Cybersecurity Learning Paths

For anyone: no technical background needed. By the end you’ll spot scams, use strong passwords and know your own risk level.

1. Read the Stay Safe guide

   The everyday attacks that hit most people, and the habits that stop them.

   Guide
2. Learn the key terms

   Phishing, malware, MFA, ransomware: plain-English definitions.

   Glossary

1. Take the phishing quiz

   Ten realistic emails and texts. Aim for 8/10 or better.

   Quiz
2. Check a suspicious link

   Learn to read a URL and spot lookalike domains before you click.

   Tool

1. Test your password strength

   See how long a password would survive and whether it has appeared in breaches.

   Tool
2. Generate strong passphrases

   Create memorable passphrases for the accounts that matter most.

   Tool
3. Score your security habits

   A quick self-assessment with a personal to-do list at the end.

   Assessment

Go further: Scam-Proof After 60 (great for parents and grandparents) · Mastering Cybersecurity

For CCNA-level students and junior network engineers. Work through addressing, then switching, then routing, then security.

1. IPv4 subnetting & VLSM

   Practise until you can subnet a /26 in your head, then check yourself.

   Tool
2. IPv6 subnetting

   Prefixes, /64 boundaries and address compression.

   Tool
3. Ports & protocols

   The well-known ports every engineer and analyst should recognise.

   Tool

1. VLANs & trunking

   Access vs trunk ports, native VLAN and inter-VLAN routing.

   Cheat sheet
2. Spanning Tree

   Root bridge election, port roles and the protections that stop loops.

   Cheat sheet
3. HSRP, VRRP & GLBP

   Keep the default gateway up when a router fails.

   Cheat sheet

1. Routing protocols compared

   Start here: when to use OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS or RIP.

   Guide
2. OSPF

   Areas, LSA types, neighbour states and the commands to verify them.

   Cheat sheet
3. EIGRP

   Successors, feasible successors and metric tuning.

   Cheat sheet
4. IS-IS

   The service-provider IGP: levels, NETs and adjacencies.

   Cheat sheet
5. RIP

   Distance-vector basics and why loops happen.

   Cheat sheet
6. BGP

   The internet’s routing protocol: path attributes and best-path selection.

   Cheat sheet

1. Harden a Cisco config

   Paste a config and get a hardening checklist with fixes.

   Tool
2. Scan your network with Nmap

   Build the right scan for discovery, ports and services. Only scan networks you’re authorised to test.

   Tool

Go further: Nmap Network Exploring · Mastering Linux: Zero to Expert

For aspiring SOC analysts, IT admins and anyone who has to handle the alert at 2 a.m. You’ll learn to rate risk, investigate evidence and run the first hour of an incident.

1. CVE & CVSS explained

   How vulnerabilities are named and scored, and what the score leaves out.

   Guide
2. Score a vulnerability yourself

   Rebuild the score for a CVE from the news and compare it with the vendor’s.

   Tool
3. Follow critical CVEs

   Read three recent explainers and note what to patch first.

   News

1. Analyse a suspicious email

   Read SPF, DKIM and DMARC results and trace every server hop.

   Tool
2. Audit a domain’s email security

   Check SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MTA-STS, then fix what’s missing.

   Tool
3. Decode obfuscated data

   Base64, URL and hex encoding: unpack what attackers hide in scripts and links.

   Tool
4. Hash a suspicious file

   Generate hashes to verify downloads and look up samples safely.

   Tool
5. Ports, Windows event IDs & Linux logs

   The reference you’ll keep open while triaging alerts.

   Cheat sheet

1. Incident response: the first 60 minutes

   Contain, preserve evidence and escalate. Print it and fill in your contacts.

   Checklist
2. Stay current on threat intelligence

   Weekly reading: who is attacking what, and how.

   News

Go further: Cyber Threat Unmasked · Mastering Kali Purple · Ethical Hacking with Kali Linux · Mastering Penetration Testing