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IT Foundations

Learn the foundational IT concepts essential to all cybersecurity roles, and stop wasting time trying to figure out where to get started. Too many beginners get discouraged navigating unreliable, outdated, and irrelevant information, making it feel impossible to know how to move forward. That’s why we’ve curated this IT foundations course, featuring thoughtful, bite-sized content from expert instructors who have helped thousands of other beginners grasp essential IT topics. Get ready to take your first steps into cybersecurity by diving into core IT concepts needed for any cybersecurity role.

Purpose Statement

Cybrary Career Paths are comprehensive training programs designed to prepare you for the most in-demand roles in the cybersecurity workforce. Each path follows a Learn, Practice, Prove model and includes different activity types aligned to key topics within the path’s security domain. As you progress through the path, your progress will be measured in real time using Experience Points (XP) that serve as a comprehensive capability score for each topic. Upon completing all of the requirements for a path, you will be rewarded with a shareable digital badge via Credly.
9
42
M
Time
beginner
difficulty
0
ceu/cpe

Overview

Who is this career path for?

This path is for newcomers who are just beginning to explore IT and cybersecurity careers and skillsets.",

What skills will I gain by completing this path?

This path covers foundational IT skills that all cybersecurity roles and job functions are built upon. You’ll learn key IT concepts and skills including networks, systems administration with Linux, and end user security, plus an overview of common IT and security job functions.

Will this prepare me for an entry-level role?

While the content in this path will fast track your progress, it’s designed to cover IT basics, preparing you for a deeper dive into cybersecurity skills. After completing this path, our Cybersecurity Foundations path is the next step on your way to your entry-level role.

What prerequisites are needed for this career path? Do I need on-the-job experience?

No previous experience, knowledge, or skills are required for this path. All you need is intellectual curiosity and a growth-oriented mindset.

Frequently Asked Questions
What jobs can I get as a SOC Analyst?

While this course is focused on the SOC Analyst role and job title, there are other roles with similar responsibilities. Professionals trained in defensive security can pursue a variety of roles, including:

  • Cybersecurity Analyst
  • Threat Intelligence Analyst
  • Incident Response Analyst
  • Information Security Analyst
  • SOC-focused Security Engineer

SOC Analysts are employed across every industry, from healthcare and government to manufacturing, finance, retail, and more.

What are some SOC Analyst responsibilities and job requirements?

SOC Analysts monitor, detect, and respond to security incidents, playing a critical role in protecting an organization’s computer systems, networks, and data. SOC Analysts must remain aware of emerging threats, attack techniques, and vulnerabilities. 

Common SOC Analyst tasks and responsibilities include:

  • Providing threat analysis and security logs for security devices
  • Analyzing and responding to hardware and software weaknesses and vulnerabilities
  • Investigating, documenting, and reporting security problems and emerging trends
  • Managing network intrusion detection systems
  • Performing internal and external security audits
  • Maintaining security protocols and controls to protect systems and files against unauthorized access
What Will I Learn?
Foundations
Focused on the core IT competencies that cybersecurity professionals need to succeed in any career path.
Defensive Security
Focused on trying to find the bad guys. Topics such as threat intelligence, threat hunting, network monitoring, incident response. Defensive security is a reactive measure taken once a vulnerability is found through prevention, detection, and response.
Engineering and Operations
Focused on building and operating information systems.
Governance, Risk, and Compliance
Focused on the core IT competencies that cybersecurity professionals need to succeed in any career path.
Leadership and Management
Focused on program design and oversight. Covers project and program management.
Offensive Security
Focused on validating security controls by trying to break them (i.e. penetration testing or ethical hacking). Topics such as Kali Linux, metasploit, scanning, and privilege escalation. Offensive security seeks out the problem or vulnerability through ethical hacking and finds a solution to disable the operation.
Offensive Security
Focused on the core IT competencies that cybersecurity professionals need to succeed in any career path.
Path Outline

Course Outline

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What Our Learners Are Saying

Join 3 million+ users, including 96% of Fortune 1000 companies who use our platform to upskill their teams. See what the buzz is about - start learning for free!

Cybrary is just an amazing platform. Literally thousands of hours of quality content. You can find a course or a lab for just about everything, and they are constantly releasing new material. They also have highly responsive customer service. It's been worth every penny.

Jared

Greatest investment I have made to dateCybrary is solely responsible for my passing the CompTIA A+ exam and is the reason I am going into my Net+ with confidence. I have learned a great deal through virtual labs, practice tests, recorded lessons, and the various other things they offer. The community is great as well. Got a question about the interview process for a tech job? Ask in discord. Just got a cert? Post it in discord and let the reactions and comments flow making you feel great about yourself. It is an all around wonderful experience and I rate it as a totally worthwile expense for starting or furthering your career in the IT industry. Invest in yourself.

