Welcome to Security Consulting
$5,250
/Year
In this track, you will learn the fundamentals of cyber security consulting at an associate consultant level. This is a Consultant with limited relevant work experience in information security. This is an entry level position consistent with the role that could be played by new college graduates or individuals with minimal prior security industry experience.
This course is designed to equip aspiring cybersecurity professionals with the essential skills needed to succeed as an Associate Security Consultant. Whether you’re a recent graduate or transitioning into cybersecurity from another field, you’ll gain the foundational technical knowledge and consulting skills required to make an immediate impact in client engagements.
By the end of this course, a student will be able to demonstrate the following abilities in these categories
Technical Abilities (Core)
Network Security Fundamentals: Understand how network packets traverse a network and assess the security configurations of network devices with minimal guidance.
Windows Security Basics: Identify common vulnerabilities and assess Windows security configurations with minimal supervision.
UNIX Security Basics: Identify common vulnerabilities and assess UNIX security configurations independently.
Security Organization Awareness: Understand common organizational security models, their strengths and weaknesses, and effectively compare/contrast client security structures.
Communication Skills (Core)
Effectively collaborate with peers and managers during engagements.
Document and explain technical findings clearly for both technical and non-technical audiences.
Capable of documenting and explaining technical details in a concise, understandable manner
Provide timely project updates and proactively communicate issues to project leads.
Able to effectively gauge time and estimate effort
Maintain professional responsiveness across all communication channels (email, phone, voicemail)
Keeps his/her manager and engagement manager informed on project progress and issues
List how it will make their life better
Job Scope, Complexity & Impact
Work on well-defined tasks with clearly established procedures.
Develop solutions for low-complexity issues using standard resources and practices.
Receive regular feedback and guidance, ensuring continuous skill development.
Strategic Consulting Niche
Basic understanding of the incident response lifecycle (detection, investigation, containment, remediation).
Familiarity with security concepts including “Security 101” principles.
Exposure to security products and their use cases in operational environments.
Awareness of common security frameworks (ISO 27001, PCI DSS, NIST CSF).
Introduction to security operations center (SOC) technologies such as SIEM and case management tools.
In addition, we shall prepare you to transition from an Associate Consultant to a Consultant level (min 2-3 years). The following skills will be assessed:
Consistently and fully satisfies core and specialized skills of an Associate Consultant level
Demonstrate competency in interacting with clients on a day-to-day basis
Develops working knowledge in Incident Response Consulting
Makes discretionary effort to go above and beyond what is required
Volunteers for more complexity and requires less regular support
Shows consistent accuracy and flawless execution on all assigned tasks
Able to develop reports with little oversight and correction
Shows interest and uses expanded knowledge in day to day task
Develops own ideas – begins to influence others
Keep in mind there is a platform fee of $75/month as well to help with lab fees and assessment costs.
Want to Find Evil. Solve Crime and learn from some of the best of Mandiant Consulting Alumni? And the best part? Either an internship or full time role will be ready when your assessment is finalized.
Meet Your Instructor: Bruce Heard
Bruce Heard is a top performing cybersecurity leader with 15+ years in planning, developing, and implementing cybersecurity controls into client environments. Proven track record executing security assessments, architecting strategic solutions, and deploying cutting-edge methodologies to enhance protection of networks and systems. Skilled in cross-functional collaboration to gain alignment and deliver scalable, effective, and relevant cyber and information security strategies. Customer-focused strategic thinker with pre-sales success, excellent communication skills, and ability to influence. He spent 7 years at Mandiant as a Senior Manager of Strategic West's Consulting function.