Overview
Cyber Security Essentials starts from how networks work, then takes you on one continuous journey through the penetration-testing lifecycle: profile a target, find the way in, break in under authorization, and report it professionally. Every topic is taught hands-on, so you finish able to run the core stages of a security assessment and write a clear findings report.
What you'll be able to do
- Explain the CIA triad, threat actors and the legal limits of ethical hacking in Egypt.
- Explain how networks work: OSI and TCP/IP, IPv4 addressing and subnetting, switching, VLANs and routing.
- Map an attack to the five phases, the Cyber Kill Chain and MITRE ATT&CK.
- Recognize modern social engineering: AI phishing, deepfakes, MFA fatigue.
- Run passive and active OSINT on organizations, domains, people and images.
- Scan networks with Nmap and read results at packet level in Wireshark.
- Enumerate common services: SMB, FTP, SSH, HTTP, DNS, SNMP, LDAP.
- Run a vulnerability assessment and prioritize with CVSS v4.0, EPSS and CISA KEV.
- Use Burp Suite to test web applications and APIs.
- Find and exploit OWASP Top 10:2025 issues in lab apps.
- Gain a shell, crack passwords and perform basic privilege escalation.
- Follow a bug bounty methodology from scope to a clear, reproducible report.
Who it's for
Audience
Students and IT / network professionals moving into cybersecurity, and anyone who wants to understand attacker and defender methods.
Prerequisites
- Comfortable using a computer and installing software
- No networking background needed — the course starts from the fundamentals
- Basic web knowledge helps, but isn't required
Syllabus
The content stays the same; how it is split into sessions is set for each cohort.
Phase 0 — Foundations
M01Security foundations & core concepts
CIA triad, AAA, hacker types, hacking vocabulary, attack categories & vectors, five phases, Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK; ethics & Egyptian law (175/2018, PDPL 151/2020).Lab — Build the training lab; map a real breach to the five phases.
M02Networking fundamentals
OSI and TCP/IP, Ethernet, IPv4 addressing and subnetting, DHCP and NAT, switching, VLANs and routing.Lab — Build and troubleshoot a small network in Packet Tracer.
M03Linux fundamentals & traffic analysis
Linux file system, core commands, permissions, SSH; ports, TCP vs UDP in practice; Wireshark capture & filters.Lab — Linux drills; capture and inspect a login.
Phase 1 — Reconnaissance
M04Reconnaissance & OSINT
Passive/active recon, Google dorking, Shodan, WHOIS/DNS, subdomains, people & image OSINT, leaked-data awareness; social engineering (phishing, vishing, baiting, pretexting).Lab — Full recon profile; missing-person OSINT activity.
Phase 2 — Scanning & enumeration
M05Domain resolution & network scanning (Nmap)
Resolve a domain to live hosts, host discovery, TCP flags, Nmap scan types, service & OS detection, NSE.Lab — Map the live network and produce a diagram.
M06Service enumeration
Banner grabbing and per-service enumeration: SMB, SSH, FTP, SNMP, HTTP, DNS, SMTP, LDAP.Lab — Enumerate every service on the lab targets.
Phase 3 — Vulnerability assessment
M07Vulnerability assessment & prioritization
VA lifecycle; CVE/CWE, CVSS v4.0, EPSS, CISA KEV; Nessus, OpenVAS, Nuclei, searchsploit; reporting.Lab — Scan, verify a finding, rank results.
Phase 4 — Web exploitation
M08How the web works + Burp + OWASP Top 10:2025
HTTP, sessions, JWT, APIs, CORS; databases; OWASP Top 10:2025 walkthrough; Burp Suite setup and tooling.Lab — Intercept and modify requests on Juice Shop.
M09Access control, authentication & XSS
Broken access control (IDOR), authentication failures, security misconfiguration, and XSS (reflected, stored, DOM).Lab — PortSwigger Academy + Juice Shop challenges.
M10Injection & server-side attacks
SQL injection, command injection, file upload, LFI/RFI, path traversal, SSRF; prompt-injection awareness.Lab — DVWA and PortSwigger Academy labs.
Phase 5 — Gaining & maintaining access
M11Exploitation, password cracking & privilege escalation
Exploit selection, Metasploit, reverse/bind shells; password cracking (John, Hashcat); Linux/Windows privilege escalation.Lab — Exploit a service to a shell; crack hashes; one privesc.
Phase 6 — Bug bounty & capstone
M12Bug bounty methodology & reporting
Bug bounty platforms, scope & rules, recon pipeline, mind mapping, and professional report writing.Lab — Scope a public program and build the recon mind map.
M13Capstone engagement, assessment & career path
Teams run a full mini-engagement on a prepared target and present findings. Final quiz; career paths and next certifications.
How a session runs
01Warm-up quiz
02Concept + live demo
03Guided lab
04Break
05Challenge lab
06Wrap-up
Assessment
Session quizzes10%
Assignment 1 — OSINT + phishing-analysis challenge15%
Assignment 2 — full vulnerability-assessment report20%
Assignment 3 — exploitation lab (shell + crack + privesc)15%
Capstone — team engagement report & presentation20%
Final quiz — 2 practical scenarios + theory20%
Lab environment & tools
Attacker
Kali Linux virtual machine on your own laptop.
Targets
Metasploitable 2, a Windows VM, DVWA, OWASP Juice Shop · online: PortSwigger Web Security Academy, TryHackMe, Hack The Box.
NmapWiresharkShodantheHarvestersubfinderNetExecenum4linux-ngffufgobusterNessusOpenVASNucleiBurp SuitesqlmapMetasploitJohn the RipperHashcat
Course questions
Do I pay when I register?
No. Registering reserves your interest. We contact you to confirm your seat, then arrange payment by InstaPay or bank transfer.
Is it online or in person?
It depends on the cohort. Format, schedule, location and price are set for each cohort and shown on this page when it is announced.
What do I need to bring?
A laptop that can run virtual machines: 8 GB of RAM at least (16 GB is better), about 60 GB of free disk space, and virtualization turned on in the BIOS. You get a setup guide before the course, and we fix anything that doesn't work together in the first session.
Is it legal to practise these techniques?
Only on systems you own or are explicitly authorized to test. Every practical exercise runs in the course lab.
Offensive techniques are taught for authorized, legal testing only. Every student accepts the authorized-use agreement when registering.