Internet to keep data and messages safe from prying eyes.

Friday - Lesson 06

For centuries, people have used secret codes to disguise important information. In the computer world, you disguise information by encrypting it. Attackers who manage to get a copy of encrypted data will see nothing but gibberish on their screen. Only people who have the right decryption key can change that meaningless gibberish back to its original, meaningful form. By the time you finish today's lesson, you'll understand how encryption supports security goals like confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and nonrepudiation.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

In the cyber world, it isn't always easy to know who or what information you can trust. So sometimes you need a guarantee that a message or Web page isn't from an imposter. Guaranteeing trustworthiness is what Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is about. Today, you'll discover how PKI works. You'll learn the details of Certificate Authorities, digital certificates, trust models, and more. These are important terms and concepts for acing the Security+ exam!

Friday - Lesson 08

Not all attacks against a network come from the Internet. Large corporate networks also have to worry about theft and sabotage from within. This means they must secure network devices, storage media, and even the cables used to transmit data within the local network. This lesson will fill you in on how security administrators protect data from would-be attackers and spies within an organization.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Security is a moving target. Every time the good guys come up with a new way to thwart the bad guys, the bad guys come up with a new way to wreak havoc. Today, you'll discover important techniques for making the bad guys' job as tough as possible. You'll also get some sneaky techniques for catching them in the act of trying to break through your defenses!

Friday - Lesson 10

A network is made up of many components, such as operating systems, network devices, servers, custom applications, and data repositories. And every one of them needs to be hardened against attack. In this lesson, you'll find out how to do this. Then you'll learn how to scan your network for vulnerabilities. This enables you to patch them up before the bad guys find them for you!

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Technical security involves protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. But there's also physical security to think about. Physical security means protecting the actual computer equipment. And in addition to protecting it from human attackers, you must protect it from normal equipment failure. Today, we'll examine how you can ensure high availability of network resources through thick and thin.

Friday - Lesson 12

All the technical security in the world isn't enough to protect every asset. When it comes to security, people are the most important players. So in this final lesson, we'll cover why policies and procedures, forensics, and security training are the keys to security management. You'll also pick up some useful tools and techniques for making sure you ace the Security+ exam on your first try!

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This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Alan Simpson.

With over 100 published books to his name, award-winning author Alan Simpson is widely regarded as a PC and Internet guru. His books have been published throughout the world in over a dozen languages. As a seasoned veteran of the computer industry, Alan's books and online courses cover virtually all aspects of the computer industry, including Web development, operating systems, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, programming, networking, and security.

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Requirements:

CompTIA recommends that you have A+ and Network+ certifications, and two years on-the-job networking experience, prior to preparing for this exam. We don't require that much. But you should have substantial knowledge of TCP/IP networking prior to signing up for this course. You'll also need Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).

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