<Cyber Security Base>

Cyber Security Base with F-Secure is a free course series by University of Helsinki in collaboration with F-Secure Cyber Security Academy that focuses on building core knowledge and abilities related to the work of a cyber security professional.

About the Course Series

The course series consists of multiple smaller courses, each with a specific theme. Themes include a brief introduction to cyber security, operational security, web software development, types of vulnerabilities typical of web software, discovery and mitigation of such vulnerabilities, and advanced topics such as secure software architectures and cryptography. There will be several case studies as well as projects for participants. At the end of the course series, we'll also organize a friendly competition where participants get to find and fix vulnerabilities within a limited timeframe.


New material and content will be released as the courses progress. Next week, we'll release the first parts of the Securing Software course.


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Open courses

Advanced Topics 3 Cr. (ECTS)

date_range 16.1.2017 - 6.3.2017


This part focuses on security in networks, including internet security issues, issues in 4G networks as well as the issues and remedies planned for the upcoming 5G network. This includes also relevant cryptography topics. Architectural analysis of existing (software) systems will be also visited, and selected methods for log mining for the purposes of identifying and tackling attacks will be studied.

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Course Project II 1 Cr. (ECTS)

date_range 20.2.2017 - 3.4.2017


In the second project, the participants will install an operating system with a variety of vulnerabilities and then install a network intrusion prevention system into it. Subsequently, the participants will familiarize themselves with penetration testing software, and attack the system they installed.

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Upcoming courses

Capture The Flag 1 Cr. (ECTS)

date_range 3.4.2017 - 10.4.2017


A Capture the Flag (CTF) competition will be organized at the end of the course series. In the competition, participants will be given a variety of tasks that are related to the topics of the course series. Participants will gain points for every solved task. The amount of points depends on the complexity of the task as well as the amount of time that the spent on the task.

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Past courses

Introduction to Cyber Security 1 Cr. (ECTS)

date_range 25.10.2016 - 20.11.2016


This part of the course series will introduce the participant to the relevant issues in cyber security. These issues include the stakeholders' and users' ability to disrupt the functionality of a system; corporate responsibilities and liabilities; and the never-ending software crisis that is related to the increasing amount of software and maintenance.

Participants will be contacted regarding the course credits during December 2016 and January 2017.

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Securing Software 3 Cr. (ECTS)

date_range 31.10.2016 - 7.1.2017


This part focuses on security issues related to interconnected software. The participant will learn the principles of developing web applications, typical security issues that are related to such applications, and how such issues are discovered and mitigated.

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Course Project I 1 Cr. (ECTS)

date_range 19.12.2016 - 5.2.2017


In the first project, the participants will construct software with security flaws, point out the flaws in the project, and provide the steps to fix them.

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