Skip to content

Cybersecurity Fundamentals Textbook

A free, self-paced textbook in 8 chapters. Read a chapter, then drill it with the 256 companion flashcards using spaced repetition.

8 chapters · 256 cards · Updated

Chapters

  1. 1Foundations of Cybersecurity

    Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access, attack, or disruption. At the heart of the discipline lies the CIA triad:...

  2. 2Identity, Authentication, and Access Control

    Controlling who can do what rests on the AAA framework: authentication, authorization, and accounting. Authentication verifies a user's identity, typically with credentials, tokens...

  3. 3Cryptography and Public Key Infrastructure

    Cryptography is the mathematical backbone of confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Symmetric encryption uses a single shared key for both encryption and decryption, makin...

  4. 4Network and Infrastructure Security

    Network defenses begin with the firewall, a device or software that filters traffic based on rules covering source, destination, port, and protocol. A stateless firewall inspects e...

  5. 5Application and Web Security

    Most modern attacks target applications, making secure software development a frontline concern. The OWASP Top 10 is a periodically updated list of the most critical web applicatio...

  6. 6Threats, Attacks, and Malware

    Attackers rely on a wide arsenal of techniques, often chaining multiple weaknesses together. Phishing tricks users into revealing credentials or executing malicious actions through...

  7. 7Defense Operations and Incident Response

    Defenders think in terms of controls and their timing. Preventive controls stop incidents before they happen, detective controls find them when they occur, and corrective controls...

  8. 8Governance, Risk, and Compliance

    Frameworks and standards give organizations a shared vocabulary and a roadmap for managing risk. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) is a voluntary framework with five core...

← Back to the Cybersecurity Fundamentals deck