# data[].attributes.body
DPR (General data Protection Regulation)
Computer Viruses

# data[].attributes.headline
difference between quantitative research and qualitative research?

# data[].attributes.subject
difference between quantitative research and qualitative research?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Quantitative and qualitative research are complementary methods that you can combine in your surveys to get results that are both wide-reaching and deep.

Simply put, quantitative data gets you the numbers to prove the broad general points of your research. Qualitative data brings you the details and the depth to understand their full implications.

To get the best results from these methods in your surveys, it's important that you understand the differences between them. Let's have a look.

What's the difference between quantitative research and qualitative research?

The definition of quantitative research

Quantitative data is designed to collect cold, hard facts. Numbers. Quantitative data is structured and statistical. It provides support when you need to draw general conclusions from your research.

The definition of qualitative research

Qualitative data collects information that seeks to describe a topic more than measure it. Think of impressions, opinions, and views. A qualitative survey is less structured: It seeks to delve deep into the topic at hand to gain information about people's motivations, thinking, and attitudes. While this brings depth of understanding to your research questions, it also makes the results harder to analyze.

When to use qualitative vs. quantitative research

Quantitative data can help you see the big picture. Qualitative data adds the details and can also give a human voice to your survey results.

Let's see how to use each method in a research project.

Formulating hypotheses: Qualitative research helps you gather detailed information on a topic. You can use it to initiate your research by discovering the problems or opportunities people are thinking about. Those ideas can become hypotheses to be proven through quantitative research.

Validating your hypotheses: Quantitative research will get you numbers that you can apply statistical analysis to in order to validate your hypotheses. Was that problem real or just someone's perception? The hard facts obtained will enable you to make decisions based on objective observations.

Finding general answers: Quantitative research usually has more respondents than qualitative research because it is easier to conduct a multiple-choice survey than a series of interviews or focus groups. Therefore it can help you definitely answer broad questions like: Do people prefer you to your competitors? Which of your company's services are most important? What ad is most appealing?

Incorporating the human element: Qualitative research can also help in the final stages of your project. The quotes you obtained from open-ended questions can put a human voice to the objective numbers and trends in your results. Many times it helps to hear your customers describe your company in their own words to uncover your blind spots. Qualitative data will get you that.

How to balance qualitative and quantitative research

These two research methods don't conflict with each other. They actually work much better as a team. In a world of Big Data, there's a wealth of statistics and figures that form the strong foundation on which your decisions can rest. But that foundation is incomplete without the information collected from real people that gives the numbers meaning.

So how do you put these two forms of research together? Qualitative research is almost always the starting point when you seek to discover new problems and opportunities-which will help you do deeper research later. Quantitative data will give you measurements to confirm each problem or opportunity and understand it.

How about an example? Let's say you held a conference and wanted feedback from your attendees. You can probably already measure several things with quantitative research, such as attendance rate, overall satisfaction, quality of speakers, value of information given, etc. All these questions can be given in a closed-ended and measurable way.

But you also may want to provide a few open-ended, qualitative research questions to find out what you may have overlooked. You could use questions like:

What did you enjoy most about the conference?

How could we improve your experience?

Is there any feedback on the conference you think we should be aware of?

If you discover any common themes through these qualitative questions, you can decide to research them more in depth, make changes to your next event, and make sure to add quantitative questions about these topics after the next conference.

For example, let's say several attendees said that their least favorite thing about the conference was the difficult-to-reach location. Next time, your survey might ask quantitative questions like how satisfied people were with the location, or let respondents choose from a list of potential sites they would prefer.

Open-ended vs. close-ended questions. A good way of recognizing when you want to switch from one method to the other is to look at your open-ended questions and ask yourself why you are using them.

For example, if you asked: "What do you think of our ice cream prices?", people would give you feedback in their own words and you will probably get some out-of-the-box answers.

If that's not what you're looking for, you should consider using an easily quantifiable response. For example:

Relative to our competitors, do you think our ice cream prices are:

This kind of question will give your survey respondents clarity and in turn it will provide you with consistent data that is easy to analyze.

How to get qualitative data

There are many methods you can use to conduct qualitative research that will get you richly detailed information on your topic of interest.

