Coursera and Google Address Cloud Security Skills Shortage
Written by Sue Gee   
Thursday, 24 January 2019

With so many businesses relying on the cloud for their critical assets and day to day operations, there is a growing need to proactively plan against any potential information security threats. This has revealed a skills gap with regard to cloud security which Coursera and Google are collaborating to fill.

Launched today, the Security in Google Cloud Platform Specialization on the Coursera Platform is intended to equip security-focused technical professionals, including cloud information security analysts, architects, and engineers as well as information security and cybersecurity specialists, with the latest knowledge of security controls and techniques on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

The specialization enables learners to: 

  • Validate their ability to design and implement a secure infrastructure on GCP.

  • Explore and deploy the components of a secure Google Cloud Platform (GCP) solution, including Cloud Identity, the GCP Resource Manager, Cloud IAM, and more.

  • Learn mitigations for attacks at many points in a GCP-based infrastructure, including Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks, phishing attacks, and threats involving content classification and use.

It will also be an important resource for those working towards the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer Certification, which is also launching today in beta. 

PCSEngsq

According to Google:

A Professional Cloud Security Engineer enables organizations to design and implement a secure infrastructure on Google Cloud Platform. Through an understanding of security best practices and industry security requirements, this individual designs, develops, and manages a secure infrastructure leveraging Google security technologies. The Cloud Security Professional should be proficient in all aspects of Cloud Security including managing identity and access management, defining organizational structure and policies, using Google technologies to provide data protection, configuring network security defenses, collecting and analyzing Google Cloud Platform logs, managing incident responses, and an understanding of regulatory concerns.

The exam for this certification, which somewhat ironically has to be taken in-person at a Kryterion test center, assesses your ability to:

  • check Configure access within a cloud solution environment
  • check Configure network security
  • check Ensure data protection
  • check Manage operations within a cloud solution environment
  • check Ensure compliance

As a beta the test, which is longer than the final exam, costs $120, a discount of 40% in the retail price of $200.

When you enroll in the Coursera Specialization you have a 7-day free trial after which the subscription of around $40 gives access to all the courses it includes.

The first course in the new specialzation, Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure, is also the starting point for the other Google Cloud Platform Specializations that we've previously encountered and was originally introduced in March 2017. It has a star rating of 4.7 out of 5, based on feedback from more than 8,500 students. At intermediate level it requires approximately 11 hours to complete  and introduces important concepts and terminology for working with the GCP. 

The other two course in the specialization are new and are also at intermediate level. Managing Security in Google Cloud Platform, requires approximately 8 hours to complete while Mitigating Security Vulnerabilities on Google Cloud Platform requires approximately 12 hours to complete. According to their blurb:

participants explore and deploy the components of a secure GCP solution, including Cloud Identity, the GCP Resource Manager, Cloud IAM, Google Virtual Private Cloud firewalls, Google Cloud Load balancing, Cloud CDN, Cloud Storage access control technologies, Stackdriver, Security Keys, Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys, the Google Data Loss Prevention API, and Cloud Armor. Participants learn mitigations for attacks at many points in a GCP-based infrastructure, including Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks, phishing attacks, and threats involving content classification and use.

Like the other GCP specializations this one relies on Qwiklabs to give you hands-on experience. 

 googlecloudsq

 

 

 

More Information

Security in Google Cloud Platform Specialization

Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals: Core Infrustructure

Related Articles

Google Provides Cloud Training on Coursera

Learn About AWS On Coursera

Coursera and SAS Offer Specialization

 

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 February 2019 )