CYBERSECURE CODER (CSC) Training Course

Advances in computing and engineering are propelling technological progress across various sectors, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, gene editing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). These innovations present significant opportunities for enhancing productivity and human well-being. However, they also introduce new risks, as evidenced by recent high-profile scandals. Technology professionals are under increasing pressure to address ethical concerns, ensuring that privacy, accuracy, fairness, and safety are maintained. This course is designed to equip learners with practical tools to manage ethical risks in emerging data-driven technologies for government and other sectors. The curriculum draws from established theories, regulatory frameworks, and industry best practices. Participants will develop the skills necessary to navigate ethical dilemmas effectively within their roles and organizations, fostering a culture of accountability and responsible innovation.

This course covers network defense and incident response methods, tactics, and procedures, aligned with industry frameworks such as NIST 800-61 r.2 (Computer Security Incident Handling), US-CERT’s NCISP (National Cyber Incident Response Plan), and Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 41 on Cyber Incident Coordination Policy. It is designed for individuals tasked with monitoring and detecting security incidents in information systems and networks, as well as executing standardized responses to such incidents. The course introduces tools, tactics, and procedures to manage cybersecurity risks, identify various types of common threats, evaluate organizational security, collect and analyze cybersecurity intelligence, and remediate and report incidents as they occur. This comprehensive methodology is essential for individuals responsible for defending the cybersecurity of their organization. This course is designed to assist students in preparing for the CertNexus CyberSec First Responder (Exam CFR-310) certification examination. The knowledge and skills acquired in this course can significantly contribute to your preparation. Additionally, this course and subsequent certification (CFR-310) meet all requirements for personnel requiring DoD directive 8570.01-M position certification baselines: - CSSP Analyst - CSSP Infrastructure Support - CSSP Incident Responder - CSSP Auditor **Course Objectives**: In this course, you will understand, assess, and respond to security threats while operating a system and network security analysis platform. You will: - Compare and contrast various threats and classify threat profiles. - Explain the purpose and use of attack tools and techniques. - Explain the purpose and use of post-exploitation tools and tactics. - Explain the purpose and use of social engineering tactics. - Given a scenario, perform ongoing threat landscape research and use data to prepare for incidents. - Explain the purpose and characteristics of various data sources. - Given a scenario, use appropriate tools to analyze logs. - Given a scenario, use regular expressions to parse log files and locate meaningful data. - Given a scenario, use Windows tools to analyze incidents. - Given a scenario, use Linux-based tools to analyze incidents. - Summarize methods and tools used for malware analysis. - Given a scenario, analyze common indicators of potential compromise. - Explain the importance of best practices in preparation for incident response. - Given a scenario, execute the incident response process. - Explain the importance of concepts unique to forensic analysis. - Explain general mitigation methods and devices. **Target Student**: This course is designed primarily for cybersecurity practitioners preparing for or currently performing job functions related to protecting information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. It is ideal for roles within federal contracting companies and private sector firms whose mission or strategic objectives require the execution of Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) or DoD Information Network (DODIN) operations and incident handling. This course focuses on the knowledge, ability, and skills necessary to provide defense for 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—regardless of size, rank, or budget—understand their role in cyber defense, incident response, and incident handling processes. This course is tailored to meet the needs for government and private sector organizations, ensuring a robust cybersecurity framework.

Android is an open platform for mobile devices, including handsets and tablets. It offers a wide array of security features designed to facilitate the development of secure software; however, it also lacks certain security aspects found in other handheld platforms. This course provides a comprehensive overview of these features, highlighting critical shortcomings related to the underlying Linux system, file management, the general environment, and the use of permissions and other Android software development components.

The course addresses typical security pitfalls and vulnerabilities for both native code and Java applications, offering recommendations and best practices to avoid and mitigate these issues. Many discussions are supported with real-life examples and case studies. Additionally, the course includes a brief overview of how to use security testing tools to identify any programming bugs that could impact security.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand fundamental concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding for government applications
• Learn about the security solutions available on the Android platform
• Gain proficiency in using various security features of the Android platform
• Receive information on recent vulnerabilities in Java on Android
• Understand typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Acquire knowledge about native code vulnerabilities on Android
• Recognize the severe consequences of insecure buffer handling in native code
• Comprehend architectural protection techniques and their limitations
• Access sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

This course is designed for professionals in the public sector who require a deep understanding of Android security to enhance the development and maintenance of secure mobile applications for government use.

This three-day course provides an overview of securing C/C++ code to protect against malicious users who may exploit vulnerabilities related to memory management and input handling. The course covers the fundamental principles of writing secure code for government applications, ensuring that participants understand best practices in safeguarding software integrity and functionality.

Even experienced Java programmers may not fully master all the security services provided by Java, nor are they always aware of the vulnerabilities relevant to web applications written in this language.

