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Free and Low Cost Online Cybersecurity Learning Content
Representations and Warranties:
Commercial entities or materials may be identified in this web site or linked web sites. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by NIST, nor is it intended to imply that the entities or materials are necessarily the best available for the purpose.
During this unusual time in our lives, many of us find we want to improve our knowledge, skills or even prepare for new career opportunities. If you are interested in cybersecurity careers, there are numerous online education providers to choose from. Many online courses are available from your local community college, four-year universities, even the prestigious Centers of Academic Excellence programs – please review all options.
The following links are for free and low-cost online educational content on topics such as information technology and cybersecurity. Some, not all, may contribute towards professional learning objectives or lead to industry certifications and online degrees. Please note that this site will continue to be updated as new information is gathered and edited for clarity and accuracy.
This page is continually updated. Please contact us for more information on how to add additional materials or to correct an error.
Career and Professional Development
| Name and Hyperlink to Materials* | Description** |
|---|---|
| Center for Development of Security Excellence Cybersecurity eLearning | Free cybersecurity eLearning courses for the Department of Defense (DoD) and other U.S. Government personnel and contractors within the National Industrial Security Program (NISP). |
| Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Workshop Training | Training provided by Microsoft that includes a collection of security learnings, principles, and recommendations for modernizing security in your organization. |
| Critical Knowledge Explorer | CyberVista offering that includes more than 22 hours of free on-demand training and discounted labs covering Network Fundamentals, Threats and Attacks, and Network Security. |
| Cyberbit Range Remote Training | Free remote training for SOC teams, providing live, simulated cyberattacks on Cyberbit’s cloud-based Cyber Range. |
| Free courses and low cost subscriptions to help you master cybersecurity techniques such as Analyzing Malware, Penetration Testing, Advanced Persistent Threats, and much more. A low cost lifetime subscription is also available. | |
| Cyber Skyline Professional | Heavily discounted scenario-driven cybersecurity labs/challenges for students (use .edu email to sign up). Over 100+ scenarios ranging from forensic analysis to offensive cybersecurity skills that are delivered on an on-demand platform with no time limits and a vibrant Slack community. |
| Cybrary | Free information technology and cybersecurity training portal. |
| EC-Council | Free resources for the information security community in the form of webinars, blogs, online video training, and much more. |
| Elastic | Free on-demand Elastic Stack, observability, and security courses. |
| Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE) | Free online cybersecurity training for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government employees, federal contractors, and US military veterans. |
| Fortinet | Free access to the FortiGate Essentials Training Course and Network Security Expert courses. |
| Hacker101 | Free class for web security. |
| Holistic Information Security Practitioner Institute (HISPI) | Heavily discounted (use code HISPI-COVID-19) online, on-demand Cyber Security Management Course. |
| Hopper's Roppers Security Training | Community built around a series of free courses that provide training to beginners in the security field. |
| IBM (hosted by Coursera) | Free (7-day trial) suite of courses on IT Fundamentals for Cybersecurity Specialization. |
| IBM Security Learning Academy | Free technical training for IBM Security products. |
| Infosec Skills | Free access (7-day trial; low cost after trial) to 500+ courses, 70+ learning paths, and 100+ browser-based labs for IT, security, and engineering professionals. |
| (ISC)2 Webinars and Courses | Free technical webinars and free courses for (ISC)2 members ($125/year and pre-qualifications required) to earn Continuing Professional Education (CPEs). |
| (ISC)2 Utilizing Big Data | Free course for (ISC)2 members (low cost for non-members) that provides an overview of Big Data components, architectures and applications. |
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Free membership (65+ hours of IT training content) and low cost memberships (4000+ hours of content, practice exams, and virtual labs). Free access to select CompTIA online courses for educational institutions during the Spring and Summer 2020 semesters – learn more. |
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| Microsoft Cyber Security Architecture | Collection of best practices that is presented in a series of video trainings that provide clear actionable guidance for security-related decisions |
| Microsoft Technologies Training | Free security-related courses on Microsoft Technologies. |
| Mossé Cyber Security Institute | Sixty-five free exercises including Penetration Testing, Red Teaming, Security Tools, Cyber Defence, Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC), and theory, concepts, and fundamentals of cyber security. |
| NICCS Education and Training Catalog | Database of free and for pay, online and in person courses. |
| NIST Cybersecurity Professional (NCSP) Awareness Training | Low cost course that introduces students to the basic concepts associated with Digital Transformation, Cybersecurity Risk Management, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. |
| Open P-TECH | Free digital learning on the tech skills of tomorrow. |
