AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – Lesson 4.9.1 – Logs

Objective:

  • Students will be able to analyze how logs can be used to support an investigation.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:

4.9 – Given a scenario, use data sources to support an investigation

  • Log data
    • Firewall logs
    • Application logs
    • Endpoint logs
    • OS-specific security logs
    • IPS/IDS logs
    • Network logs
    • Metadata
  • Data sources
    • Vulnerability scans
    • Automated reports
    • Dashboards
    • Packet captures

Guiding Question:

How can logs be used to support an investigation?

Resources:

  • Lesson 4.8.1 – Incident Response.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the Lesson 4.9.1 – Logs.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Logs Check for Understanding activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.
  3. Complete the Lab – Metadata.pptx Activity in class using the materials provided in Google Classroom.
  4. To confirm completion the lab activity, upload a screenshot displaying the metadata displayed when using exiftool on the target image file to today’s Google Classroom post.

Assigned: January 13th, 2026
Teacher Pacing Due Date: January 14th, 2026

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – Lesson 4.8.1 – Incident Response

Objective:

  • Students will be able to investigate common incident response activities.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:

4.8 – Explain appropriate incident response activities

  • Process
    • Preparation
    • Detection
    • Analysis
    • Containment
    • Eradication
    • Recovery
    • Lessons learned
  • Training
  • Testing
    • Tabletop exercise
    • Simulation
  • Root cause analysis
  • Threat hunting
  • Digital forensics
    • Legal hold
    • Chain of custody
  • Acquisition
  • Reporting
  • Preservation
  • E-discovery

Guiding Question:

What are some common incident response activities?

Resources:

  • Lesson 4.8.1 – Incident Response.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the Lesson 4.8.1 – Incident Response.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Incident Response Check for Understanding activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.
  3. Complete the Lab – Cuckoo.pptx Activity in class using the materials provided in Google Classroom.
  4. To confirm completion the lab activity, upload a screenshot displaying the results of your Cuckoo analysis identifying the malware file to today’s Google Classroom post.

Assigned: January 12th, 2026
Teacher Pacing Due Date: January 13th, 2026

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – Lesson 4.7.1 – Scripting and Automation

Objective:

  • Students will be able to explain the importance of automation and orchestration in secure operations.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:

4.7 – Explain the importance of automation and orchestration related to secure operations.

  • Use cases of automation and scripting
    • User provisioning
    • Resource provisioning
    • Guard rails
    • Security groups
    • Ticket creation
    • Escalation
    • Enabling/disabling services and access
    • Continuous integration and testing
    • Integrations and Applications programming interfaces (APIs)
  • Benefits
    • Efficiency/time saving
    • Enforcing baselines
    • Standard infrastructure configurations
    • Scaling in a secure manner
    • Employee retention
    • Reaction time
    • Workforce multiplier
  • Other considerations
    • Complexity
    • Cost
    • Single point of failure
    • Technical debt
    • Ongoing supportability

Guiding Question:

What is the importance of automation and orchestration in secure operations?

Resources:

  • Lesson 4.7.1 – Scripting and Automation.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the 4.7.1 – Scripting and Automation.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Scripting and Automation Check for Understanding activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.

Assigned: January 9th, 2026
Teacher Pacing Due Date: January 12th, 2026

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – Lesson 4.6.1 – Access Management

Objective:

  • Students will investigate common methods to manage access.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:
4.6 – Given a scenario, implement and maintain identity and access management

  • Provisioning/de-provisioning user accounts
  • Permission assignments and implications
  • Identity proofing
  • Federation
  • Single sign-on (SSO)
    • Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
    • Open authorization (OAuth)
    • Security Assertions Markup Language (SAML)
  • Interoperability
  • Attestation
  • Access controls
    • Mandatory
    • Discretionary
    • Role-based
    • Rule-based
    • Attribute-based
    • Time-of-day restrictions
    • Least privilege
  • Privileged access management tools
    • Just-in-time permissions
    • Password vaulting
    • Ephemeral credentials

Guiding Question:

What are some common methods to manage access?

Resources:

  • Lesson 4.1.3 – Mobile Solutions.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the Lesson 4.6.1 – Access Management.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Access Management Check for Understanding activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.
  3. Complete the Case Study – Quantum Cryptography.pdf Activity in class using the materials provided in Google Classroom.

Assigned: December 9th, 2025
Teacher Pacing Due Date: December 10th, 2025

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – 4.1.1 – Hardening Targets and Secure Baselines

Objective:

  • Students will be able to analyze common architecture and infrastructure concepts.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:

4.1 – Given a scenario, apply common security techniques to computing

  • Secure baselines
    • Establish
    • Deploy
    • Maintain
  • Hardening targets
    • Mobile devices
    • Workstations
    • Switches
    • Routers
    • Cloud infrastructure
    • Servers
    • ICS/SCADA
    • Embedded Systems
    • RTOS
    • IoT devices

Guiding Question:

What are common methods to secure baselines and harden targets?

