For anyone working online, or using their PCs and laptops, security should be one of the top priorities. Security on the Internet also called cybersecurity has become a familiar term, and involves protecting your device from unwanted malware as well as protecting your information and privacy online.
There are many cyber threats present at any time and they span from malware, hacking, obtaining information, identity thefts, and more. They can become a problem for individuals and organizations alike and everyone needs to make sure to do everything they can to protect themselves.
But what can you do? Where do you start? You must know something about computers and have certain knowledge which extends your current expertise. We all know how to use computers, but not many people understand how these things work.
Luckily, learning more about cybersecurity isn’t that difficult no matter where you come from. You can acquire basic knowledge and protect yourself online and be pretty efficient when it comes to that.
Here, we are going to show you how you can learn cybersecurity of your own, so keep up with us! We could divide the article into the following points:
- Get the general idea of what you want to learn
- Understand the Limitations
- Make Plans
- Take Courses
- Surround yourself in Cyberspace
Let’s now analyze each of these in greater details:
Get the general idea of what you want to learn
First of all, you need to understand that cybersecurity is a large area and there are many pathways you can take. What is it that you want to learn about security online? This is the first question that you should ask yourself.
Some of the most common things you can study is coding, administrating systems such as Windows, Linux and iOS, look into applications and programs, as well as DNS servers or go into networking and communication with others online.
This is a more general division and of course each of these branches out further on. Having said that, you should recognize your field of interest and where you will spend the most time in. Once you know that, you can take further action.
Understand the Limitations
Of course, having a Computer Science degree makes everything a lot easier. People with such a degree already have the foundations of cybersecurity, or some have already mastered it (depending on what you studied).
Not having a degree shouldn’t stop you from learning about cybersecurity. However, you need to understand that there are certain limitations if you want to learn by yourself without any course or structure.
In other words, when you are starting from scratch, you don’t know where to go. This way, it can be hard to navigate around different topics, but you can get the basics of it as you explore. Keep in mind that you will never be able to master this subject in case you’re learning by yourself. But if you need it for personal application, it can be quite enough.
Make Plans
Now that you understand what cybersecurity is and that you can learn it at home, without spending thousands of dollars, you can create a plan of action. What will you learn first and where will you start? It would be best to find some courses online and build on them as you progress. Take side notes and put in work and the results will come.
Take Courses
That leads us to the next topic and that’s choosing a course. It is difficult to know which course to select, but panitechacademy.com has some excellent offers regarding cybersecurity. While there, you can also check out some other IT-related stuff as well.
There are some other sites that offer useful courses such as Coursera, but we will leave the choice to you.
When you first start out, you can select two or three fundamental courses to familiarize yourself with cybersecurity and then opt for the more advanced. However, these will not be enough for you to get all you want. And that leads us to our next point.
Surround yourself in Cyberspace
The best way to learn anything is to surround yourself with whatever it is you want to learn. For example, we are talking about cybersecurity here, so other than courses, you need to find articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, workshops and anything else you can think of to learn as much as possible.
All these different media will provide you with different information and it is just a matter of time until you connect all the dots. For example, courses can be a great way to start learning the basics, but during some online workshops, you can put the knowledge to use. Reading about cybersecurity will help you learn new things and what you should also do is participate in forums and communities.
Meeting as many people as possible who are into cybersecurity will really help you get immersed and understand how it works. You will see what problems others face and how they look at different issues and find solutions.
Not only that, but they can share valuable content which you wouldn’t find by yourself. Keep in mind that you can always ask them and someone will come up with an answer. The real value you get from these groups and online communities are the support as people tend to push and motivate others to learn as much as they can!
Can You do it?
If you have ever wondered whether you could learn about cybersecurity by yourself, our answer would be “Yes”. However, we’ve laid out some potential issues that you can face when you learn about this kind of stuff and since cybersecurity is relatively new and still unexplored, you might get confused from time to time.
You might also happen to find contradictory information and lack of sources, but over time you will see what works and what doesn’t work for you.
The important thing is to get started and give it some time. It may feel tiresome at first, but you will get there!
