MOOC Learning Online - Week 5

My second course I wil study this semester is Introduction to Cyber Security by

The Open University on FutureLearn.

I find topic of cybersecurity and information security extra interesting, but I do not think I know enough about technical details of this field. My main motivation is being able to understand this topic in relation to the related situations we can read on the news, where there are many mentionings of cyberattacs and scams related to information security. I also believe there is potential in library-driven education and popularisation for this subject, so we as librarians can teach the general public the basics of cybersecurity as a part of information literacy.

The first week of my new course starts with introduction to the topic, including terms and guidelines or threats like malware. Most of the concepts like phishing were introduced quite briefly, because the course offers deeper look into those concepts in further weeks.

What I have found interesting was the types of cyber attacs - attacking online identities, attacking industrial systems and attacking specific targets.

As I already mentioned, the firts week serves as introduction for students to understand why and how to protect themselves. The self-protection part begins with evaluation of your information assets, meaning which information need protection. After this first step you evauate how these assets can be compromised, especially their vulnerability, threats and countermeasurements.

Even in this first week, there are already mentioned tools and software solutions to research your own security, especially the devices of The Internet of Things (IoT) using software Shodan. Also there is a huge list of resources about threats like govenment sites, news, blogs, tech sites etc.

One of the most important information from this week is that you have to stay informed about threads, technology and solutions.