Resources:

  • 4.1.1 – Hardening Targets and Secure Baselines.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the 4.1.1 – Hardening Targets and Secure Baselines.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Hardening Targets and Secure Baselines Check for Understanding activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.

Assigned: January 7th, 2026
Teacher Pacing Due Date: January 8th, 2026

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – 3.1.1 – Architecture and Infrastructure Concepts & Case Study – Specialized Systems Vulnerabilities

Objective:

  • Students will be able to analyze common architecture and infrastructure concepts.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:

3.1 – Compare and contrast security implications of different architecture models

  • Architecture and infrastructure concepts
    • Cloud
      • Responsibility matrix
      • Hybrid considerations
      • Third-party vendors
    • Infrastructure as code (IaC)
    • Serverless
    • Microservices
    • Network infrastructure
      • Physical isolation
        • Air-gapped
      • Logical segmentation
        • Software-defined networking (SDN)
    • On-premises
    • Centralized vs. decentralized
    • Containerization
    • Virtualization
    • IoT
    • Industrial control systems (ICS)/supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)
    • Real-time operating system (RTOS)
    • Embedded systems
    • High availability

Guiding Question:

What are common architecture and infrastructure concepts?

Resources:

  • 3.1.1 – Architecture and Infrastructure Concepts.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the 3.1.1 – Architecture and Infrastructure Concepts.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Architecture and Infrastructure Concepts Check for Understanding activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.
  3. Next, complete the Case Study – Specialized Systems Vulnerabilities Activity using the document and Form posted in the Google Classroom.
  4. Please do your best to complete the Case Study by end of day on Wednesday, January 7th.

Assigned: January 6th, 2026
Teacher Pacing Due Date: January 7th, 2026

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – Lesson 2.5.1 – Mitigation Techniques

Objective:

  • Students will be able to explain the purpose of mitigation techniques used to secure the enterprise.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:

2.5 – Explain the purpose of mitigation techniques used to secure the enterprise

  • Segmentation
  • Access control
    • Access control list (ACL)
    • Permissions
  • Application allow list
  • Isolation
  • Patching
  • Encryption
  • Monitoring
  • Least privilege
  • Configuration enforcement
  • Decommissioning

Guiding Question:

What are common mitigation techniques that can be used to secure the enterprise?

Resources:

  • Lesson 2.5.1 – Mitigation Techniques.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the Lesson 2.5.1 – Mitigation Techniques.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Mitigation Techniques activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.

Assigned: January 5th, 2025
Teacher Pacing Due Date: January 6th, 2025

AP Cybersecurity

AP CYBERSECURITY CHECKPOINT QUIZ – FALL 2025

Objective: Demonstrate current levels knowledge in Cybersecurity Principles through completion of an assessment.

Resources:

Assignment:

Assigned: December 15th, 2025
Teacher Pacing Due Date: December 15th, 2025

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – Lesson 3.2.2 – Network Appliances

Objective:

  • Students will be able to implement secure network designs.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:

3.2 – Given a scenario, apply security principles to secure enterprise infrastructure

  • Infrastructure considerations
    • Network Appliances
      • Jump Server
      • Proxy Server
      • Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)/Intrusion Detection System (IDS)
      • Load balancer
      • Sensors

Guiding Question:

How are network appliances secured?

Resources:

  • Lesson 3.2.2 – Network Appliances.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the Lesson 3.2.2 – Network Appliances.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Network Appliances activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.

Assigned: December 12th, 2025
Teacher Pacing Due Date: December 15th, 2025

AP Cybersecurity

CYBER.ORG: AP Cybersecurity – Lesson 4.5.3 – Endpoint – Firewall, IDS/IPS & Web Filter

Objective:

  • Students will investigate common methods to enhance enterprise security with Firewalls, IDS/IPS devices and Web Filtering.

Standards:

CompTIA Security+ SYO-701 Objective:
4.5 – Given a scenario, modify enterprise capabilities to enhance security

  • Firewalls
    • Rules
    • Access lists
    • Ports/protocols
    • Screened subnets
  • IDS/IPS
    • Trends
    • Signatures
  • Web filter
    • Agent-based
    • Centralized proxy
    • Universal Resource Locator (URL) scanning
    • Content categorization
    • Block rules
    • Reputation

Guiding Question:

What is the best way to secure an organization’s infrastructure?

Resources:

  • Lesson 4.5.3 – Endpoint – Firewall, IDS/IPS & Web Filter.pptx Presentation available on Google Classroom

Assignment:

  1. Read the Lesson 4.5.3 – Endpoint – Firewall, IDS/IPS & Web Filter.pptx presentation in today’s class.
  2. Complete the Unit 3 – Endpoint Firewall, IDS, and Web Filter activity using the materials provided in Google Classroom.

Assigned: December 11th, 2025
Teacher Pacing Due Date: December 12th, 2025

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