Operational Cybersecurity and Resilience

This capstone unit synthesizes defensive operations, incident resilience, and human-centered security by applying advanced controls across cloud, network, device, and third‑party contexts. Students practice offensive testing methods, backup and recovery strategies, and the design and measurement of security awareness programs to prepare organizations for evolving threats.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze threats and vulnerabilities posed by insiders, social engineering, poisoned services, malvertising, network infrastructure poisoning, and third‑party breaches to prioritize mitigation and response actions based on impact and likelihood
• Apply backup, archive, deletion, and recovery strategies (including frequency determination, exclusions, encryption, and use of cloud/third‑party services) to restore data integrity and availability under realistic compromise scenarios
• Demonstrate the vulnerability assessment and penetration testing process, safe exploitation techniques in controlled environments, and implementation of corresponding countermeasures such as access control, password storage/transmission best practices, and smart device security
• Evaluate, redesign, and promote a security awareness program using Day 0 and ongoing metrics, branding, incident communication plans, and training countermeasures to measure effectiveness and adapt to breaking news and operational changes