Overview:

This course covers the duties of those who are responsible for monitoring and detecting security incidents in information systems and networks, and for executing a proper response to such incidents. Depending on the size of the organization, this individual may act alone or may be a member of a cybersecurity incident response team (CSIRT). The course introduces tools and tactics to manage cybersecurity risks, identify various types of common threats, evaluate the organization's security, collect and analyze cybersecurity intelligence, and handle incidents as they occur. Ultimately, the course promotes a comprehensive approach to security aimed toward those on the front lines of defense.

This course is designed to assist students in preparing for the CyberSec First Responder (Exam CFR-210) certification examination. Students can also use this course to prepare for the CompTIA^® Cybersecurity Analyst+ (Exam CS0-001) certification examination. What you learn and practice in this course can be a significant part of your preparation.

In addition, this course can help students who are looking to fulfill DoD directive 8570.01 for information assurance (IA) training. This program is designed for personnel performing IA functions, establishing IA policies, and implementing security measures and procedures for the Department of Defense and affiliated information systems and networks.

Course Objectives:

In this course, you will assess and respond to security threats and operate a systems and network security analysis platform.

You will:

• Assess information security risk in computing and network environments.
• Analyze the cybersecurity threat landscape.
• Analyze reconnaissance threats to computing and network environments.
• Analyze attacks on computing and network environments.
• Analyze post-attack techniques on computing and network environments.
• Implement a vulnerability management program.
• Evaluate the organization's security through penetration testing.
• Collect cybersecurity intelligence.
• Analyze data collected from security and event logs.
• Perform active analysis on assets and networks.
• Respond to cybersecurity incidents.
• Investigate cybersecurity incidents.
• Address security issues with the organization's technology architecture.

Target Student:

This course is designed primarily for cybersecurity practitioners who perform job functions related to protecting information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. This course focuses on the knowledge, ability, and skills necessary to provide for the defense of those information systems in a cybersecurity context, including protection, detection, analysis, investigation, and response processes. In addition, the course ensures that all members of an IT team—everyone from help desk staff to the Chief Information Officer—understand their role in these security processes.

Prerequisites:

To ensure your success in this course, you should meet the following requirements:

• At least two years (recommended) of experience in computer network security technology or a related field.
• The ability to recognize information security vulnerabilities and threats in the context of risk management.
• Foundation-level operational skills with some of the common operating systems for computing environments.
• Foundational knowledge of the concepts and operational framework of common assurance safeguards in computing environments. Safeguards include, but are not limited to, basic authentication and authorization, resource permissions, and anti-malware mechanisms.
• Foundation-level understanding of some of the common concepts for network environments, such as routing and switching.
• Foundational knowledge of major TCP/IP networking protocols, including, but not limited to, TCP, IP, UDP, DNS, HTTP, ARP, ICMP, and DHCP.
• Foundational knowledge of the concepts and operational framework of common assurance safeguards in network environments. Safeguards include, but are not limited to, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and VPNs.

You can obtain this level of skills and knowledge by taking the following Logical Operations courses or by passing the relevant exams:

• CompTIA^® A+^®: A Comprehensive Approach (Exams 220-901 and 220-902)
• CompTIA^® Network+^® (Exam N10-006)
• CompTIA^® Security+^® (Exam SY0-401)

Course-specific Technical Requirements

Hardware:

For this course, you will need one Windows Server^® 2012 R2 computer and one Windows^® 10 computer for each student and for the instructor. Make sure that each computer meets the classroom hardware specifications:

