Cyber security fundamentals

Explain the difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption.

Explain how hashing is used to securely store passwords.

Use a command-line tool to verify a file's integrity using a SHA-256 hash.

Explain how TLS/SSL uses certificates and encryption to secure web traffic.

Inspect a website's TLS certificate to identify its issuer, subject, and validity period.

Describe common password attacks such as brute-force, dictionary, and credential stuffing.

Differentiate between authentication (proving identity) and authorization (granting permissions).

Set up and use multi-factor authentication (MFA) on a personal account to improve security.

Classify samples of malware (viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware) based on their behavior.

Analyze sample phishing emails to identify the social engineering tactics used.

Diagram how a Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Distributed DoS (DDoS) attack function to overwhelm a target.

Explain how a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack intercepts communication.

Given a summary of a real-world cyber attack, identify the attack vectors used.

Explain the phases of a penetration test: reconnaissance, scanning, exploitation, and reporting.

Differentiate between passive reconnaissance (public information) and active reconnaissance (direct interaction).

Use public tools like WHOIS and online DNS lookups to gather information about a target domain.

Use Nmap to perform a network scan to discover live hosts and open ports.

Interpret Nmap scan results to identify services running on a target system.

Explain the ethical and legal boundaries of security testing and reconnaissance.

Describe how a web application uses a database and SQL to store and retrieve data.

Explain how SQL Injection (SQLi) attacks manipulate database queries to bypass security.

Perform a basic SQL Injection attack on a deliberately vulnerable web application.

Explain how Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users.

Demonstrate a reflected XSS attack on a practice environment.

Use the OWASP Top 10 as a reference for categorizing common web application risks.

Explain what a software exploit is and how vulnerabilities are catalogued using the CVE system.

Use a password cracking tool like John the Ripper to crack simple hashed passwords from a list.

Navigate the Metasploit Framework to search for an exploit module for a known vulnerability.

Configure and launch a Metasploit module to gain initial access to a practice target.

Describe the concept of privilege escalation and why it is a critical goal for an attacker.

Apply the principle of least privilege to restrict user permissions in a given file system scenario.

Configure basic host-based firewall rules to allow or block specific network traffic.

Differentiate between Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS).

Analyze web server and authentication logs to identify evidence of a brute-force scanning attempt.

Look up a known CVE entry and identify the recommended security patch or mitigation strategy.

Describe the six phases of the incident response lifecycle: Preparation, Identification, Containment, Eradication, Recovery, and Lessons Learned.

Define Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and identify examples in simulated security event data.

Trace an attacker's basic actions by reconstructing the sequence of events from a provided log file.

Explain the importance of containment in preventing an ongoing attack from spreading.

Write a simple incident report summarizing the findings from a simulated security breach.