Interviews. One-on-one conversations that go deep into the topic at hand.

Case studies. Collections of client stories from in-depth interviews.

Expert opinions. High-quality information from well-informed sources.

Focus groups. In-person or online conversation with small groups of people to listen to their views on a product or topic.

Open-ended survey questions. A text box in a survey that lets the respondent express their thoughts on the matter at hand freely.

Observational research. Observing people during the course of their habitual routines to understand how they interact with a product, for example.

However, this open-ended method of research does not always lend itself to bringing you the most accurate results to big questions. And analyzing the results is hard because people will use different words and phrases to describe their points of view, and may not even talk about the same things if they find space to roam with their responses.

In some cases, it may be more effective to go 'full quantitative' with your questions.

Why collect quantitative data?

Qualitative survey questions can run the risk of being too vague. To avoid confusing your respondents, you may want to eschew questions like, "What do you think about our internet service?" Instead you could ask a closed-ended, quantitative question like in the following example.

The internet service is reliable:

Always

Most of the time

About half the time

Once in a while

Never

Qualitative questions take longer to answer. Survey respondents don't always have the patience to reflect on what they are being asked and write long responses that accurately express their views. It's much faster to choose one of several pre-loaded options in a questionnaire. Using quantitative questions helps you get more questions in your survey and more responses out of it.

Quantitative survey questions are just more... quantifiable. Even word responses in closed-ended questionnaires can be assigned numerical values that you can later convert into indicators and graphs. This means that the overall quality of the data is better. Remember that the most accurate data leads you to the best possible decisions.

Examples of how to use qualitative and quantitative questions

Our customer satisfaction survey template includes some good examples of how qualitative and quantitative questions can work together to provide you a complete view of how your business is doing.

Quantitative questions:

How long have you been a customer of our company?

This is my first purchase

Less than six months

Six months to a year

1-2 years

3 or more years

I haven't made a purchase yet

How likely are you to purchase any of our products again?

Extremely likely

Very likely

Somewhat likely

Not so likely

Not at all likely

Qualitative follow-up question:

Do you have any other comments, questions, or concerns?

The following is another example from our employee engagement survey.

Quantitative questions:

When you make a mistake, how often does your supervisor respond constructively?

Always

Most of the time

About half of the time

Once in a while

Never

Qualitative question:

What does your supervisor need to do to improve his/her performance?

Now that you know the definition of qualitative and quantitative data and the differences between these two research methods, you can better understand how to use them together. You can put them to work for you in your next project with one of our survey templates written by experts.
We've got templates for all types of questions. Check out our library of expert-designed survey templates
3 quick tips to improve survey response rates

Here are some ideas to ensure that respondents will answer your surveys.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Understand Qualitative vs Quantitative Research | SurveyMonkey

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Simply put, quantitative data gets you the numbers to prove the broad general points of your research. Qualitative data brings you the details and the depth to understand their full implications. To get the best results from these methods in your surveys, it's important that you understand the differences between them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Best Practise for Safe Computer Use.pptx

# data[].attributes.headline
Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

# data[].attributes.subject
Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Research methods are split broadly into quantitative and qualitative methods.

Which you choose will depend on your research questions, your underlying philosophy of research, and your preferences and skills.

Our pages Introduction to Research Methods and Designing Research set out some of the issues about the underlying philosophy.

This page provides an introduction to the broad principles of qualitative and quantitative research methods, and the advantages and disadvantages of each in particular situations.

Some definitions

Quantitative research is " explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analysed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics). "*

Qualitative research seeks to answer questions about why and how people behave in the way that they do. It provides in-depth information about human behaviour.

* Taken from: Aliaga and Gunderson 'Interactive Statistics '3rd Edition (2005)

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is perhaps the simpler to define and identify.

The data produced are always numerical, and they are analysed using mathematical and statistical methods. If there are no numbers involved, then it's not quantitative research.

Some phenomena obviously lend themselves to quantitative analysis because they are already available as numbers. Examples include changes in achievement at various stages of education, or the increase in number of senior managers holding management degrees. However, even phenomena that are not obviously numerical in nature can be examined using quantitative methods.