• Windows 10 computer:
  • 2 gigahertz (GHz) 64-bit processor that supports the VT-x or AMD-V virtualization instruction set.
  • 6 gigabytes (GB) of Random Access Memory (RAM) recommended. This client will host a Linux® virtual machine.
• Windows Server 2012 computer:
  • 2 gigahertz (GHz) 64-bit processor.
  • 4 GB of RAM recommended.
• For both computers:
  • 80 GB hard disk or larger.
  • Super VGA (SVGA) or higher resolution monitor capable of a screen resolution of at least 1,024 × 768 pixels, at least a 256-color display, and a video adapter with at least 4 MB of memory.
  • Bootable DVD-ROM and/or USB drive.
  • Keyboard and mouse or a compatible pointing device.
  • Gigabit Ethernet adapter (10/100/1000BaseT) and cabling to connect to the classroom network.
  • IP addresses that do not conflict with other portions of your network.
  • Internet access (contact your local network administrator).
  • (Instructor computer only) A display system to project the instructor's computer screen.
  • At least one removable USB drive for students to share if they do not have their own.
  • (Optional) A network printer for the class to share.

Software:

• Microsoft^® Windows Server^® 2012 R2 Standard Edition with sufficient licenses.
• Microsoft^® Windows^® 10 Professional 64-bit with sufficient licenses.
  NOTE: Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 10 require activation unless you have volume-licensing agreements. There is a grace period for activation. If the duration of your class will exceed the activation grace period (for example, if you are teaching the class over the course of an academic semester), you should activate the installations at some point before the grace period expires. Otherwise, the operating systems may stop working before the class ends.
• Microsoft^® Office 2016 or an open source alternative such as LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice^â„¢.
• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 8 or higher.
• If preferred, a third-party browser such as Google Chrome^â„¢ or Mozilla^® Firefox^®.
• If preferred, a third-party PDF reader such as Adobe® Acrobat® Reader.
• Kali Linux^â„¢ version 2016.2.
  NOTE: The steps to download the Kali Linux system image are described in the course setup that follows. Note that the URL path to this download may have changed after this course was written.
• Miscellaneous third-party software, some of which are included in the course data files:
  • Wireshark version 2.0.1 (Wireshark-win64-2.0.1.exe).
  • SeaMonster version 5 (SeaMonster5_win32.x86.zip).
  • Oracle^® VM VirtualBox version 5.1.6 (VirtualBox-5.1.6-110634-Win.exe).
  • OpenSSH for Windows version 7.1 (setupssh-7.1p2-1.exe).
  • PuTTY version 0.67 (putty.exe).
  • Snort^® version 2.9.8.0 (Snort_2_9_8_0_Installer.exe).
  • XAMPP version 5.6.15 (xampp-win32-5.6.15-1-VC11-installer.exe).
  • icmpsh (icmpsh.zip).
  • Process Explorer version 16.20 (procexp.exe).
  • Nessus^® version 6.9.3 (Nessus-6.9.3-x64.msi).
  • Splunk^® Enterprise version 6.5.2 (splunk-6.5.2-67571ef4b87d-x64-release.msi).
  • Log Parser version 2.2 (LogParser.msi).
  • Log Parser Studio version 2.0 (LPSDV2.D2.zip).
    Due to licensing restrictions, Process Explorer, Nessus, Splunk, Log Parser, and Log Parser Studio are not distributed with the course data files. The steps to download these tools are described in the course setup that follows. Note that the URL path to these downloads may have changed after this course was written. VirtualBox, Wireshark, Snort, and icmpsh are distributed with the course data files under version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPL). XAMPP is distributed under version 3 of the GPL. SeaMonster is distributed under version 3 of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). OpenSSH for Windows is distributed with the course data files under a Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license. PuTTY is distributed with the course data files under the MIT License.
    In order for VirtualBox virtualization to work, the processor on the Windows 10 client must have Intel virtualization (VT-x) or AMD virtualization (AMD-V) enabled. You can check if virtualization is enabled by entering your computer's UEFI/BIOS. You can typically find this feature in the advanced settings of the UEFI/BIOS under Intel/AMD virtualization or VT-x/AMD-V.
    The activities in this course were written to the versions of the software noted previously. If new versions of JRE, Process Explorer, Nessus, Splunk, Log Parser, Log Parser Studio, or Kali Linux have been released when you present this course, make sure to test them with their corresponding activities to note any keying discrepancies.
• If necessary, software for viewing the course slides (instructor machine only).