Cyber Security: Essentials for AI

Macquarie University via Coursera Specialization

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This Specialization brings together three advanced courses Cyber Security: Application of AI, Cyber Security: Security of AI, and Cyber Security: Data Security and Information Privacy, to give learners a comprehensive foundation at the cutting edge of cyber security. It is designed for professionals who want to understand how AI is transforming both the opportunities and the risks in digital security, and for leaders who need to build resilient systems that inspire trust. You’ll begin with the practical application of AI in cyber defence, exploring how machine learning and intelligent systems can detect anomalies, predict attacks, and automate responses at a scale beyond human capability. You’ll then focus on securing AI systems themselves, learning how to identify vulnerabilities in algorithms, defend against adversarial inputs, and strengthen the resilience of AI models used in critical business and government systems. Finally, you’ll dive into the essential principles of data security and information privacy, mastering how to safeguard sensitive information, ensure compliance with global regulations, and apply privacy-preserving technologies. Developed by Macquarie University’s Cyber Skills Academy, ranked in the top 1% of universities globally and recognised as Australia’s leading cyber security school. By the end, you’ll be able to leverage AI as a powerful tool for defence, secure AI systems from manipulation, and implement robust data protection frameworks.

Syllabus

Course 1: Cyber Security: Application of AI
Course 2: Cyber Security: Security of AI
Course 3: Cyber Security: Data Security and Information Privacy

Courses

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15 hours 6 minutes
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AI for Cyber Security: Defend Smarter, Not Harder Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are essential for modern cyber defense. This course provides a hands-on guide to understanding how AI and ML detect, disrupt, and defend against cyber threats. This program focuses on practical applications needed by organizations. Key topics include: • Build foundational AI and ML concepts, including model training, learning types, and accuracy. • Apply ML tools and models to security problems like malware analysis, fraud detection, and network monitoring. • Analyze network traffic using anomaly detection with supervised and unsupervised ML methods (e.g., k-nearest neighbors, one-class SVM). • Experiment with ML-driven analysis to identify malware and apply artificial neural networks for detection. • Understand adversarial machine learning, including poisoning and evasion attacks, and how to build resilient systems. Basic familiarity with Python programming is recommended for practical activities and labs. This course is designed for cyber security professionals, SOC analysts, engineers, data scientists, and tech leaders seeking to enhance security strategies with intelligent automation and machine-driven defense.
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15 hours 30 minutes
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Data Security and Information Privacy | Protect Identities. Preserve Trust. Power Compliance. This course helps compliance leaders, analysts, data scientists, and tech professionals secure data and ensure privacy by design. Developed by the Cyber Skills Academy at Macquarie University, this program offers hands-on methods and technologies to manage data security and privacy in real-world environments. You'll gain critical skills in: * Identifying threats, risks, and vulnerabilities in information systems. * Evaluating privacy risk using metrics and de-identification models (k-anonymity, l-diversity, t-closeness). * Applying differential privacy techniques for provable privacy. * Linking datasets securely with privacy-preserving record linkage. * Using tools for data encryption, anonymisation, and secure sharing. * Applying standards like ABS Five Safes and NIST Privacy Framework for compliance. This course empowers you to embed privacy as a core data strategy, reducing organizational risk and building trust. To succeed, learners should have a basic understanding of data concepts and digital environments.
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13 hours 3 minutes
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AI Security: Risks, Defences and Safety | Defend the Future of Intelligence. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everything from critical infrastructure to everyday applications, a new frontier of cyber risk has emerged. From adversarial attacks to backdoor exploits, AI systems are now prime targets, and powerful tools, in the hands of threat actors. Secure the Systems That Learn AI Security is your essential guide to defending intelligent systems. Developed by Macquarie University’s Cyber Skills Academy, ranked in the top 1% of universities globally and recognised as Australia’s leading cyber security school, this course has been co-designed with global tech leaders to ensure alignment with emerging threats and international standards. Whether you’re a cyber security professional, developer, data scientist, or policy leader, this course equips you to detect, prevent, and respond to the security risks unique to AI. Through deep, applied learning across six core modules, you’ll gain real-world skills to: • Understand AI systems, their architecture, and the security risks that arise from adversarial inputs, model poisoning, and data leakage. • Assess and mitigate AI-driven cyber-physical risks in Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS). • Navigate threats in real-world AI deployments—from deepfakes and misinformation to ethical misuse and privacy violations. • Apply security testing strategies and technical controls, including encryption, red/purple/blue team exercises, and robustness benchmarking. • Align AI systems with frameworks for Responsible AI, covering fairness, transparency, regulatory compliance, and trust. • Look ahead to the evolving risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and deploy proactive defences for the next generation of AI. AI Is the New Attack Surface AI is transforming everything, from how we work to how we’re attacked. This course is built to prepare you for both. You’ll gain the technical fluency, ethical awareness, and strategic insight to secure AI across domains and industries. Lead the defence. Anticipate what’s next. Secure AI now.