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Virginia Cybersecurity Fundamentals

This course introduces the principles of cybersecurity, emerging technologies, threats and protective measures, and investigates the diverse high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand career opportunities in the field of cybersecurity.

Overview & Highlights

Level
High School
Contact Hours
125
Timeframe
Year

Course Overview

To view the entire syllabus, click here or click to explore the full course.

What is Cybersecurity?
Students explore the basics of cybersecurity, why cybersecurity is important, recent threats to cybersecurity, and different careers in the field.
Digital Citizenship and Cyber Hygiene
Students learn digital etiquette on how to use world wide web safely, ethically, and effectively.
Project: Public Service Announcement
Students create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to teach their peers about digital citizenship and cyber hygiene.
System Administration
Students investigate security options and implement user accounts to enforce authentication and authorization.
Software Security
Students learn basic SQL and common attacks like SQLi, and solutions for flawed security systems.
Project: Put it in Writing!
Students develop a training policy that informs employees on matters of network security and detail the company policy on preventative measures employees should take.
The ABCs of Cryptography
Students dive into the history of cryptography systems, the motivation behind using encryption systems, and basic cryptography systems.
Networking Fundamentals
Students explore the structure and design of the internet and networks, and how this design affects the reliability of network communication, the security of data, and personal privacy.
IT Infrastructure
Students learn about the physical elements of computers and networking, such as motherboards, RAM, routers, and the use of port numbers, ethernet, and wireless devices.
Project: Troubleshooting
Students explore the troubleshooting methodology and utilize it to solve sample IT support issues.
Project: IT Professional
Students explore cybersecurity career pathways and build skills that will be needed within these fields such as communication.
Risk Management
Students conduct a security audit and examine port scanning, packet sniffing, and proxy servers to discover exploits in a system.
Final Exam
Students demonstrate mastery of topics learned throughout the course.

120
Lessons
105
Videos
248
Exercises
2
Challenges
144
Offline Handouts

Demo Programs

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Course Resources

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Standards

Virginia Cybersecurity Fundamentals is aligned with the following standards

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