This course introduces the security components of Standard Java Edition and delves into the security issues of Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) and web services. Before discussing specific services, the course covers the fundamentals of cryptography and secure communication. Various exercises focus on declarative and programmatic security techniques in JEE, as well as transport-layer and end-to-end security for web services. Practical exercises allow participants to use the discussed APIs and tools firsthand.

The course also examines the most frequent and severe programming flaws in the Java language and platform, along with web-related vulnerabilities. It covers both language-specific issues and problems arising from the runtime environment. Each vulnerability and associated attack is demonstrated through straightforward exercises, followed by recommended coding guidelines and mitigation techniques.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding for government applications
• Learn about web vulnerabilities beyond the OWASP Top Ten and how to prevent them
• Understand the security principles of web services
• Learn to utilize various security features in the Java development environment
• Gain a practical understanding of cryptography
• Understand the security solutions offered by Java EE
• Learn about common coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Receive information on recent vulnerabilities in the Java framework
• Acquire practical knowledge in using security testing tools
• Access sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers

Description

The Java language and the Runtime Environment (JRE) were designed to be free from the most problematic common security vulnerabilities experienced in other languages, such as C/C++. However, software developers and architects should not only know how to use the various security features of the Java environment (positive security), but also be aware of the numerous vulnerabilities that are still relevant for Java development (negative security).

The introduction of security services is preceded by a brief overview of the foundations of cryptography, providing a common baseline for understanding the purpose and operation of the applicable components. The use of these components is presented through several practical exercises, where participants can try out the discussed APIs for themselves.

This course also covers the most frequent and severe programming flaws of the Java language and platform, including both typical bugs committed by Java programmers and language- and environment-specific issues. All vulnerabilities and the relevant attacks are demonstrated through easy-to-understand exercises, followed by recommended coding guidelines and possible mitigation techniques.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding for government
• Learn Web vulnerabilities beyond the OWASP Top Ten and know how to avoid them
• Learn to use various security features of the Java development environment
• Gain a practical understanding of cryptography
• Learn about typical coding mistakes and how to avoid them
• Receive information on recent vulnerabilities in the Java framework
• Obtain sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers

Several programming languages are currently available to compile code for the .NET and ASP.NET frameworks. These environments provide robust tools for security development; however, developers must understand how to apply architectural and coding-level techniques to implement effective security measures and mitigate vulnerabilities. This course is designed to equip developers with practical skills through numerous hands-on exercises. Participants will learn how to prevent untrusted code from executing privileged actions, secure resources using strong authentication and authorization methods, facilitate remote procedure calls, manage sessions, explore different implementations for specific functionalities, and more. The course begins by introducing common programming issues that can arise when using .NET. It then delves into the vulnerabilities of ASP.NET, covering various environment settings and their implications. The discussion on ASP.NET-specific vulnerabilities addresses general web application security challenges as well as unique issues such as attacks on ViewState and string termination attacks. Participants attending this course will: - Understand fundamental concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding for government. - Learn about Web vulnerabilities beyond the OWASP Top Ten and how to prevent them. - Gain proficiency in using various security features of the .NET development environment. - Acquire practical knowledge in utilizing security testing tools. - Identify typical coding mistakes and learn strategies to avoid them. - Stay informed about recent vulnerabilities in .NET and ASP.NET. - Receive resources and further readings on secure coding practices. Audience: - Developers for government and private sector projects.

This course provides essential skills for PHP developers to enhance the security of their applications against modern internet-based attacks. It covers web vulnerabilities through PHP-based examples, delving beyond the OWASP Top Ten to address various injection attacks, script injections, session handling issues, insecure direct object references, file upload problems, and more. Vulnerabilities are categorized into standard types such as missing or improper input validation, incorrect error and exception handling, improper use of security features, and time- and state-related issues. Specific topics include open_basedir circumvention, denial-of-service through magic float, and hash table collision attacks. Participants will gain proficiency in the key techniques and functions necessary to mitigate these risks. The course also emphasizes client-side security, addressing JavaScript, Ajax, and HTML5 vulnerabilities. It introduces several PHP security extensions, including hash, mcrypt, OpenSSL for cryptography, Ctype, ext/filter, and HTML Purifier for input validation. Best practices for hardening PHP configuration (setting php.ini), Apache, and the server in general are discussed. An overview of security testing tools and techniques is provided, covering security scanners, penetration testing, exploit packs, sniffers, proxy servers, fuzzing tools, and static source code analyzers. Both the introduction to vulnerabilities and configuration practices are supported by hands-on exercises that demonstrate the consequences of successful attacks, illustrate mitigation techniques, and introduce various extensions and tools. Participants attending this course will: - Understand basic concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding - Learn about web vulnerabilities beyond OWASP Top Ten and how to avoid them - Gain knowledge of client-side vulnerabilities and secure coding practices - Acquire a practical understanding of cryptography - Learn to use various security features of PHP - Identify typical coding mistakes and learn how to avoid them - Stay informed about recent vulnerabilities in the PHP framework - Gain practical experience with security testing tools - Receive sources and further readings on secure coding practices This course is designed for government developers who seek to enhance their application security skills.