Example: turning opinions into numbers

If you wish to carry out statistical analysis of the opinions of a group of people about a particular issue or element of their lives, you can ask them to express their relative agreement with statements and answer on a five- or seven-point scale, where 1 is strongly disagree, 2 is disagree, 3 is neutral, 4 is agree and 5 is strongly agree (the seven-point scale also has slightly agree/disagree).

Such scales are called Likert scales, and enable statements of opinion to be directly translated into numerical data.

The development of Likert scales and similar techniques mean that most phenomena can be studied using quantitative techniques.

This is particularly useful if you are in an environment where numbers are highly valued and numerical data is considered the 'gold standard'.

However, it is important to note that quantitative methods are not necessarily the most suitable methods for investigation. They are unlikely to be very helpful when you want to understand the detailed reasons for particular behaviour in depth. It is also possible that assigning numbers to fairly abstract constructs such as personal opinions risks making them spuriously precise.

Sources of Quantitative Data

The most common sources of quantitative data include:

Surveys, whether conducted online, by phone or in person. These rely on the same questions being asked in the same way to a large number of people;

Observations, which may either involve counting the number of times that a particular phenomenon occurs, such as how often a particular word is used in interviews, or coding observational data to translate it into numbers; and

Secondary data, such as company accounts.

Our pages on Survey Design and Observational Research provide more information about these techniques.

Analysing Quantitative Data

There are a wide range of statistical techniques available to analyse quantitative data, from simple graphs to show the data through tests of correlations between two or more items, to statistical significance. Other techniques include cluster analysis, useful for identifying relationships between groups of subjects where there is no obvious hypothesis, and hypothesis testing, to identify whether there are genuine differences between groups.

Our page Statistical Analysis provides more information about some of the simpler statistical techniques.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is any which does not involve numbers or numerical data.

It often involves words or language, but may also use pictures or photographs and observations.

Almost any phenomenon can be examined in a qualitative way, and it is often the preferred method of investigation in the UK and the rest of Europe; US studies tend to use quantitative methods, although this distinction is by no means absolute.

Qualitative analysis results in rich data that gives an in-depth picture and it is particularly useful for exploring how and why things have happened.

However, there are some pitfalls to qualitative research, such as:

If respondents do not see a value for them in the research, they may provide inaccurate or false information. They may also say what they think the researcher wishes to hear. Qualitative researchers therefore need to take the time to build relationships with their research subjects and always be aware of this potential.

Although ethics are an issue for any type of research, there may be particular difficulties with qualitative research because the researcher may be party to confidential information. It is important always to bear in mind that you must do no harm to your research subjects.

It is generally harder for qualitative researchers to remain apart from their work. By the nature of their study, they are involved with people. It is therefore helpful to develop habits of reflecting on your part in the work and how this may affect the research. See our page on Reflective Practice for more.

Sources of Qualitative Data

Although qualitative data is much more general than quantitative, there are still a number of common techniques for gathering it. These include:

Interviews, which may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured;

Focus groups, which involve multiple participants discussing an issue;

'Postcards', or small-scale written questionnaires that ask, for example, three or four focused questions of participants but allow them space to write in their own words;

Secondary data, including diaries, written accounts of past events, and company reports; and

Observations, which may be on site, or under 'laboratory conditions', for example, where participants are asked to role-play a situation to show what they might do.

Our pages on Interviews for Research, Focus Groups and Observational Research provide more information about these techniques.

Analysing Qualitative Data

Because qualitative data are drawn from a wide variety of sources, they can be radically different in scope.

There are, therefore, a wide variety of methods for analysing them, many of which involve structuring and coding the data into groups and themes. There are also a variety of computer packages to support qualitative data analysis. The best way to work out which ones are right for your research is to discuss it with academic colleagues and your supervisor.

Our page Analysing Qualitative Data provides more information about some of the most common methods.

It's your research...

Finally, it is important to say that there is no right and wrong answer to which methods you choose.

