Develop your understanding of the IT industry and network security

This two-week course delves into five generations of IT and IS to provide you with a historical perspective on the development of technologies and better understanding of the emerging digital opportunities for organisations today.

Discover the history of IT, from vacuum tubes to AI

Stepping back 80 years to vacuum tubes in the first generation of computers, this course will walk you through five generations of innovation. You’ll explore the invention of transistors, integrated circuits, microprocessors, and artificial intelligence. You’ll discover the history of computers and see just how far the IT industry has come.

Apply history to modern cyber security

Through a historical lens, you’ll have a chance to explore IT infrastructure, web servers, intranet, extranet, URLs, domain names, web systems, languages, application infrastructure and media standards. Understanding the history means you can better assess the vulnerabilities, historically and today.

Explore real-world cyber threats and cloud security

In the second week of this course, you’ll look at evolving technologies such as cloud security, and evaluate common types of cyber threats. You’ll think about where they come from and how they’ve evolved, as well as non-web-based attacks.

By the end of the course, you should have a clearer understanding of network management and how it relates to cyber threats.

Syllabus

Week 1
Historical Context
- Welcome to Network Defence Management: A History of IT
  Welcome to a new week of Network Defence Management.
- A history of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS)
  In this activity, we guide you through the five generations of computers and networks.
- Computer networks
  In this activity, we introduce you to the technical aspects of a computer network and ask you to consider the implications of legacy technology.
- Summary
  Reflect on the activities that you have done this week and find out what is coming up next week.
Week 2
Technology Changes and Cyber Threats
- Welcome to Week 2
  Introduction to Week 2.
- Cloud technology
  In this activity, we introduce you to cloud technology and consider some of the security risks.
- Cyber threats
  In this activity, we examine the range of cyber attacks, where they originate from and how they have evolved over recent years.
- A summary of the course
  Review what you have learned during this short course and look at what's coming up next.

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Complete each course and pass assessments.
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Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Explore the history of IT
Explore IT infrastructure
Explore network management and cyber threats

Who is the course for?

This course is for anyone looking to build their understanding of cyber security and network defence management.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured gold in the UK Government’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and is University of the Year for Student Experience in The Times & The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019.

Established
1992
Location
Coventry

About this ExpertTrack

Develop the essential cyber security knowledge and skills you need to prevent, detect and recover from network security incidents.

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Pay $39 per month to keep learning online
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Only pay while you’re learning; the subscription will cancel automatically when you finish
Complete online assessments to test your knowledge and prove your skills
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