Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities

Overview

This is the fifth course in the Google Cybersecurity Certificate. These courses will further explore the importance of protecting organizational assets from threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. They will also continue to develop an understanding of asset classification and how to use the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), as well as security controls, to protect assets and mitigate risk. Additionally, learners will gain an understanding of how to develop a threat actor mindset to help protect assets from ever-evolving threat actor tactics and techniques. By the end of this course, you will: - Learn effective data handling processes. - Discuss the role of encryption and hashing in securing assets. - Describe how to effectively use authentication and authorization. - Explain how common vulnerability exposures are identified by MITRE. - Analyze an attack surface to find risks and vulnerabilities. - Identify threats, such as social engineering, malware, and web-based exploits. - Summarize the threat modeling process.

Syllabus

Introduction to asset security

In this module, learners will be introduced to the way organizations determine what they want to protect. They will learn about the connection between managing risk and classifying assets by exploring the unique challenge of securing physical and digital assets. Learners will be introduced to the NIST framework standards, guidelines and best practices to manage cybersecurity risk.

Protect organizational assets

In this module, learners will focus on security controls that help protect organizational assets. They will explore how privacy considerations impact asset security. They will gain an understanding of encryption and the role it plays in maintaining the privacy of digital assets. They will also explore how authentication and authorization systems verify that someone is who they claim to be.

Vulnerabilities in systems

In this module, learners will build an understanding of the vulnerability management process. They will learn about common vulnerabilities . They will develop an attacker mindset by examining the ways vulnerabilities can become threats to asset security if they are exploited.

Threats to asset security

In this module, learners will explore the common types of threats to digital asset security. They will also examine the tools and techniques used by cybercriminals to target assets. After gaining this understanding, they will be introduced to the threat modeling process and learn ways security professionals stay ahead of security breaches.