Understanding the Strategies of Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is one of the most important fields in today’s technology-driven world. Protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks is a complex task, one that requires multiple layers of protection spread across many points of entry, and there are many processes that are used to prevent and fight off cyberattacks. And because of the variety of techniques and strategies, there is much room for creativity in how to approach cybersecurity, even though it is considered an intensely technical field.
Trilogy Education partners with prominent universities to offer cybersecurity boot camps because we understand how critical these skills are for today’s workforce. Trilogy aims to help working adults and students reskill into cybersecurity roles to find more fulfillment in their careers and close the widening skills gap. Here is a closer look at some of the commonly used and effective strategies of a top-notch cybersecurity program.
Penetration Testing
Penetration testing requires security professionals to put themselves in a hacker’s shoes. This strategy entails probing systems for vulnerabilities and points of entry where it may be easy for an attack to slip through. In most cases, entire networks won’t have every service properly configured or protected; scanning the system can reveal weaknesses in these areas. After gaining a full picture of the system they are trying to penetrate, cybersecurity experts will then continue in their roleplay as a hacker and attack the system in various ways, confirming that these areas are easily exploited.
As one of the most fundamental strategies for cybersecurity, penetration testing is incorporated into Trilogy’s programs as an essential part of the curriculum. Students can choose to include penetration testing in their portfolio project, for which they carry out the process from start to finish and offer insights and solutions on how to go about protecting weak points. This allows program participants to show employers their hands-on experience and expertise in helping defend systems from attacks.
Packet Analysis
This particular strategy is similar to penetration testing in that it involves combing through a network to monitor and analyze the flow of data. To do this effectively, one must be familiar with what typical data packet patterns look like in order to spot irregularities as information flows through the system. Many data patterns appear only at the packet-level, making it that much more important to understand what is normal and what is not.
Network analysis is another project that Trilogy-powered boot camps offer to participants, who throughout the course will learn how to use packet analyzers like Wireshark. They will also become familiar with TCP/IP, HTTP, and other protocols necessary for performing this task. Performing packet and network analysis not only gives individuals the skills to detect risks but also represents an opportunity to develop soft skills like critical thinking and deductive reasoning.
Digital Forensics
Sometimes, cybersecurity is about more than just defending from attacks. It’s also about proactively seeking them out. Deleted data can often contain valuable insight for organizations to discover the culprit behind an attack or potential attack, making the recovery of that data a top priority for security experts. The recovery process is possible through the use of modern digital forensics.
This is yet another strategy that Trilogy-powered programs offer students the opportunity to practice through portfolio projects, where students will use tactics like encryption and decryption or use tools like Python to find hidden information or recover deleted data. Even if a cyberattack gets through a system, studying and performing digital forensics reveals that there is still an opportunity to catch the culprit and use the recovered information to prevent any similar breaches in the future.
These are only a few examples of some of the strategies employed by cybersecurity experts, as well as a taste of what Trilogy-powered boot camps can offer to individuals interested in pursuing the field. If you’d like to know more about our cybersecurity programs, feel free to visit our main website and contact us. We look forward to helping get you started on your journey toward a more fulfilling career in tech!
Originally published 7/30/19 on www.trilogyeducationservices.com
