CS50's Introduction to Cybersecurity

I recently took CS50's Introduction to Cybersecurity, an online course from Harvard University on edx.org. It's taught by David J. Malan, who never fails to deliver an energetic and engaging lecture. Over five weeks he covers some of the most important threats in the online world and explains what can be done to mitigate them. The main topics are:

• How to secure our accounts
• How to secure data
• How to secure systems
• How to secure software
• How to preserve privacy

I can really recommend this course to anyone even remotely interested in the subject. Bear in mind, it's an introduction to cybersecurity, so don't expect too much. But these lectures touch on a lot of topics that are good to know in this day and age.

What I enjoyed most were the assignments. They're simple question-answer forms, but you actually have to type your answer - sometimes a few paragraphs - instead of just selecting from multiple choice options. You either understand something well enough to explain it, or you go back and listen again. Or read: text transcriptions are available too. Some questions don't have direct answers in the lectures, which forces you to think a bit and search online for more information.

In the end, you have to complete the final project: find a cybersecurity-related event and create a 7-10 minute long video presentation about it. I spoke about this story.

All assignments are verified by the staff - actual human beings - so you feel like you have to deliver and that you're not just doing this for nothing. It's so cool that they're doing this. Thanks for that, Harvard University! Honestly, great experience.