Free Cybersecurity Courses & Certifications 🚀

A curated list of completely free cybersecurity courses, labs, and certifications.
This repository helps students, beginners, and professionals build strong skills without financial barriers.

---

📌 Table of Contents

• Why This Repo?
• Beginner Cybersecurity Courses
• Hands-On Cybersecurity Labs
• Free Cybersecurity Certifications
• University-Level Cybersecurity Courses
• Practice Platforms & CTFs
• How to Use This Repository
• Contributing
• License

---

💡 Why This Repo?

Cybersecurity can be an expensive field to get into — paid bootcamps, subscriptions, and certifications add up quickly.
This repo collects high-quality, free resources so that anyone can:

• Start from zero knowledge
• Practice on real labs and challenges
• Earn free certificates / badges
• Build a strong foundation for jobs, bug bounty, SOC, or pentesting

For more detailed breakdowns, see the files inside the courses/ and resources/ folders.

---

📚 Beginner Cybersecurity Courses

📝 Detailed list in: courses/beginner.md

• Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate (Audit for Free)
  🔗 https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/google-cybersecurity
  Learn foundations, Linux, SQL, SOC basics, and SIEM tools. The official certificate is paid, but all content is free in audit mode.

• Cisco Networking Academy — Introduction to Cybersecurity
  🔗 https://skillsforall.com/course/introduction-to-cybersecurity
  Beginner-friendly intro to threats, vulnerabilities, and careers in cybersecurity. Includes a free digital badge.

• Cisco — Cybersecurity Essentials
  🔗 https://skillsforall.com/course/cybersecurity-essentials
  Intermediate course on network security, cryptography, and risk management. Free badge upon completion.

• IBM Cybersecurity Analyst (Audit for Free)
  🔗 https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/ibm-cybersecurity-analyst
  SOC workflows, SIEM analysis, network defense, and incident response. Certificate is paid, but all training content is free to audit.

• Windows API for Red Team Introduction
  🔗 https://courses.redteamleaders.com/ Unlock the power of the Windows API for offensive security. This course provides red teamers and advanced cybersecurity professionals with practical knowledge on Windows internals, syscall manipulation, API unhooking, and memory execution. From foundational C++ interaction to real-world offensive use cases like LSASS dumping, direct and indirect syscalls, this course prepares you to leverage native Windows capabilities in stealthy and effective operations.

---

🛡️ Hands-On Cybersecurity Labs

📝 Detailed list in: courses/hands-on-labs.md

• TryHackMe — Free Tier
  🔗 https://tryhackme.com
  Virtual machines and guided rooms covering Linux, networking, web hacking, and SOC analysis. Many paths are fully free.

• Hack The Box — Free Labs
  🔗 https://www.hackthebox.com
  Realistic pentesting boxes. The Starting Point and some beginner labs are free and perfect for newcomers.

• RangeForce Community Edition
  🔗 https://www.rangeforce.com/community-edition
  Blue-team–oriented cyber ranges with SIEM, malware analysis, and incident response scenarios.

• OverTheWire Wargames
  🔗 https://overthewire.org/wargames/
  Classic wargames like Bandit teach Linux, SSH, privilege escalation, scripting, and basic exploitation.

---

🔐 Free Cybersecurity Certifications

📝 Detailed list in: courses/certifications.md

• Fortinet NSE 1, 2, 3
  🔗 https://training.fortinet.com
  Official vendor training about network security fundamentals. Levels 1–3 are completely free and include certificates and badges.

• TryHackMe Learning Path Certificates
  🔗 https://tryhackme.com
  Free completion certificates for learning paths like Pre-Security, Introduction to Cybersecurity, and Complete Beginner.

• Cisco Skills for All Badges
  🔗 https://skillsforall.com
  Free badges from completed cybersecurity, networking, or ethical hacking introductory courses.

---

🧠 University-Level Cybersecurity Courses

📝 Detailed list in: courses/university-courses.md

• MIT OpenCourseWare — Computer Systems Security
  🔗 https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-858-computer-systems-security-fall-2014/
  Advanced course about secure system design, exploits, sandboxing, privilege separation, and cryptography.

• Harvard — Cybersecurity: Managing Risk (Audit Free)
  🔗 https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/cybersecurity-managing-risk
  Focuses on strategic and management aspects of cybersecurity risk, governance, and policy.

• Open University (UK) — Cybersecurity Courses
  🔗 https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/computing-ict/cybersecurity
  A set of free courses about cyber hygiene, digital forensics, and broader computing concepts.

---

🎯 Practice Platforms & CTFs

Some of the best learning comes from doing. These platforms are free and challenge-based:

• CyberDefenders — https://cyberdefenders.org
  Blue-team labs and DFIR challenges using real-world data.

• picoCTF — https://picoctf.org
  Beginner-friendly CTF organized by Carnegie Mellon University.

• W3Challs — https://w3challs.com
  Web-focused hacking challenges: XSS, SQLi, auth bypass, and more.

• Root Me — https://www.root-me.org
  Wide variety of challenges in web, reversing, exploitation, and forensics.

---

📦 How to Use This Repository

1. If you're a complete beginner
   → Start with the resources in courses/beginner.md.
2. If you want practical skills
   → Work through labs listed in courses/hands-on-labs.md.
3. If you want credentials
   → Check courses/certifications.md and finish free cert/badge tracks.
4. If you like theory & depth
   → Study the courses in courses/university-courses.md.

You can also fork this repo and maintain your own custom learning roadmap.

---

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are very welcome! If you know:

• A free course (no credit card, at least “audit free”)
• A free hands-on lab or cyber range
• A free certification or badge

You can:

1. Open a GitHub Issue with the link and a short description, or
2. Create a Pull Request updating the relevant file in courses/ or resources/.

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting changes.

---

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

If this repo helps you, please ⭐ star it and share it with others interested in cybersecurity!