The Combined SDL Core Training provides an in-depth understanding of secure software design, development, and testing through the Microsoft Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL). It offers a foundational overview of the key components of SDL, followed by practical techniques for identifying and addressing security flaws early in the development process.

During the development phase, the course covers common security-related programming bugs in both managed and native code. It presents various attack methods associated with these vulnerabilities along with effective mitigation strategies. These concepts are reinforced through hands-on exercises that offer participants a practical understanding of live hacking techniques. The training also introduces different security testing methodologies and demonstrates the effectiveness of various testing tools, allowing participants to apply these tools to previously discussed vulnerable code.

Participants attending this course will

Understand basic concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding for government.

Gain knowledge of the essential steps in the Microsoft Secure Development Lifecycle.

Learn secure design and development practices.

Understand secure implementation principles.

Grasp security testing methodologies.

• Access sources and further readings on secure coding practices.

Audience

Developers, Managers

After gaining familiarity with vulnerabilities and attack methods, participants will learn about the general approach and methodology for security testing, along with techniques that can be applied to uncover specific vulnerabilities. Security testing should begin with information gathering about the system (ToC, i.e., Target of Evaluation), followed by a thorough threat modeling process to identify and rate all threats, culminating in a risk analysis-driven test plan.

Security evaluations can occur at various stages of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Therefore, we discuss design reviews, code reviews, reconnaissance and information gathering about the system, testing the implementation, and securing the environment for deployment. The course introduces numerous security testing techniques in detail, such as taint analysis, heuristic-based code review, static code analysis, dynamic web vulnerability testing, and fuzzing. Various types of tools are presented to automate the security evaluation of software products, supported by exercises where these tools are used to analyze previously discussed vulnerable code. Real-life case studies enhance understanding of various vulnerabilities.

This course equips testers and quality assurance (QA) staff with the necessary skills to effectively plan and execute security tests, select and use appropriate tools and techniques to identify even hidden security flaws, providing essential practical skills that can be applied immediately in their work for government.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding
• Learn about Web vulnerabilities beyond the OWASP Top Ten and how to avoid them
• Learn client-side vulnerabilities and secure coding practices
• Understand security testing approaches and methodologies
• Gain practical knowledge in using security testing techniques and tools
• Access sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers, Testers

Protecting web applications requires well-prepared security professionals who are continuously aware of current attack methods and trends. A variety of technologies and environments exist that facilitate the development of web applications. It is essential to be knowledgeable about both platform-specific security issues and general vulnerabilities that apply regardless of the development tools used.

This course provides an overview of applicable security solutions in web applications, with a special focus on understanding the most important cryptographic solutions to be applied. The various web application vulnerabilities are presented from both the server side (following the OWASP Top Ten) and the client side, demonstrated through relevant attacks. The course also covers recommended coding techniques and mitigation methods to avoid these issues. The subject of secure coding is concluded by discussing typical security-related programming mistakes in input validation, improper use of security features, and code quality.

Testing plays a crucial role in ensuring the security and robustness of web applications. Various approaches—from high-level auditing through penetration testing to ethical hacking—can be applied to identify different types of vulnerabilities. However, if you want to go beyond easily identifiable issues, security testing should be well planned and properly executed. It is important to remember that security testers should ideally find all bugs to protect a system, while adversaries need only find one exploitable vulnerability to penetrate it.

Practical exercises will help participants understand web application vulnerabilities, programming mistakes, and most importantly, the mitigation techniques. Hands-on trials of various testing tools—from security scanners through sniffers, proxy servers, fuzzing tools to static source code analyzers—will provide essential practical skills that can be applied immediately in the workplace for government.

Participants attending this course will

• Understand basic concepts of security, IT security, and secure coding
• Learn about web vulnerabilities beyond OWASP Top Ten and how to avoid them
• Learn client-side vulnerabilities and secure coding practices
• Have a practical understanding of cryptography
• Understand security testing approaches and methodologies
• Gain practical knowledge in using security testing techniques and tools
• Be informed about recent vulnerabilities in various platforms, frameworks, and libraries
• Receive sources and further readings on secure coding practices

