Security and Testing in Information Technology

Welcome to the Security and Testing in Information Technology (SPTI) course. This course combines theoretical foundations with hands-on labs to develop real-world competencies in offensive and defensive cybersecurity.

Your professional profile

As an information security professional, you will be responsible for identifying vulnerabilities, assessing risks, executing security tests, and communicating findings professionally. This course prepares you to think like an attacker and defend like an engineer.


Course content

Block 1: Foundations and reconnaissance

TopicDescription
00. Introduction to CybersecurityFundamental concepts, CIA triad, importance of cybersecurity
01. OSINTOpen source intelligence: techniques, tools, and ethics
02. LinuxTerminal mastery, filesystem, permissions, and basic scripting
03. Report CreationProfessional technical documentation of security findings
04. Threat ModelingThreat modeling with STRIDE, DREAD, and data flow diagrams

Block 2: Analysis and exploitation

TopicDescription
05. Reverse EngineeringStatic and dynamic binary analysis, disassemblers and debuggers
06. CryptographySymmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashes, and practical applications
07. Malware AnalysisStatic and dynamic malware analysis, indicators of compromise
08. Source Code Vulnerability ManagementDetecting code vulnerabilities with SAST and manual review

Block 3: Offensive security

TopicDescription
09. Ethical HackingPentesting methodology: reconnaissance, exploitation, post-exploitation
10. Buffer OverflowBuffer overflow, memory manipulation, and shellcode
11. Network AnalysisNetwork traffic capture and analysis, malicious pattern detection
12. Security ArchitectureSecure architecture, firewalls, segmentation, and access control

Block 4: Defense and operations

TopicDescription
13. Digital ForensicsEvidence preservation, forensic image and memory analysis
14. Web Application SecurityOWASP Top 10, XSS, SQLi, CSRF, and web analysis tools
15. AutomationSecurity task automation with Bash and Python
16. DevSecOpsSecurity in CI/CD pipelines, code and container analysis

Additional resources

  • Glossary — Technical terminology
  • Resources — Practice platforms, tools, frameworks, and references

Methodology

This course uses hands-on lab-based learning. Each topic combines theory and practice so you can apply concepts immediately. Throughout the semester:

  1. Identify threats and vulnerabilities — Reconnaissance and intelligence techniques
  2. Analyze systems and code — Reverse engineering, malware analysis, code review
  3. Execute security tests — Pentesting, controlled exploitation, network analysis
  4. Defend infrastructure — Secure architecture, digital forensics, automation

Topics are designed to be followed sequentially. Each one builds on the previous ones. Internal links [[like this]] take you to related pages.


Instructor: Daniel Vela Methodology: Hands-on labs with offensive and defensive focus