SANS SEC401: Security Essentials – Network, Endpoint, and Cloud

This course will teach you the most effective steps to prevent attacks and detect adversaries with actionable techniques that can be used as soon as you get back to work. You will learn tips and tricks designed to help you win the battle against the wide range of cyber adversaries that want to harm your environment.

Organizations are going to be targeted, so they must be prepared for eventual compromise. Today more than ever before, TIMELY detection and response is critical. The longer an adversary is present in your environment, the more devastating and damaging the impact becomes. The most important question in information security may well be, “How quickly can we detect, respond, and REMEDIATE an adversary?”

Information security is all about making sure you focus on the right areas of defense, especially as applied to the uniqueness of YOUR organization. In SEC401, you will learn the language and underlying workings of computer and information security, and how best to apply them to your unique needs. You will gain the essential and effective security knowledge you will need if you are given the responsibility to secure systems or organizations.

Whether you are new to information security or a seasoned practitioner with a specialized focus, SEC401 will provide the essential information security skills and techniques you need to protect and secure your critical information and technology assets, whether on-premise or in the cloud. SEC401 will also show you how to directly apply the concepts learned into a winning defensive strategy, all in the terms of the modern adversary. This is how we fight; this is how we win!

Syllabus
SEC401.1: Network Security and Cloud Essentials
SEC401.2: Defense in Depth
SEC401.3: Vulnerability Management and Response
SEC401.4: Data Security Technologies
SEC401.5: Windows and Azure Security
SEC401.6: Linux, AWS, and Mac Security

BUSINESS TAKEAWAYS:

This course will help your organization:

• Address high-priority security problems
• Leverage the strengths and differences among the top three cloud providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform)
• Build a network visibility map to validate the attack surface
• Reduce your organization’s attack surface through hardening and configuration management

You will learn (applied to on-premise and in the Cloud)

• The core areas of cybersecurity and how to create a security program that is built on a foundation of Detection, Response, and Prevention

• Practical tips and tricks that focus on addressing high-priority security problems within your organization and doing the right things that lead to security solutions that work
• How adversaries adapt tactics and techniques, and importantly how to adapt your defense accordingly
• What ransomware is and how to better defend against it
• How to leverage a defensible network architecture (VLANs, NAC, and 802.1x) based on advanced persistent threat indicators of compromise
• The Identity and Access Management (IAM) methodology, including aspects of strong authentication (Multi-Factor Authentication)
• How to leverage the strengths and differences among the top three cloud providers (Amazon, Microsoft, and Google), including the concepts of multi-cloud
• How to identify visible weaknesses of a system using various tools and, once vulnerabilities are discovered, configure the system to be more secure (realistic and practical application of a capable vulnerability management program)
• How to sniff network communication protocols to determine the content of network communication (including access credentials) using tools such as tcpdump and Wireshark
• How to use Windows, Linux, and macOS command line tools to analyze a system looking for high-risk indicators of compromise, as well as the concepts of basic scripting for the automation of continuous monitoring
• How to build a network visibility map that can be used to validate the attack surface and determine the best methodology to reduce the attack surface through hardening and configuration management
• Why some organizations win and why some lose when it comes to security, and most importantly, how to be on the winning side

With the rise in advanced persistent threats, it is inevitable that organizations will be targeted. Defending against attacks is an ongoing challenge, with new threats emerging all the time, including a next generation of threats. In order to be successful in defending an environment, organizations need to understand what really works in cybersecurity. What has worked – and will always work – is taking a risk-based approach to cyber defense.