Professional Certificate in Cybersecurity

Accelerate your career in cybersecurity in 24 weeks, online

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Who Is This Program For?

This program is a career accelerator for those who want to learn the essentials of cybersecurity from MIT faculty.

  • Career Launchers: Early-career IT professionals, network engineers, and system administrators wanting to gain a comprehensive overview of cybersecurity and prepare themselves for continued career progression in this high-growth field.

  • Career Builders: IT project managers and engineers wanting to gain the ability to think critically about the threat landscape including vulnerabilities in cybersecurity, to better understand what kind of cybersecurity to specialize in, and upgrade their own resume for career advancement

  • Career Switchers: Mid- or later-career professionals currently working outside of cybersecurity wanting to add critical cybersecurity knowledge and foundational lessons to their resume as they begin considering a career change to an in-demand field.

Program Frameworks

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MITRE ATT&CK®

The MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base is explored deeper in the offensive and defensive aspects of this program. It contains adversary tactics and techniques that are utilized as the foundational development of specific threat models and methodologies.

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Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM)

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) is discussed in the defensive cybersecurity section. This framework includes domains covering the aspects of cloud technology.

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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Framework

The NIST CSF framework is threaded throughout the entire program. It is a widely used cybersecurity framework that encompasses guidelines for organizations to prepare themselves against cybersecurity attacks.

Section Summaries

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Section 1: Introduction to Cybersecurity

The first eight weeks of this program serve as an introduction to cybersecurity with a focus on fundamental concepts and identity and access management (IAM).

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Section 2: Defensive Cybersecurity

The second set of eight weeks focus on defensive cybersecurity. Take a deeper dive into concepts that include cryptography, SOC (security operations center), IR (incident response), secure systems and network administration, and cloud security.

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Section 3: Offensive Cybersecurity

The final set of eight weeks addresses the importance of offensive cybersecurity through topics such as penetration testing, social engineering, artificial intelligence, privacy, regulation and data governance, and OT (Operational Technology) and IoT (Internet of Things) risk.

Program Highlights

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Earn a certificate and 36 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) from MIT xPRO

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Insights and case studies from renowned MIT faculty

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Foundational cybersecurity knowledge

SLP - MO-PCCY - Completion of a capstone

Completion of a capstone presentation to share with potential employers

SLP - MO-PCCY - A great foundation

A great foundation towards a degree or certification in cybersecurity

Program Topics

Whether you are just starting your IT career or expanding into an adjacent field, this comprehensive program will equip you with the foundational knowledge needed to succeed in the field of cybersecurity. This 24-week program includes the following modules:

  • Week 1:  Introduction to Cybersecurity Risk Management

  • Week 2:  Cybersecurity Foundation Concepts

  • Week 3:  Federal Government Role: Law, Operations, and Standards

  • Week 4:  Threats and Vulnerabilities

  • Week 5:  Cybersecurity for Critical Urban Infrastructure

  • Week 6:  Identity and Access Management (IAM) Concepts

  • Week 7:  IAM Layers and Technology

  • Week 8:  Preparing for a Job in Cybersecurity Risk Management

  • Week 9:  Introduction to Defensive Cybersecurity

  • Week 10:  Cryptography

  • Week 11:  Security Operations Center (SOC)

  • Week 12:  Incident Response (IR)

  • Week 13:  Secure Systems Administration

  • Week 14:  Secure Network Administration

  • Week 15:  Cloud Security

  • Week 16:  Preparing for a Job in Cybersecurity Operations

  • Week 17:  Introduction to Offensive Cybersecurity

  • Week 18:  Penetration Testing Part 1

  • Week 19:  Penetration Testing Part 2

  • Week 20:  Social Engineering

  • Week 21:  Artificial Intelligence

  • Week 22:  Policy and Privacy, Regulation, and Data Governance

  • Week 23:  OT and IoT Risk

  • Week 24:  Preparing for a Job in Offensive Cybersecurity Operations

Career Preparation and Guidance

Stepping into a career in cybersecurity requires a variety of skills, both hard and soft. This program offers guidance in navigating a career path in tech, including crafting your elevator pitch and providing communication tips. These services are provided by Emeritus, our learning collaborator for this program. The program support team includes course leaders who help you reach your learning goals and career coaches to guide you through your job search. The program offers career preparation and guidance, however, job placement is not guaranteed.