Sometimes you may wish to use one single method, whether quantitative or qualitative, and sometimes you may want to use several, whether all one type or a mixture. It is your research and only you can decide which methods will suit both your research questions and your skills, even though you may wish to seek advice from others.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Research methods are split broadly into quantitative and qualitative methods. Which you choose will depend on your research questions, your underlying philosophy of research, and your preferences and skills. Our pages Introduction to Research Methods and Designing Research set out some of the issues about the underlying philosophy.

# data[].attributes.headline
difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

# data[].attributes.subject
difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Difference between qualitative and quantitative research.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Difference between Qualitative and Quantitative Research in data collection, online surveys, paper surveys, quantifiable research, and quantifiable data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pearson BTEC Higher Nationals in Computing - Unit 6 Managing a Successful Computing Project.pdf

# data[].attributes.headline
The Cambridge Analytica files: the story so far 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Cambridge Analytica files: the story so far 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Cambridge Analytica files: the story so far

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is the company accused of, how is Facebook involved and what is the Brexit link?

# data[].attributes.body
Very simple to follow

# data[].attributes.body
Unit Guide - This will give you further ideas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
August 2016
Cybersecurity will become an integral part of computing science education in the UK thanks to a coordinated approach from the BCS, the Council for Professors and Heads of Computing, (ISC)2 and the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance in the Cabinet Office.
The need to develop protection skills against cyber threats

It is recognised that there is a lack of cybersecurity skills in computing science degrees, yet cybersecurity must be addressed in the design, development and operation of any IT system.

This need is acknowledged by objective 4 of the UK's Cyber Security Strategy set out in 2011: 'to have the cross-cutting knowledge, skills and capability (needed to) underpin all our cybersecurity objectives'.

Fulfilling objective 4 addresses a severe skills shortage by widening the opportunity of a cybersecurity career to more people and ensuring that everyone involved in creating the digital economy - especially the technology underpinning it - understand the threats, vulnerabilities and mitigations that need to be managed.

Embedding cybersecurity skills into our computing science degrees presents a real opportunity to ensure that the UK leads the world in this key area. According to a recent CloudPassage report, just one of the 36 top ranked US college and university computing science programmes require students to take cybersecurity classes and three of the top ten do not even offer classes on cybersecurity.

A recent SANS survey found that heads of computer science departments were typically disdainful of the need to ensure that students are aware of cybersecurity issues, saying employers should do that kind of 'training'.

Mary Davison, Oracle's CSO, found that universities were generally unresponsive to requests that students studying programming learned how to secure their code. Matthew Hancock, Minister for the Cabinet Office said, 'The UK has a world-class cybersecurity sector, but we can only continue in this vein if we have the highly skilled workforce we need to thrive.'

News coverage has the potential to embarrass the IT and academic professions, as many of the stories highlight errors in design, development and management of IT that have led to vulnerabilities that can be exploited. It's worth remembering that many of the exploits were well known, with well-known mitigation.

This could be considered as a professional failing, as we are not adhering to a core principle of the BCS code of conduct to ensure that the public is protected when we take actions and make decisions in designing, deploying and managing systems.

Universities in the UK are graduating students on courses with a significant amount of ethical hacking, generating many graduates who are able to target and abuse systems, yet many computing science graduates do not understand how and why cybersecurity and resilience are just as, if not more, important.

The Council of Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC) and (ISC)2 suggest that exposure to more cyber and information security concepts at the undergraduate level could help stem the flow of vulnerabilities we see in IT. However, it must be recognised that to have any profound impact the effort must be collaborative between industry, professional bodies and academia.

Big tent approach

In 2013, an initiative was set up by (ISC)2, CPHC and the Cabinet Office to examine embedding cybersecurity into undergraduate degrees. Three workshops in 2013 and 2014 defined the principles of cybersecurity education and developed a framework for embedding these principles in UK computing science curricula. Attendees included industry, professional bodies, UK government departments and more than 30 universities that offer undergraduate computing science degrees from the newest post-92 universities to the Russell Group.

Significantly, BCS agreed to adopt the outputs into their accreditation criteria during the workshops, the first time that cybersecurity has been explicitly referenced within accreditation criteria for computing and IT-related degrees.

Bill Mitchell, Director of Education at BCS, explained the reason for their involvement: 'As an Institute we are already heavily involved in tackling the skills gap in this field; from developing the profession through to ensuring that standards are met. This latest initiative means that all computing-related degrees accredited by BCS will now include information security learning elements.'

