Not sure where to start on your journey to a new tech career?
Learners who want to dig into the basics of cybersecurity, including how virtualization works, can get started with Flatiron School’s free prep course, Hacking 101: Intro to Cybersecurity, to get a look at some of the topics and exercises cybersecurity analysts work with every day.

This 2-hour prep course is exactly what it sounds like: 100% free. No credit card required, no trial periods or expiration dates, so you can set your schedule and learn at your own pace.
In addition to instructional videos, this course offers a practice lab for you to get familiar with the basics of virtualization.
Cybersecurity analysts have never been more in demand, according to the New York Times. This prep course will introduce you to the skills needed to secure the future.

Developed in partnership with SecureSet, one of the top-ranked cybersecurity bootcamps, according to SwitchUp, Hacking 101 is the perfect place to start learning more about cybersecurity.
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the protection of computer systems from theft or damage to their hardware, software, or electronic data. Cybersecurity analysts are taught to find evidence of hackers in an organization’s networks and then work with other security professionals and authorities to catch them. They play an essential role in protecting organizations against “threat actors” or bad hackers.
Hacking 101 will introduce you to one of the most important concepts to know as a cybersecurity professional: virtualization.

At its most basic level, virtualization is a type of process that creates a virtual environment that allows a user to run multiple operating systems on a computer simultaneously. In other words, it is the creation of a virtual (vs. an actual) resource such as an operating system, server, or network resource.
Security professionals utilize virtualization to perform security research, engineer security solutions, or conduct digital forensics. Organizations use virtualization to test and deploy new technologies, to execute untested code in a sandboxed environment, to maximize server resources, as well as to redirect hackers into virtual vs. actual network resources so they can study and sandbox their enemy.
Start learning
Learn.co, the proprietary learning platform that powers Flatiron’s free cybersecurity prep course, hosts a series of instructional videos and practice labs for learning more about cybersecurity. Students on Learn.co interact with a worldwide community of students and harness real cybersecurity tools to truly learn by doing.

You can’t learn practical skills without real tools. Learn.co features a practice lab that a professional cybersecurity analyst would employ on the job, including a real virtual environment.

We ensure that students always get the most relevant technical skills by embracing an open-source curriculum – a living course of study featuring thousands of updates a year to reflect industry trends and student feedback.
Curious if a cybersecurity career is for you?
Start learning about the fundamentals of cybersecurity and virtualization – for free and on your schedule. Setup is quick and works on virtually any computer so you can be learning in minutes.
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