Emeritus provides the following career preparation services:

  • Crafting your elevator pitch

  • LinkedIn profile guidance

  • Resume/cover letters

  • Navigating your job search

  • Interview tips and preparation

  • Negotiating salary

Career exercises focused on launching a career in cybersecurity include:

  • Job searching and interviewing for cybersecurity positions

  • Building your personal brand and promoting your skills

  • Communicating cybersecurity concepts through presentation skills

Program Instructors

MIT Sloan Faculty - KERI PEARLSON - Image
KERI PEARLSON

Executive Director of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan (CAMS): The Interdisciplinary Consortium for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity at the MIT Sloan School of Management

Dr. Pearlson is the executive director of the Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan: The Interdisciplinary Consortium for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (IC)3. Pearlson ...

Mit Sloan Faculty - NICKOLAI ZELDOVICH
NICKOLAI ZELDOVICH

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT

Dr. Zeldovich is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He received his...

MIT-Sloan Faculty - STUART MADNICK
STUART MADNICK

John Norris Maguire Professor of Information Technologies, Emeritus, Sloan School of Management, Professor of Engineering Systems, School of Engineering and Founding Director, research consortium Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan (CAMS)

Dr. Madnick is the John Norris Maguire Professor of Information Technologies, Emeritus, at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the founding director of Cybersecurity at MIT...

MIT-Sloan Faculty - DANNY WEITZNER
DANNY WEITZNER

3Com Founders Principal Research Scientist Founding Director, MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab

Prof. Weitzner is founding director of the MIT internet Policy Research Initiative and principal research scientist at CSAIL. In addition, he teaches internet public policy in...

MIT-Sloan Faculty - LARRY SUSSKIND
LARRY SUSSKIND

Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, MIT Vice Chair and Co-founder, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

Prof. Susskind's research interests focus on the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution, the practice of public engagement in local decision-making, cyberse...

MIT-Sloan Faculty - UNA-MAY O'REILLY
UNA-MAY O'REILLY

Principal Research Scientist and Leader of ALFA Group at MIT-CSAIL

Dr. O'Reilly's research group, AnyScale Learning for All, develops new, data-driven analyses of online coding courses, deep learning techniques for program representations, ad...

MIT-Sloan Faculty - BARBARA JOHNSON
BARBARA JOHNSON

Senior Security Consultant, Security Certification Educator, Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, Education: BSISE, MBA, (ISC)² Certifications: CISSP and ISSMP, ISACA Certifications: CISA, CISM, CRISC, CDPSE, Certifications: CBCP and MBCI

Securing information systems is Barbara’s purpose and educating security professionals is her passion. Barbara Johnson is a Senior Security, Audit and Compliance Management C...

MIT-Sloan Faculty - RAJIV SHRIDHAR
RAJIV SHRIDHAR

Information Security Officer and Director of Research Computing, MIT Sloan School of Management

Rajiv Shridhar is the Information Security Officer and Director of Research Computing at MIT Sloan School of Management. He leads the team that enables the research of MIT Slo...

MIT-Sloan Faculty - HOWARD SHROBE
HOWARD SHROBE

Principal Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL), Cambridge, Massachusetts

Howard Shrobe is a Principal Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL), Cambrid...

Guest Speakers

MIT-Sloan Guest Speaker - CAREN SHIOZAKI
CAREN SHIOZAKI

EVP-CIO for TMST, Inc., New Mexico. Vice Chair for SIM and Founder of the SIM Cybersecurity SIG

Caren Shiozaki is EVP-CIO for TMST, Inc., a mortgage organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is also a Senior Fellow with the DivIHN Center of Excellence for digital securit...

MIT-Sloan Guest Speaker - ERICA WILSON
ERICA WILSON

CISO for Cass Information Systems

Erica Wilson has over 20 years of IT experience, 18 of which are in the field of cybersecurity. Erica currently serves as the CISO for Cass Information Systems. She has respon...

MIT-Sloan Guest Speaker - ION SANTOTOMAS
ION SANTOTOMAS

Lead Security Analyst at Schneider Electric

Ion is a diligent senior cybersecurity professional with a strong technical background in systems engineering and infrastructure management. Ion is passionate about both offen...

