Date: On Demand
Duration: 6 Days
Course Objectives
This programme is designed for those who need to grasp the foundations of cybersecurity, and subsequently plan and conduct vulnerability assessment and penetration testing.
The first module covers the foundations of cybersecurity, and explains important key cybersecurity concepts and basic techniques, including: cryptography, Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI), secure channel using TLS/SSL, network security protocols, access control in Operating Systems, secure programming, as well as Web security. It also illustrates the fundamentals of how systems can fail due to malicious attacks, and how they can subsequently be protected and hardened. Several cybersecurity tools are also used to demonstrate how relevant cybersecurity techniques can work in practice.
The second module is practice-oriented which demonstrates how cyberattacks can target hosts, networks, and web servers. It also demonstrates how the target systems can subsequently be hardened. With its hands-on approach, the module puts cybersecurity knowledge and concepts into practice by employing various offensive and defensive tools in attacking and defending systems, respectively.
At the end of the programme, the learner will be able to:
- Explain the CIA security requirements and recognize their breaches in recent security incidents
- Describe and apply key concepts and mechanisms of principal protection mechanisms in cybersecurity, such as encryption, authentication, and secure channel
- Identify the limitations of classical cryptographic schemes, and also recognize well-known attacks on vulnerable hosts, networks, and web servers
- Utilize some basic security tools (e.g., OpenSSL, Wireshark) and security-related Linux commands to perform encryption and network traffic analysis
- Pinpoint flaws in programs due to common insecure programming practices, and suggest improvements using more secure practices instead
- Explain ethical hacking’s objectives, stages, and available tools
- Utilize cybersecurity tools for footprinting and enumerating target systems
- Utilize cybersecurity tools for scanning for and exploiting vulnerabilities in target systems
- Utilize cybersecurity tools for performing post-exploitation steps on exploited systems
- Explain and apply possible counter measures against attacks
Job Role Readiness
It will prepare learners in the following job roles to perform their responsibilities more effectively/ It will prepare learners for the following job roles:
- Associate Security Analyst
- Penetration Tester
Programme Structure
Who Should Attend
Mid-career PMETs and anyone would like to take up the role as Associate Security Analyst / Penetration Tester / Cyber Incident Investigator.
Prerequisites
- Knowledge of basic computer programming, and preferably some experience in using Linux Operating System
- Basic Computer networking
Course Conveners
(Click their photos to view their short biographies)
Assoc Prof Liang Zhenkai

Assoc Prof Liang Zhenkai
Assoc Prof Liang Zhenkai is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at National University of Singapore. He received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Stony Brook University in 2006, and B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Economics from Peking University in 1999.
His research area is in system and software security, and security in emerging platforms, such as Web, mobile, and Internet-of-things (IoT). He has been publishing high-impact papers in top security and software engineering conferences, and has won several best paper awards, namely, the Outstanding Paper Award at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) in 2003, the Best Paper Award at the USENIX Security Symposium in 2007, the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper at the ESEC and ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC-FSE) in 2009, and the Best Paper Award at the Web 2.0 Security & Privacy (W2SP) Workshop in 2014. He has been actively served as technical committee members and editorial board members of top security conferences and journals, including ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), USENIX Security Symposium, Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), and IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (TSDC).
He has taught various undergraduate-level and graduate-level modules (courses). He has won the Annual Teaching Excellence Award of NUS in 2014 and 2015, and has been publishing his teaching techniques and philosophy.
Dr Sufatrio

Dr Sufatrio
Dr Sufatrio is a Lecturer with the School of Computing (SoC) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from SoC, NUS. Previously, he was a Scientist and Acting Lab Head of the Mobile Forensics & Security Lab, at the Cyber Security & Intelligence (CSI) Department, Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), A*STAR. Prior to that, he was an Associate Scientist and then a Research Scientist with the Temasek Laboratories at the National University of Singapore (TL@NUS).
He is interested in many areas of computer security, and have published numerous papers on systems, network and mobile security.
Course Fees
Total Nett Programme Fee Payable, Including GST, after additional funding from the various funding schemes
Participants must fulfill at least 75% attendance and pass all assessment components to be eligible for SSG funding.
To enquire, email soc-ace@nus.edu.sg
To register, click Register
Course Code:
Introduction to Cybersecurity Programme: TGS-2022012735 (Classroom Learning) / TGS-2022012743 (Synchronous e-learning)
Ethical Hacking and System Hardening: TGS-2022012263 (Classroom Learning) / TGS-2022012319 (Synchronous e-learning)
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