Network Security and Defence: A History of IT

Develop your understanding of the IT industry and network security

This two-week course delves into five generations of IT and IS to provide you with a historical perspective on the development of technologies and better understanding of the emerging digital opportunities for organisations today.

Discover the history of IT, from vacuum tubes to AI

Stepping back 80 years to vacuum tubes in the first generation of computers, this course will walk you through five generations of innovation. You’ll explore the invention of transistors, integrated circuits, microprocessors, and artificial intelligence. You’ll discover the history of computers and see just how far the IT industry has come.

Apply history to modern cyber security

Through a historical lens, you’ll have a chance to explore IT infrastructure, web servers, intranet, extranet, URLs, domain names, web systems, languages, application infrastructure and media standards. Understanding the history means you can better assess the vulnerabilities, historically and today.

Explore real-world cyber threats and cloud security

In the second week of this course, you’ll look at evolving technologies such as cloud security, and evaluate common types of cyber threats. You’ll think about where they come from and how they’ve evolved, as well as non-web-based attacks.

By the end of the course, you should have a clearer understanding of network management and how it relates to cyber threats.

This course is for anyone looking to build their understanding of cyber security and network defence management.

• Historical Context
• Welcome to Network Defence Management: A History of IT
• A history of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS)
• Computer networks
• Summary
• Technology Changes and Cyber Threats
• Welcome to Week 2
• Cloud technology
• Cyber threats
• A summary of the course