The final workshop resulted in the production of reference guidelines ('Cybersecurity Principles and Learning Outcomes') that established a baseline of common knowledge, example learning outcome domains for cybersecurity within the computing science courses and guidance on embedding the concepts. This ground-breaking effort means that, for the first time, UK universities will benefit from specific guidance for embedding and enhancing relevant cybersecurity principles, concepts and learning outcomes within their undergraduate curricula.

'This marks a significant shift in the teaching of security in higher education; cybersecurity is now recognised as integral to every relevant computing discipline from computer game development to network engineering,' said Carsten Maple, Professor of Cyber Systems Engineering at Warwick University and Vice Chair of the Council of Professors and Heads of Computing.

Cybersecurity in computing science guidelines

The reference guidelines detail five essential areas of cybersecurity:

1. Information and risk: models including confidentiality, integrity and availability; concepts such as probability, consequence, harm, risk identification, assessment and mitigation; and the relationship between information and system risk.

2. Threats and attacks: threats, how they materialise, typical attacks and how those attacks exploit vulnerabilities.

3. Cybersecurity architecture and operations: physical and process controls that can be implemented across an organisation to reduce information and systems risk, identify and mitigate vulnerability, and ensure organisational compliance.

4. Secure systems and products: the concepts of design, defensive programming and testing and their application to build robust, resilient systems that are fit-for-purpose.

5. Cybersecurity management: understanding the personal, organisational and legal/regulatory context in which information systems could be used, the risks of such use and the constraints (such as time, finance and people) that may affect how cybersecurity is implemented.

By implementing the guidelines, over 20,000 computer science graduates a year across 100 UK universities will be taught these five areas, significantly enhancing the UK's capacity for filling the aforementioned skills shortage.

Adrian Davis, Managing Director of (ISC)2 EMEA explains that 'including cybersecurity in undergraduate education positions the UK as a world leader, provides a significant number of cyber-competent, well-educated people entering the jobs market generally, and highlights cybersecurity career opportunities.'

Taking it to the masses

After the guidelines were published, a workshop roadshow was hosted by the Universities of Edinburgh Napier, Portsmouth, Lancaster, Hertfordshire, Cardiff, Royal Holloway, Newcastle and Warwick. These workshops, which presented the guidelines and the reasons for embedding cybersecurity in the curriculum of computing science degrees, had 102 attendees from the academic computing science community representing 60 UK universities.

The impact on accreditation and associated processes was considered and case studies from the Universities of Sunderland and Portsmouth, highlighting two different approaches to implementing the guidelines, were presented.

'The discussions were positive and constructive, providing an excellent forum to consider the opportunities and challenges, while identifying a range of good practices to inform next steps,' said Alastair Irons, Professor of Computer Science, University of Sunderland and Chair of the BCS Accreditation Committee.

'Cybersecurity is now a key component of the BCS accreditation criteria, reflecting the importance placed on cybersecurity and the expectation that all computing graduates should have knowledge and skills in cybersecurity as they move towards chartered status.'

Next steps

A majority of representatives at the workshop roadshow were supporters of the need to embed cybersecurity in the curriculum.

The next step is to widen and deepen support for this embedding process, by creating a community to share best practice, overcome implementation barriers and provide materials and guidance for those who need it, such as a resource library that is full of example pedagogic interventions that can be adapted for different scenarios within each institution.

'There are many universities that are producing innovative examples that engage students and demonstrate the need for cybersecurity. I am excited by what could be achieved when this community is enabled to share and develop ideas,' said Dr. Nick Savage, Head of the School of Computing at the University of Portsmouth.

Cybersecurity is not the preserve of IT: it affects us all. Our next objective is to explore the integration of cybersecurity into the teaching offered by business and management schools. Working with these schools and using the approach outlined here, we could create a second corpus of cyber-competent, well-educated people entering the workforce who understand cybersecurity and its effects on organisations.