MIT-Sloan Guest Speaker - DANIEL GORECKI
DANIEL GORECKI

Group Information Security Manager & CISO at Ascot Group

Daniel Gorecki is a Group Information Security Manager and CISO at Ascot Group. In this role he manages a global team for information risk management and cyber resiliency for ...

MIT Sloan Guest Speaker - JOSH SCHWARTZ
JOSH SCHWARTZ

Senior Director of Technical Security for The Paranoids, the Information Security Team at Yahoo

Josh Schwartz is the Senior Director of Technical Security for The Paranoids, the information security team at Yahoo, where he oversees an organization focused on offensive se...

MIT Sloan Guest Speaker - MATTHEW LANGE
MATTHEW LANGE

Assistant Director of the Adversarial Security Testing team at Northwestern Mutual

Matt Lange is currently the Assistant Director of the Adversarial Security Testing team at Northwestern Mutual where he leads a team of offensive security professionals accoun...

MIT Sloan Guest Speaker - KERI CHISOLM
KERI CHISOLM

Assistant Director of the Adversarial Security Testing team at Northwestern Mutual

Keri Chisolm has been working in Information Security for over 20 years. She began her security career as a staff member at the Center for Computer Security Research with the ...

What Our Participants Are Saying

"The topics on cryptography and penetration testing were the best parts of the program for me. These are the areas that I lacked confidence in, and this program has given me the baseline knowledge to ...
SLP - MO-PCCY -  Mark Hughes - Testimonial Image
Mark Hughes
Integration Manager, QTS Global
"The content presented by the professors was the best part of the program for me. It's all relevant to what we are currently facing, and it can be applied to any organization."
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Euclides Garcia
Global IT Director, Infrastructure and Security, Del Monte Fresh Produce
"The availability and accessibility of the program were the best parts. I loved being able to do the course at any time during the week rather than set times. The material was very informative and hel...
SLP - MO-PCCY -  Allison Hamm - Testimonial Image
Allison Hamm
SOC Analyst, Solutions Granted Inc.
"The vast number of case studies gave me a more in-depth view into cybersecurity and its risks."
SLP - MO-PCCY -  Berndt Pilgram - Testimonial Image
Berndt Pilgram
Principal Lead of IT Systems and Data Science, Infineon Technologies
"The program roadmap was the best part of the program for me because the lessons were structured in a way that made learning each week’s lessons interconnected to each other in an intuitive way."
SLP - MO-PCCY -  Richard Napalan - Testimonial Image
Richard Napalan
FC Associate, Amazon
Program Certificate

Program Certificate

Get recognized! Upon successful completion of this program, MIT xPRO grants a certificate of completion to participants and 36 Continuing Education Units (CEUs). This program is graded as a pass or fail; participants must receive 75% to pass and obtain the certificate of completion.

After successful completion of the program, your verified digital certificate will be emailed to you, at no additional cost, in the name you used when registering for the program. All certificate images are for illustrative purposes only and may be subject to change at the discretion of MIT.

FAQs

Financing Options

We offer several options to help you afford tuition for the Professional Certificate in Cybersecurity Program.

Available opportunities to lower tuition fees include:

Referrals – You and a colleague can each receive $765 off your tuition when you enroll together. Refer now

Group enrollments – A discount of up to 20% is available for group enrollments. For more information, email group-enrollments@emeritus.org

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Flexible Payment Options For All

Flexible Payment Options
  • Monthly payments as low as US$1,406 Choose to pay in two, three, or six monthly installments for higher flexibility Click here to know more.

You can opt for any one of the financing options to cover up to the full cost of the program tuition. If you are considering financing your program through one of our partners, the enrollment process can only be completed with the assistance of your program advisor.

Please note that loan applications should be submitted no later than four business days prior to the enrollment deadline due to processing time.

Financing details

Didn't find what you were looking for? Write to us at learner.success@emeritus.org or Schedule a call with one of our Academic Advisors or call us at +1 315 640 4846 (US) / +44 141 673 6416 (UK) / +65 3138 2327 (SG)

Early Registrations Are Encouraged. Seats Fill Up Quickly!

Flexible payment options available.

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