10+ Highly Rated Cybersecurity Courses to Take This Year

February 1, 2023 | Cybersecurity & CISO Insights | 7 min read

Cybersecurity demands professionals in the field stay up to date with what's happening around them because the stakes are high. Organizations across sectors see the cost of breaches rising year after year as bad actors refine their tactics.

(See the 7 Skills Cybersecurity Professionals Should Learn in 2023.)

The work and constant need to remain engaged can feel unrelenting, often taxing, but it's also what excites many analysts, engineers and practitioners about this line of work.

These professionals don't waiver from the challenge. They welcome the opportunity to learn something new, which can give them a leg up on threats or bad actors, while diversifying their unique skill sets. The security of their clients or employers depends on their knowledge to protect people, data and resources.

But what are security professionals learning? Which certifications or skills are they after? Even more important, which classes did they find truly helpful?

Cybersecurity professionals who train with Skillsoft can rate the course. Learners often base their ratings on several factors, like instruction, engagement, overall credibility and rigor, and more.

The courses below stand out from the rest as being some of the highest rated at Skillsoft, according to end-of-course survey results.

(You can gain access to them all for free by starting a trial of Percipio. Learn more about that here.)

CEH v11: Vulnerability Assessment, Management & Classification

This course will help those studying for the Certified Ethical Hacker exam learn about the main responsibilities of an ethical hacker at work. The focus, however, is on vulnerability assessments: what they are, how to carry one out, and the tools that will aid you along the way.

Learners who took the course favored it for the presentation of material and overall organization of the class, in addition to learning more about the subject itself. Here's another popular course from the CEH Channel: CEH v11: Web Application Hacking & Login Attacks.

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What you'll learn:
  • The basics of vulnerability assessments
  • Vulnerability management lifecycle
  • Common tools and resources
Good to know:
  • Length: 52 minutes (3 videos)
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Prep for CEH v11

CEH v11: Cloud Computing, Containers, Hacking & Security Controls

For those preparing to sit the CEH v11 exam, here's another that's worth your while. This covers why and how cloud services have been susceptible to security issues and provides instruction for how to reduce risk using common controls.

Much like its predecessor for the v10 prep, this course still covers the foundations of cloud computing that ethical hackers must know, but also delves into containers and technologies like Docker.

What you'll learn:
  • Cloud services, deployment models and architectures
  • Containers, Docker, orchestration
  • Using security controls to reduce risk
Good to know:
  • Length: 1 hour, 26 minutes
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Prep for CEH v11

Read next:What spikes in cloud security training tell us

CompTIA PenTest+: Professionalism & Integrity

Professionalism and integrity should be at the very core of a penetration tester's mission to expose vulnerabilities and report them. This course emphasizes the importance of integrity as a penetration tester and how to maintain a legal, ethical approach to this work.

What you'll learn:
  • Why adhere to the scope of engagement
  • How to identify and report breaches
  • Which tools work best for engagements
Good to know:
  • Length: 1 hour (10 videos)
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Prep for CompTIA PenTest+

CompTIA PenTest+: Social Engineering Attacks

Another popular choice in the CompTIA PenTest+ sequence, this course focuses on social engineering, the term used for the psychological manipulation bad actors use on their victims.

Bad actors use social engineering tactics to trick information out of people in order to access and steal data. This courses illustrates the journey a bad actor may take to carry out schemes and describes the various methods one could encounter, like phishing and vishing, tailgating and badge cloning.

What you'll learn:
  • The phases of social engineering
  • Various methods used by bad actors
  • Common tools used in attacks
Good to know:
  • Length: 2 hours
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Prep for CompTIA PenTest+
Going after your PenTest+?

Learners also favored this course from the CompTIA PenTest+ prep series: CompTIA PenTest+: Application-based Attacks

Pen Testing for Software Development: The Penetration Testing Process

This course covers the best practices of penetration testing, shows the tools to perform tests, and teaches the types, stages and methods used to carry out testing. As learners progress through this 16-video course, they uncover more of the nuance of penetration testing, its importance to exposing known or unknown vulnerabilities and more.