| PentesterLab | Free exercises that cover everything from basic bugs to advanced vulnerabilities. Access Pentester Lab PRO for low cost. |
| Pluralsight | Free access to 7,000+ expert-led video courses and more during the month of April. |
| Project Ares by Circadence | Project Ares is a low cost, online, gamified learning platform that provides cybersecurity skill learning through hands on activities including concept-driven games and scenarios that emulate real-world networks and network traffic. |
| SANS | Free cybersecurity community resources and programs including white papers, webcasts, newsletters, tools/workstations, scholarship/community programs, templates, blogs, cyber ranges, and security posters. |
| SANS Cyber Aces Online | Free online course that teaches the fundamentals of cybersecurity including operating systems, networking, and systems administration. |
| Skillsoft |
Free trial access to sample 7,100+ courses, 110+ practice labs, and 10+ live online boot camps across 67 subjects. The free trial is currently for 14 days. |
| Udemy |
Heavily discounted online courses for various certifications. |
| Veracode Security Labs Community Edition | Free beginner to advanced courses that allow developers to sharpen their secure coding skills. |
| Web Security Academy | Free online web security training. |
Educator training and Curriculum
| Name and Hyperlink to Materials* | Description** |
|---|---|
| CertNexus | Free online training for teachers and instructors for Cyber Secure Coder, Cybersec First Responders, and CyberSAFE. Additional resources for certifications and curriculum. |
| CLARK Center Plan C | Free cybersecurity curriculum that is primarily video-based or provide online assignments that can be easily integrated into a virtual learning environments. |
| Computer Security Education Resource Collection |
Community-sourced collection of free resources related to computer security, cybersecurity, and information security education. The collection is primarily targeted at instructors looking for course materials. |
| CyberCIEGE Educational Video Game | Free network security simulation packaged as a video game with many scenarios, suitable for high school through graduate courses. |
| Labtainers Cyber Lab Exercises | Free Linux-based cybersecurity labs including automated assessment of student work, with over 50 labs prepackaged to run on student laptops. |
| M.E. Kabay | Free industry courses and course materials for students, teachers, and others are welcome to use for free courses and lectures. |
| National CyberWatch Center Cloud-Based Labs | Heavily discounted online labs tied to industry certifications and higher education courses; academic institutions and faculty only. |
| NCyTE Center Curriculum | Free cybersecurity curriculum and teaching resources for high school and college instructors. Materials can be incorporated into existing coursework or used to develop new classes. |
| TestOut's 2020 K12 Grant | Free TestOut courses for K12 teachers. Application process required. |
Employee Awareness Training
| Name and Hyperlink to Materials* | Description** |
|---|---|
| Center for Development of Security Excellence Cybersecurity Catalog | Free security awareness resources for learners including games, posters, shorts, videos, and webinars. |
| Cybersecurity Education GAMES For Kids and Families | A list of free resources curated by the NICE Working Group K12 Subgroup. |
| Cyber Security for Remote Workers Staff Awareness E-learning Course | Low cost non-technical course help employees remain safe, and understand what to do if and when they experience a cyber attack or phishing scam. |
| Email Security and Privacy Awareness Course | Free one-hour course to help raise awareness of email data security and privacy. |
| Information Security and Cyber Security Staff Awareness E-Learning Course | Low cost course aimed employees who are involved in processing information, use information technology in their daily job, or use the Internet as a means of conducting business. |
| Wizer Security Awareness Training | Free Security Awareness Training includes everything you need to train your employees how to protect themselves against cybersecurity attacks, it is 100% free forever with over 20 free videos, quizzes, employee progress reports, and certificates. |
| Phishing Staff Awareness E-Learning Course | Low cost phishing awareness training. |
K12 Education and Games
| Name and Hyperlink to Materials* | Description** |
|---|---|
| Career Explorations: Cybersecurity | Free cybersecurity curriculum for 5th - 10th graders. |
| Culture of Cybersecurity | Free downloadable kids activities to help your family learn basic cybersecurity concepts and defense strategies. |
| Fundamentals of Cybersecurity Information | Free (sign up and use class code 2A4E1) courses for middle and high school students. |
| NICERC at Home | Free activities and Capture the Flag challenges that teach foundational cybersecurity skills and introduction to cybersecurity careers. |
| Palo Alto Networks | Free activities, lessons and virtual environments that increase a students knowledge of cybersecurity through narrated content, interactions, demonstrations, and knowledge checks. |
| picoCTF | Free computer security game targeted at middle and high school students. |
*Materials are related to coding, cybersecurity product training, certification preparation or general IT and cybersecurity skills development, and teacher training and curriculum.
**Some of these materials may only be free or low cost (less than $100) for a limited time.
For more information on how to add additional information or to correct an error, please email nice.nist@nist.gov.
Contacts
FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
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NICE Program Office(301) 975-5048100 Bureau Dr.
Gaithersburg, MD 20899