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Cyber Security for Beginners: Types of Cyber Attacks

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Spot phishing, ransomware and 18 more attacks through real, everyday scenarios — no tech background needed.
1
1/5
(48) Ratings
17 students
Created by Vinay Vernekar
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What you'll learn

  • Recognize all 20 major types of cyber attack – phishing, ransomware, DDoS, zero-days and more – and explain how each one works in plain English.
  • Spot the red flags of scam emails, texts and calls – including spear phishing, whaling and deepfake fraud – before you click, tap or reply.
  • Protect your accounts and devices with high-payoff habits: passphrases, multi-factor authentication, a password manager, updates and backups.
  • Learn from real incidents – WannaCry, the Mirai botnet, 23andMe, TalkTalk and the $25M Arup deepfake – and understand exactly what went wrong.
  • Explain how attackers get in: malware, Trojans, drive-by downloads, stolen sessions, brute force, DNS spoofing and man-in-the-middle attacks.
  • Build your personal defense-in-depth playbook and finish with a printable cyber-hygiene checklist you can apply the same day.
This course includes:
2 total hours on-demand video
0 articles
0 downloadable resources
63 lessons
Full lifetime access
Access on mobile and TV
Certificate of completion
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Course content

Requirements

  • No technical background needed – every attack is explained in plain language with everyday analogies.
  • Any computer, tablet or smartphone is enough to follow along.
  • Curiosity about how online scams and attacks actually work.

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence. The animated visuals and voice narration are AI-generated; every lesson is scripted, fact-checked and quality-reviewed by the instructor.

Cyber attacks are no longer just an IT problem — they arrive in your inbox, your text messages, and your phone calls. This course gives you a complete, beginner-friendly map of 20 major types of cyber attack, and the practical habits that stop them.

Every lesson is a short (2–7 minute) animated explainer in plain language. Each attack is taught the way a good teacher would explain it: an everyday analogy first — phishing opens with a fisherman hiding a hook inside bait — then what the attack is, how it actually works, and exactly how to protect yourself. The biggest threats (phishing, ransomware, password attacks and DDoS) each include a real-world case study: the forged-invoice con that tricked Google and Facebook out of more than $100 million, WannaCry’s global outbreak, the 23andMe credential-stuffing breach, and the Mirai botnet that knocked Twitter, Netflix and Reddit offline for a morning.

What you’ll cover:

  • Social engineering — phishing, smishing & vishing, spear phishing, and whaling (including deepfake CEO fraud)

  • Malware — viruses and worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, drive-by downloads, spyware & keyloggers

  • Password & access attacks — password attacks, brute force, session hijacking

  • Network attacks — DoS/DDoS, man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, DNS spoofing

  • Web-app attacks (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF), insider threats, birthday attacks and zero-day exploits

  • A final Defense Playbook — defense in depth, the five habits that stop most attacks, and a printable cyber-hygiene checklist

No technical background is required, and captions are provided for every lecture.

By the end, you won’t just know the names of these attacks — you’ll recognize them when they knock, and you’ll know exactly what to do.

— Vinay Vernekar, CodeSierra Tech

Who this course is for:

  • Everyday internet users who want to protect their money, accounts and identity online
  • Complete beginners curious about cyber security – no IT background required
  • Employees and business owners who want to recognize phishing, ransomware and social-engineering attacks before they cause damage
  • Students and career-switchers who want a friendly first map of the cyber-attack landscape before diving into technical training
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