Audience

Developers, Testers

The Internet of Things (IoT) offers significant benefits for government, industry, energy and utility companies, municipalities, healthcare, and consumers. Data can be collected in vast quantities and with great detail concerning various critical areas such as public health and safety, environmental conditions, industrial and agricultural production, energy, and utilities. Advanced data analysis tools have been specifically designed to handle the massive datasets generated by IoT, enabling rapid and well-informed decision-making. However, implementing IoT systems can be a complex endeavor, fraught with challenges. Solutions often involve devices and technologies from multiple vendors, requiring a deep understanding of both software and hardware integration, as well as awareness of security, privacy, and safety risks for those whose environments are managed by these systems. IT professionals frequently lack experience working with embedded systems, sensor networks, actuators, real-time systems, and other components common in IoT. This course provides a foundational understanding of how these components interact with more familiar IT systems such as networks, cloud computing, and applications running on servers, desktop computers, and mobile devices. In this course, students will learn comprehensive strategies for planning, designing, developing, implementing, and maintaining an IoT system through case studies and hands-on activities. They will assemble and configure an IoT device to function within a sensor network. Specifically, students will create an IoT device based on an ESP8266 microcontroller, incorporating various common IoT features such as analog and digital sensors, a web-based interface, MQTT messaging, and data encryption. **Course Objectives**: In this course, you will learn how to apply Internet of Things technologies to address real-world challenges. You will: - Plan an IoT implementation. - Construct and program an IoT device. - Communicate with an IoT device using wired and wireless connections. - Process sensor input and control actuators on an IoT device. - Manage security, privacy, and safety risks in IoT projects. - Oversee an IoT prototyping and development project throughout the entire lifecycle. **Target Student**: This course is designed for IT professionals who possess baseline skills in computer hardware, software support, and development and are interested in learning how to design, develop, implement, operate, and manage Internet of Things devices and related systems. The student will gain hands-on experience assembling a prototype IoT device and using software development tools, though prior experience in electronics assembly and programming is not required. This course also prepares students for the CertNexus Certified Internet of Things (IoT) Practitioner (Exam ITP-110).

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have become essential tools for many organizations. When used effectively, these technologies provide actionable insights that drive critical decisions and enable the creation of innovative products and services. This course demonstrates how to apply various approaches and algorithms to solve business problems through AI and ML, follow a methodical workflow to develop sound solutions, use open-source, off-the-shelf tools to develop, test, and deploy those solutions, and ensure the protection of user privacy. The course includes hands-on activities for each topic area.

Course Objectives: In this course, you will implement AI techniques to solve business problems. You will:

• Specify a general approach to address a given business problem using applied AI and ML.
• Collect and refine a dataset to prepare it for training and testing.
• Train and tune a machine learning model.
• Finalize a machine learning model and present the results to the appropriate audience.
• Build linear regression models.
• Build classification models.
• Build clustering models.
• Build decision trees and random forests.
• Build support-vector machines (SVMs).
• Build artificial neural networks (ANNs).
• Promote data privacy and ethical practices within AI and ML projects.

Target Student: The skills covered in this course intersect three areas—software development, applied mathematics and statistics, and business analysis. This course is designed for individuals who are strong in one or two of these areas and are looking to enhance their skills in the others, so they can effectively apply artificial intelligence (AI) systems, particularly machine learning models, to business problems.

The target student may be a programmer aiming to develop additional skills to apply machine learning algorithms to business challenges, or a data analyst with strong skills in applying mathematics and statistics to business problems who is looking to expand their technology skills related to machine learning. A typical student in this course should have several years of experience with computing technology, including some proficiency in computer programming. This course is also designed to assist students in preparing for the CertNexus® Certified Artificial Intelligence (AI) Practitioner (Exam AIP-110) certification.

These skills are particularly valuable for government professionals looking to enhance their ability to solve complex problems and improve public sector workflows, governance, and accountability through AI and ML.

This course is tailored for professionals aiming to showcase a vendor-neutral, cross-industry skill set that will empower them to design, implement, operate, and manage a secure IoT ecosystem. Target Audience: This course is intended for IoT practitioners who wish to enhance their expertise in IoT security and privacy. It is also suitable for individuals pursuing the CertNexus Certified Internet of Things Security Practitioner (CIoTSP) certification and preparing for Exam ITS-110. The content aligns with the needs of professionals working in various sectors, including those for government, who require robust security practices to protect critical infrastructure and data.

Objectives:

In this course, you will identify many of the common risks involved in using conventional end-user technology and learn ways to use it safely to protect yourself from those risks.

You will:

• Identify security compliance measures for government.
• Address social engineering attempts effectively.
• Secure various devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
• Use the Internet securely to mitigate potential threats.

Target Student:

This course is designed for non-technical end users of computers, mobile devices, networks, and the Internet. It aims to enable you to use technology more securely to minimize digital risks. Additionally, this course prepares you to earn the Certified CyberSAFE credential. You can obtain your Certified CyberSAFE certificate by completing the credential process on the CHOICE platform following the course presentation.