Bradly

Training is coolEasy to enroll, instructors are enthusiastic and professionnal, technical stuff is very well explained.

JPM

I've been having concerns on how to start in terms of building my #cybercareer with a sustained path. So I got introduced to Cybrary and I was able to enroll and startup early last week and I have gone through two sessions, getting to know Cybrary and also a view of what cybersecurity is from their perspective. That gave me an overall view of what jobs are found in the space, their general responsibilities, required skills, necessary certifications and their average salary pay... Cybrary has given me a greater reason to pursue my hearts desire at all cost.

Jamal O.
Student

Thanks to Cybrary I'm now a more complete professional! Everyone in [the] cybersecurity area should consider enrollment in any Cybrary courses.

João S.
IT Administrator - CISSP

The interviewer said the certifications and training I had completed on my own time showed that I was a quick learner, and they gave me a job offer.

Justin B.
IT Specialist

Our partnership with Cybrary has given us the opportunity to provide world-class training materials at no cost to our clients, thanks to the funding we’ve received from the government. Cybrary offers a proven method for building a more skilled cybersecurity workforce.

Katie Adams
Senior Director

All of the knowledge, skills, and abilities gained through the program were essential to me impressing the employer during the interview.

Gabby H.
Senior Security Analyst

Cybrary is a one-stop-shop for my cybersecurity learning needs. Courses on vulnerability management, threat intelligence, and SIEM solutions were key for my early roles. As I grow into leadership roles influencing business policy, I’m confident Cybrary will continue developing the knowledge and skills I need to succeed.

No Name
Senior Cybersecurity Consultant and Virtual CISO

After tens of minutes, I proudly have achieved my certificate of continuing education for Intro to Infosec... Doing everything I can to avoid retaking the CISSP test! Thanks Cybrary - 1 CPE at a time!

Alex H.

We’ve had six students this summer, all with different schedules, so we’ve been trying to balance their learning experience with some practical work. It’s not like they’re all sitting in a classroom at the same time, so the ability for them to learn at their own pace without any additional support has probably been the biggest benefit of using Cybrary.

Collin Ricker
Business Development Manager

Just finished the third out of four MITRE ATT&CK Defender courses on Cybrary... If anyone is interested in learning how to do ATT&CK based SOC assessments I would definitely recommend this course. The best part is that it is FREE!

Eric T.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Excellent new series of courses from Cybrary, each course covers a different CVE, demonstrates vulnerability and its mitigation.

Raul C.
Cybersecurity Specialist

I've successfully completed the career path provided by Cybrary to become a SOC Analyst - Level 2. Eventually, do what you love, and do it well - that's much more meaningful than any metric.

Wissal Ayari
SOC Analyst

Cybrary is helping me proactively build skills and advance my career. Labs put concepts immediately into practice, reinforcing the content (and saving me time not having to spin up my own VM). Career paths lay everything out clearly, so I know what skills to prioritize.

No Name
Enterprise Analyst

I got a job as a cybersecurity analyst at Radware with a salary I've never even dreamed about AND with no prior experience.

Alexei Z.
Cybersecurity Analyst

Thank you to Cybrary for providing this opportunity to complete the Cybrary Orientation Certification program with such sleekness and detail-oriented learning.

Ganesh Y.

So far I have really been enjoying Cybrary's SOC Analyst Training, it has been very informative. I just finished up with the command line section and now I'm on to the more fun stuff (Malware Analysis). I think it's so dope that platforms like this exist. This is a game changer.

Tobias Castleberry
SOC Analyst, Security+ Certified

I decided to check out Cybrary and the courses they had to offer after seeing a few posts from people who had completed their courses. I'm happy to say that their instructors are knowledgeable and clear, and their course catalogues are extensive and offer relevant career path courses.

Nazli S.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Glad to have discovered Cybrary they are such a great tool to use to help diversify your knowledge through lessons, assessments and practices. All compact[ed] into highly detailed and informative chunks of information. Feeling very content with the results.

Temi B.
Cisco Certified Network Associate

Well, it took a long time, yet I struggled hard to complete the course "Become a SOC Analyst - Level 2" by Cybrary. Cybrary is the best platform that I have ever come across. Tons of virtual labs, great in-depth insights from the experts, and the best career path/learning modules.

Madiraju Pranay Kashyap
Programmar Analyst Trainee

I am currently working in a restaurant and going to school full time. But it is not stopping me from working on gaining more and more skills. I have already spent more than 30 hours on Become a SOC Analyst level 1 [with] Cybrary and still have 67 hours to go.

Abibou F.
SOC Analyst Level 1 Learner