Heat :grin:

I've just read the first 350 pages. So far it's only been advice to users. Nothing much in depth. There's a link to a Sophos 'dictionary of security terms' But there's also a link to the full course at the Open University which is free (probably contains the videos which are missing from the Kindle Edition. In the Kidde Edition. You are supposed to write essays on the subjects discussed to show you've understood the topic. Presumably with the OU, you actually get to submit them to someone? You also apparenty get something to say you've completed the course. But AFAICT it's user only.
This is the link
open.edu/ope…=ol
Oh, and the information is about 5 years out of date

Had a little look at part of the book and then bothered to click on the associated link in it to the free course OU pages – good range and some quite interesting topics there.



Well I could see by the obvious words in the description that it is clearly a basic (“introduction”), user’s advice course (“stay safe online”). So the information in it should not go over anyone’s heads… that’s not to say that jo public will know everything in it. It’s good for clarifications and if people don’t work in an office or go online much at all this could definitely teach them a few things in an easy to understand way.



Part of the books historic security info touches on the U.S retailer Target being hacked in 2013 and covers how in 2014 banks had to replace 17 million credit and debit cards, at a cost of more than $172 million, although the exact amounts of the fraud that occurred isn’t fully known. It discusses how hackers got in using a heating and ventilation system contractors computer.



Others sections in the book get the user to think about their own job/business, to be able to figure out where there information assets are and how they need to safeguard them - relevant to most workplaces really.



As it says on the tin it’s a free course and there is a selection to choose from.

There’s a free statement of participation on completion, which is ok but I’d like to see places like this offer an optional online exam and basic cert for an affordable fee – then people could use it as a part of their CPD which is relevant in many different work places nowadays.



Open learn cyber security page is here:

open.edu/ope…n-0



And the main page with other science free courses is at:

open.edu/ope…ses



Note: when you go into some of the course detail pages you have to scroll right down to the bottom to see the information. There seems to be Abbreviation glossaries for a number of courses which is helpful to aid learning technical terms before starting a course.

Thanks for sharing.