Curriculum for Cyber Defense Specialist

CDS — Cyber Defense Specialist The Cyber Defense Specialist curriculum prepares students to protect organizations against modern cybersecurity threats, covering network defense, threat hunting, incident response, and security governance across a comprehensive set of objective domains. Students develop hands-on skills working with OSI and TCP/IP models, configuring and analyzing network infrastructure, including firewalls, IDS/IPS, and VLANs, and hardening operating systems on Windows, Linux, and mobile platforms. The curriculum also covers encryption, authentication methods including MFA and biometrics, endpoint protection, and the legal and ethical dimensions of cybersecurity work. Students who pass the Cyber Defense Specialist exam earn an industry-recognized credential demonstrating readiness to contribute to organizational security operations and incident response teams.