My Skill Lab
CybersecurityIntermediate

Network Security Essentials

Secure the connections everything runs on.

Taught by Prabin Shrestha · Network Security Engineer

What you'll learn

  • Read and reason about TCP/IP packets across the layers, including IP addressing, ports, the TCP handshake and how DNS resolution works.
  • Design layered network defences using stateful firewalls, default-deny rule sets and network segmentation to limit blast radius.
  • Configure and validate encryption in transit with TLS 1.3, verify certificates, and avoid the misconfigurations that silently weaken HTTPS.
  • Choose, deploy and harden VPN technologies (IPsec and WireGuard) and understand their place alongside zero-trust access.
  • Deploy IDS/IPS sensors, write basic detection signatures and interpret alerts to spot suspicious traffic.
  • Recognise common network attacks defensively, build a threat model, and apply concrete mitigations within a legal, authorised scope.

About this course

Networks are the invisible plumbing every application, login and payment flows through, and attackers know it. This course teaches you how TCP/IP actually works, where it can be abused, and how to defend real networks with firewalls, segmentation, TLS, VPNs and intrusion detection. You will finish able to read a packet, design a layered defence, and reason about common attacks the way a defender must.

Course content

8 lessons
  1. 1How TCP/IP Actually WorksThe layered model, IP addressing, ports and the TCP handshake that every connection depends on.Preview
  2. 2DNS, Routing and the Path a Packet TakesHow names become addresses, how packets find their way, and where trust quietly enters the picture.Preview
  3. 3Firewalls and Stateful Packet FilteringDefault-deny rule sets, connection tracking, and the difference between a packet filter and a real firewall.
  4. 4Network Segmentation and Zero TrustDividing the network into zones, micro-segmentation, and why a flat network is one breach from total compromise.
  5. 5TLS and Encryption in TransitHow TLS 1.3 protects data on the wire, certificate verification, and the misconfigurations that silently weaken it.
  6. 6VPNs and Secure Remote AccessIPsec, WireGuard and SSL VPNs, when to use each, and how remote access fits modern zero-trust thinking.
  7. 7IDS, IPS and Network MonitoringDetecting and blocking malicious traffic with signatures, anomalies and good telemetry.
  8. 8Common Network Attacks and How to DefendThreat-model the classics — scanning, spoofing, MITM, DoS and exfiltration — and apply layered defences. Includes the course cheat-sheet.