I have been always curious about online courses from top universities and in the past I tried several of them, but without any success. I lacked in perseverance. This time it was different because I told myself that without right attitude you would not develop yourself. And I needed CPEs for my CISSP as well... So I completed a course called Software Security by Michael Hicks from the University of Maryland. This course is provided by Coursera which is one of the leading providers on free online elearning.
It was a 6 week course which consisted of video lectures, additional materials to read and learn, several projects, weekly quizzes and a couple of interviews with the security professionals. You have to be disciplined to meet the deadlines for quizzes and projects otherwise you won't make it. Actually it was quite demanding because you have to spend on average one hour per day for learning.
Most of all I liked 2 things: projects and video interviews with the security professionals. Projects were hands-on experience and it was really great when you could try and see the practical results of what you were learning in theory. For example, in this particular course at one of the projects you were to exploit buffer overflow, then in the other it was SQL injection and XSS.
During video interviews you had a chance to learn about real life: Prof. Michael Hicks interviewed several professionals who told us about their experience, background, challenges.
I personally believe that online learning is the future that comes true right now. It gives you a chance to get not only theoretical knowledge, but also a practical experience for a subject matter. And passing a course says that you are a dedicated person who develops herself or himself and it means alot professionally.
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