What you'll learn:
  • The phases of social engineering
  • Various methods used by bad actors
  • Common tools used in attacks
Good to know:

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+: Intrusion Detection & Traffic Analysis

The purpose of this course is to teach cybersecurity analysts how to detect malicious activity and does so through a series of videos that demonstrate how to use investigative tools, provide instruction on installation, and walk learners through concepts like steganography. It's also one of 16 courses that help prepare learners for the CompTIA's Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

What you'll learn:
  • Use tools, like nikto, Kismet, Kali Linux, Nessus and others
  • Monitor, capture and analyze logs and traffic
  • Techniques to identify suspicious activity
Good to know:
  • Length: 1 hours, 27 minutes
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Prep for CompTIA CySA+

CISSP Bootcamp

This bootcamp helps prepare advanced cybersecurity professionals to sit the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam. It's broken up into five parts, each running roughly three hours. The sessions move fast to cover the eight domains of CISSP.

After going through the course, many learners lauded the instructor for his real-world examples and ability to teach the breadth of this material in digestible ways. One learner shared this feedback:

"The instructor provides nice real world examples and presents the CISSP content in a digestible way. Engaging instructor."

What you'll learn:
  • What's expected of CISSP candidates
  • The nature of the exam
  • The eight domains of CISSP
Good to know:
  • Length: 17 hours
  • Level: Advanced
  • Prep for CISSP

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA): Digital Evidence Gathering

A part of a series of prep courses for ISACA's CISA, or Certified Information Systems Auditor, this course teaches learners how to properly gather, handle and store digital evidence so that it's admissible in court.

The instructor teaches about how the chain-of-custody laws may impact evidence gathering. Learners also see first hand how tools like Kali Linux can help them.

While this course is a few years old, many learners still rate it highly for its easy-to-follow flow and applicable material. However, you can also find a more recent bootcamp to help prepare to the CISA exam here.

What you'll learn:
  • How to properly handle digital evidence
  • Key concepts related to digital forensics
  • Evidence gathering techniques
Good to know:
  • Length: 34 minutes
  • Level: Expert
  • Prep for CISA

The CISA certification ranked 11 on our list of the 15 highest paying IT certifications in 2022. See the full list here.

Secure Programmer: Software Modeling Techniques

Those starting their careers in programming will find this course helpful as they build software from the ground up. This course focuses heavily on the Unified Modelling Language (UML), a standard visual language used to show how software works.

The instructor, computer expert Chuck Easttom, also teaches about Systems Modelling Language (SysML), which is similar to UML but can be applied more broadly. "You'll see just how effective these tools can be," Chuck says.

What you'll learn:
  • Gain insight into UML and SysML
  • Learn specific UML and SysML diagrams
  • Understand use cases for each
Good to know:

Defensive Programmer: Secure Testing

This is your introduction to security testing methods. This course teaches programmers how to conduct tests, track bugs and work with security metrics. What's more, it offers a framework for testing that can be tailored to the programmer's work style and preference.

What you'll learn:
  • The basics of security testing methods
  • A framework for testing
  • Tracking bugs, working with metrics
Good to know:

See how Skillsoft helps organizations upskill their teams with personalized training solutions.

Reliable Training Builds Durable Skills in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity professionals sometimes struggle to balance the demands of work with the need to stay on top of the latest developments in their field. Because of this, it's imperative that when they make time to train, the material and instruction meet their expectations and needs.

For these reasons, cybersecurity teams and professionals need a dependable training curriculum to build the skills that will make the greatest impact at work and in their careers.

Further Reading: Skillsoft interviewed T-Mobile Cybersecurity Training Manager Adam Gwaltney to learn how to support cybersecurity professionals and improve training adoption. Read that interview here.