MGT415: A Practical Introduction to Cyber Security Risk Management

A basic understanding of information security and information security management topics is helpful for students attending this class. However, a strong background in any of these skills is not a pre-requisite for the class. In the class students will be taught a step by step approach for performing a risk assessment regardless of their technical information security or management background.

Important! Bring your own system configured according to these instructions!

We ask that you do 5 things to prepare prior to class start. This early preparation will allow you to get the most out of your training. One of those five steps is ensuring that you bring a properly configured system to class. This document details the required system hardware and software configuration for your class. You can also watch a series of short videos on these topics at the following web link https://sansurl.com/sans-setup-videos.

A properly configured system is required to fully participate in this course. If you do not carefully read and follow these instructions, you will likely leave the class unsatisfied because you will not be able to participate in hands-on exercises that are essential to this course. Therefore, we strongly urge you to arrive with a system meeting all the requirements specified for the course.

Students need to bring a computer to class with Microsoft Office 2016 (or later) installed on it. The ability to open Microsoft Excel files is a must. Students may choose to bring a computer with another spreadsheet program installed on it, however the tools provided in class have only been thoroughly tested with Microsoft Office products, and certain functionality in the tools will not work properly with other spreadsheet programs. Therefore, it is highly recommended that students bring a copy of Microsoft Office 2016 or later installed on their machine.

Also, students will need to download sample tools or resources as a part of the classroom activities. Internet access will be provided in the classroom to access these resources using a dedicated wireless network. Therefore, student laptops should come capable of accessing wireless networks and students should have the ability to configure all wireless network settings on their machine.

Our hope is that by following these simple instructions you will be able to make the most of your classroom experience.

If you have additional questions about the laptop specifications, please contact laptop_prep@sans.org.

"Most every time we talk with an organization, whether that be a private company or a government agency, we meet people who want to use risk assessment as a tool, but are not actually using it as they could. No organization has enough resources to do everything they would like to defend themselves. At some point a priority decision has to be made. We either make those decisions individually based on whatever need seems to be the most pressing in from of us today, or we take a methodical approach, getting as much input from the business as possible. Risk management is the tool we have available for taking the methodical path.

This course has been written with practicality and usability in mind. Risk models and learning ALE to pass a certification test is fine. But to defend our systems, we need practical skills in risk assessment. This course will teach students the hands-on skills necessary to immediately start using risk assessment as a tool to defend their organization."

- James Tarala & Kelli Tarala

"James was great! Very informative, clear and concise." - Sean O'Connor, Secureworks