What is the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate?

The Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate is “your path to a career in cybersecurity”. This certificate program will teach you “in-demand skills that can have you job-ready in less than 6 months. No degree or experience required”.

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Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate – highlights

Learn from cybersecurity experts at Google and gain in-demand skills that prepare you for entry-level roles like cybersecurity analyst, security operations center (SOC) analyst, and more.
The Google Cybersecurity Certificate helps prepare you for the CompTIA Security+ exam, the industry leading certification for cybersecurity roles. You’ll earn a dual credential when you complete both.
Through a mix of videos, assessments, and hands-on labs, you’ll become familiar with the cybersecurity tools, platforms, and skills required for an entry-level job.
Each course includes portfolio activities through which you’ll showcase examples of cybersecurity skills that you can share with potential employers. Acquire concrete skills that top employers are hiring for right now.

Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate – Courses

The eight course program will give you valuable skills in Linux, Python Programming, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and SQL.

Foundations of Cybersecurity (14h) – Course 1

Key learnings and skills

Recognize core skills and knowledge needed to become a cybersecurity analyst
Identify how security attacks impact business operations
Explain security ethics
Identify common tools used by cybersecurity analysts

Skills: Cloud Networks, Network Security, Security Hardening, Network Architecture, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

Play It Safe: Manage Security Risks (12h) – Course 2

Key learnings and skills

Identify the primary threats, risks, and vulnerabilities to business operations
Examine how organizations use security frameworks and controls to protect business operations
Define commonly used Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools
Use a playbook to respond to threats, risks, and vulnerabilities

Skills: Information Security (INFOSEC), Security Audits, Incident Response Playbooks, NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF), NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF).

Connect and Protect: Networks and Network Security (14h) – Course 3

Key learnings and skills

Define the types of networks and components of networks
Illustrate how data is sent and received over a network
Understand how to secure a network against intrusion tactics
Describe system hardening techniques

Skills: Linux, Command line interface (CLI), Bash, SQL.

Tools of the Trade: Linux and SQL (27h) – Course 4

Key learnings and skills

Explain the relationship between operating systems, applications, and hardware
Compare a graphical user interface to a command line interface
Navigate and manage the file system using Linux commands via the Bash shell
Use SQL to retrieve information from a database

Skills: Job preparedness, stakeholder communication, integrity and discretion, escalation, resume and portfolio preparation.

Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities (25h) – Course 5

Key learnings and skills

Classify assets
Analyze an attack surface to find risks and vulnerabilities
Identify threats, such as social engineering, malware and web-based exploits
Summarize the threat modeling process

Skills: vulnerability assessment, threat analysis, Authentication, Cryptography, asset classification.

Sound the Alarm: Detection and Response (24h) – Course 6

Key learnings and skills

Identify the steps to contain, eradicate, and recover from an incident
Analyze packets to interpret network communications
Understand basic syntax, components of signatures and logs in Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) tools
Perform queries in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools to investigate an event

Skills: Information Security (INFOSEC), Cybersecurity, Historical Attacks, Ethics in cybersecurity, NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF).

Automate Cybersecurity Tasks with Python (29h) – Course 7

Key learnings and skills

Explain how the Python programming language is used in cybersecurity
Create new, user-defined Python functions
Use regular expressions to extract information from text
Practice debugging code

Skills: Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools, Packet Analyzer, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS).

Put It to Work: Prepare for Cybersecurity Jobs (18h) – Course 8

Key learnings and skills

Determine when and how to escalate a security incident
Engage with the cybersecurity community
Find and apply for cybersecurity jobs
Prepare for job interviews

Skills: Computer Programming, Python Programming, Coding, PEP 8 style guide.

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