I’ve heard this before – “I’m not sure my computer security practices are working”. I reply “Have you tested them?” This course is the fourth and final course in the Practical Computer Security specialization. In this course, you’ll learn how to proactively test what you have put in place to protect your data. In the first week you’ll be able to discuss the basics of deterrents and how to “trick” attackers into believing they’ve hit a goldmine of data away from your real systems. In week 2, you’ll be able to understand and discuss the steps of penetration testing methodology. In week 3, you will be able to understand and apply what you have learned on your own systems to test whether your systems are secure or not. In week 4, we’ll discuss planning for your own methodology that you can apply to your own systems. And finally in week 5, we’ll finish up with a project that will allow you to test your skills in a safe environment.
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About this Course
Learner Career Outcomes
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20%
Learner Career Outcomes
14%
20%
Offered by

University of Colorado System
The University of Colorado is a recognized leader in higher education on the national and global stage. We collaborate to meet the diverse needs of our students and communities. We promote innovation, encourage discovery and support the extension of knowledge in ways unique to the state of Colorado and beyond.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Information Sharing and Threat Intelligence
This module covers information sharing. Information sharing is an important tool to help organizations gather information from others so they can protect themselves.
Penetration Testing - Methodology
This module will cover the pen testing methodology. Not following a pen testing methodology may lead to false positives or worse, false negatives in a testing scenario.
Common Pen Testing Tools
This module will cover some of the tools used in the penetration testing methodology. These are just common tools used to gain information, find exploits and compromise systems. There are many more tools out there, but these are the most commonly used.
Proactive computer security management
This module will cover some of the other issues and concerns for those interested in proactive security. Legal issues are important for any level of management and administration to be concerned with. Planning goes a long way toward effective proactive computer security.
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM PROACTIVE COMPUTER SECURITY
This course was an excellent introduction and overview of what security professionals face. I am non-technical and had only limited difficulty with a small portion of the materials.
Great course, lots of pratice! I´d like to thanks my professor Greg Willians and all the coursera team. It was a amazing knowledge development for my career. God bless you all!!!
Excellent course! Of the entire specialization, this is the course I've liked the most. I like that it includes both theory and practical cases, not only for the last assigment.
Very helpful in building knowledge towards more advance security related certifications. This, for me, was good in terms of understanding the surface of Ethical Hacking.
About the Cybersecurity for Business Specialization
It seems anymore that you can't listen to the news without hearing of a data breach. You may have heard it said before that there are 2 types of companies out there, the ones who have been breached and those who will be breached. Defending against attackers who want to compromise assets can seem like an arduous task, but learning how attacks work and more importantly how to defend against those attacks can be very fulfilling. This specialization is designed to introduce you to practical computer security by teaching you the fundamentals of how you use security in the business world. This course is for those who want to understand how to defend computer systems and assets from attackers and other threats. It is also for those who want to understand how threats and attacks are carried out to help better defend their systems. This specialization is designed for senior business leaders to middle management and system administrators, so they can all speak the same language and get a better handle on their organization's security. Additionally, the course material may help you in passing some industry leading computer security examinations such as Security+ and CISSP.

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