This article was put together by Professor Alastair Irons FBCS CITP, University of Sunderland; Professor Nick Savage FBCS CITP, University of Portsmouth; Professor Carsten Maple FBCS CITP, University of Warwick; Dr Adrian Davies FBCS, (ISC)2 and Lyndsay Turley, (ISC)2.

Image: iStock.com/Rawpixed Ltd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cybersecurity learning | Quality Specialist Group | Specialist Groups | Member groups | Membership | BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cybersecurity will become an integral part of computing science education in the UK thanks to a coordinated approach from the BCS, the Council for Professors and Heads of Computing, (ISC)2 and the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance in the Cabinet Office.

# data[].attributes.headline
BCS Cybercrime Forensics Specialist Group

# data[].attributes.subject
BCS Cybercrime Forensics Specialist Group

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cybercrime Forensics Specialist Group | Specialist Groups | Member groups | Membership | BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The aim of this Group is to promote Cybercrime Forensics and the use of Cybercrime Forensics.

# data[].attributes.body
VPN (Virtual private Networks)

IoT (Internet of Things)

Encryption Algorithms /Tools

WiFi Encryption Algorithms (WEP/WPA)

Hashing Algorithms (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256)

GDPR (General data Protection Regulation)

Computer Viruses

Biometrics

# data[].attributes.body
Talk by professor James Orwell 5pm-6pm

# data[].attributes.body
Free Course

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Introduction to Cyber Security: More free resources from The Open University

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Help to protect your digital life by gaining essential cyber security knowledge and skills.

# data[].attributes.body
Free Online Course (Need to Register )

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Explore the world of cyber security and develop the skills needed to stay safe

Modern life depends on online services, so having a better understanding of cyber security threats is vital.

On this course, guided by Cory Doctorow, you'll learn how to recognise online security threats that could harm you and explore the steps you can take to minimise your risk.

The course will improve your online safety in the context of the wider world, introducing concepts like malware, trojan virus, network security, cryptography, identity theft, and risk management.

The course is supported by the UK Government's National Cyber Security Programme, is GCHQ Certified Training and IISP accredited.

Unable to play video. Please enable JavaScript or consider upgrading your browser.

Who is this accredited by?

This course is certified by APMG on behalf of the NCSC (part of GCHQ). The NCSC protects critical services from cyber attacks, manages major incidents and improves the security of the UK Internet.

The Institute of Information Security Professionals:

The Certificate of Achievement for this course demonstrates awareness of cyber security issues across 12 of the IISP skills groups.

The Certificate of Achievement demonstrates you have completed a course that meets the awareness level requirements of NCSC Certified Training.

Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

Who is the course for?

The course does not assume any prior knowledge of computer security and can be enjoyed by anyone interested in improving the security of their digital information, whether at home or at work.

What do people say about this course?

"A brilliant course for me, although at the beginning I regarded myself as security savvy I realise the importance of the background knowledge as to why measures are needed. The very mechanism of the web and internet, emails, packets so on and so forth have added to my knowledge in a very valuable way. My web use, email use is no longer business orientated as I am well into retirement but the uses, online purchases etc are now a factor. The threats change and the need to adapt to these threats as they materialise is vital."

"In my current role I am responsible for all the IT in the building; therefore cyber security is important to me. Whilst I felt I was reasonably up on the subject I was open to having a more formal briefing on the subject. Cory Doctorow is very well known in the industry, so his endorsement of the course was one of the factors that made me choose it. Having completed course, I felt it so worthwhile that I recommended that all IT staff in our group took it. As for the certificate I got, it goes on my office wall!"

Endorsers and supporters

supported by

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps, but you can complete them as quickly or slowly as you like

Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities

Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners

Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course

Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning

Whenever you're ready, mark each step as complete, you're in control

Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Learner reviews

Learner reviews cannot be loaded due to your cookie settings. Please activate all cookies and refresh the page to view this content.

Get a taste of this course

Find out what this course is like by previewing some of the course steps before you join:

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...

You can use the hashtag #FLcybersec to talk about this course on social media.

More courses you might like

Learners who joined this course have also enjoyed these courses.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Introduction to Cyber Security - Online Course - FutureLearn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Gain essential cyber security knowledge and skills, to help protect your digital life. Join this free GCHQ Certified Training course from The Open University.