Foundations of Cybersecurity Risk

This unit introduces the cybersecurity threat landscape, common attack techniques, and everyday vulnerabilities across physical, device, network, and cloud/IoT environments. Students will learn foundational defensive practices—authentication, account hygiene, backup/restore procedures, incident recognition, and roles—building on prior coursework and preparing for hands-on controls and response in later units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze common cyber threats and attack techniques (e.g., social engineering, impersonation, overt and covert breaches, advanced attacks) and classify their likely impact on individuals and organizations
• Evaluate physical, device, network, and IoT vulnerabilities and prioritize practical mitigation measures including password and account security, access control, and employee awareness
• Apply data protection and resiliency practices by designing and demonstrating backup, reset, and safe restore procedures for devices and online accounts
• Demonstrate initial incident detection and response behaviors by identifying indicators of compromise, following chain-of-command reporting procedures, and explaining how emerging technologies (machine learning, generative AI) affect attacker and defender capabilities