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Learner Reviews & Feedback for IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts by Google

4.8
stars
25,813 ratings

About the Course

This course covers a wide variety of IT security concepts, tools, and best practices. It introduces threats and attacks and the many ways they can show up. We’ll give you some background of encryption algorithms and how they’re used to safeguard data. Then, we’ll dive into the three As of information security: authentication, authorization, and accounting. We’ll also cover network security solutions, ranging from firewalls to Wifi encryption options. The course is rounded out by putting all these elements together into a multi-layered, in-depth security architecture, followed by recommendations on how to integrate a culture of security into your organization or team. At the end of this course, you’ll understand: ● how various encryption algorithms and techniques work as well as their benefits and limitations. ● various authentication systems and types. ● the difference between authentication and authorization. ● how to evaluate potential risks and recommend ways to reduce risk. ● best practices for securing a network. ● how to help others to grasp security concepts and protect themselves. ● new AI skills from Google experts to help complete IT tasks....

Top reviews

SG

Nov 24, 2021

An absolutely engaging and challenging feat that I am so proud to have completed. I hope this opens new door and better job opportunities so that I can better enhance my future. Thank you Google

GS

Apr 11, 2020

Personally, I found this course more dense than the previous courses. I would have liked to have seen more visual descriptions of the topics, e.g. cryptography. But other than that, great course :)

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76 - 100 of 4,287 Reviews for IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts

By Arbind M

Nov 25, 2019

It's very nice even the teacher is very pleasant the way of representing things is just mind-blowing i am too happy to learn with it. I feel I am too lucky to have such a teacher!! Hats off!!

By Kinjal D R

Sep 18, 2021

The most wonderful course containing all concepts of IT security,defense in depth.Must recommendable cert for security professionals.Thank you !!

By Harsha M

Sep 21, 2021

Excellent mode of imparting knowledge...you made me go after knowledge...in a quest for fulfilment!

By Harry R

Feb 17, 2022

amazing course with a alot of content that are applicable

By Tony F

Sep 11, 2021

this is a lot better than Linkedin online learning,

By Davis N

Oct 10, 2020

Exhausting but worth it !!

By William L

Jun 30, 2022

Very out dated but goes into detail on some very relevant concepts and covers the topics well. A good majority of the information is still relevant nad provides a solid foundation and inderstanding of IT. The supplemental reading aspect is a little disappointing because the point of a course is to make education more focused and manageable and some the infromation in the supplemaental reading is very useful and would have been great to be referenced or conslidated into a more manageable format instead oflinking to a 20 page whitepaper or article, etc.

By Andrew M

Apr 9, 2023

Overall, I liked it. However, it would be best to break the videos down from 7-8 minutes to 3-4 minutes. Also, for all 5 courses, can you provide a outline for each week? I think downloading an outline prior to a new week will get people more prepared for the week.

By Sarah H

Jul 1, 2021

too much info (too much terms that is explained) but not enough practice.

By Mikhail M

Oct 27, 2019

I enjoyed "The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking" as much as I am disappointed in "IT Security" course.

1. The instructor usually does not bother to provide explanatory images or diagrams. He just talks and expects us to build the full image in the head. He uses many abbreviations, some of which were not introduced before. Hm, what do you have the video for? For instance, Kerberos protocol. The diagram (wow, they have one) includes "KDC". It is never explained what it is. The helpful diagram is hidden while the instructor talks about what happens in the protocol. C'mon, do you really think that your face is more important than the diagram in this case?

2. The information is very high-level and I just can't see how it might form a proper structure. "Digital signature is used to proof authenticity". Ok. I new that. If anyone does not know that, they can easily guess from its name. How exactly does it do this? How exactly is the private key applied to form a signature? The answer is actually simple: append a digest formed as a message hash encrypted with a private key. But this is not in the video.

3a. Some information is plain wrong! E.g. "But the output should be unique to the input, such that two different inputs should never yield the same output". This is theoretically not possible, since the size of a hash is fixed, while the size of a message is arbitrary.

3b. Another example: Diffie–Hellman. The instructor says "combine the numbers" and the image shows "+" sign. You might think this is addition. But it is not. It would make no sense to use addition here. The algorithm actually uses power by module operation, but it is omitted from the course.

By Brendon L

Oct 31, 2023

Not too fond of this course. It was like the instructor was just talking to himself, I felt like I may as well go read a textbook. The instructor seemed really knowledgeable, but delivery and pace was bad. The Networking course had a lot of information too, but at least they had images which he explained from. In this course there was very few images and when there was, he didn't even explain, just kept talking on. Not to mention lacking a lot of practical learning. I don't feel like I learned much from this course. And I went over videos 3-5 times.

By Alex S

Apr 14, 2020

On the whole, great foundation. But the number of quizzes vastly outnumber the labs - decidedly not "hands on" - and the labs present held my hand the whole way. The technical detail is sparse and the quizzes were confusingly worded. I loved the certificate on the whole, but the last two courses were significantly less engaging than the ones before them.

By Hans T

Jul 6, 2018

Missing transciprts, spelling mistakes in transcripts, lots of missing supplemental readings. What is the point of offering a course when no one checks the basics are right?

By Anthony D

Dec 5, 2020

Lots of talking and almost no hands on that explains how to explement or how to actually use the knowledge and practices they talk about.

By Naman K N

Jun 30, 2020

I was lost while studying this course many times. Often the critical concepts were just spoken, at least have a PPT of critical concepts

By JITENDRA P

Jun 6, 2020

I have submitted my verification still lot of delay in my certificate , it's really very frustrating

By Brian

Mar 5, 2021

Much too dense to absorb, and not necessary for an *entry-level* IT position.

By Taylor G

May 24, 2020

lots of technical stuff really fast without lots of examples not my favorite.

By Daniel R

Jul 4, 2023

I am writing to express my disappointment and frustration with the Google IT Support Professional Course. As a student and customer, I had high expectations for the course, but unfortunately, my experience has been far from satisfactory.

Firstly, I found the virtual machine to be quite glitchy, which hindered my learning process. Additionally, I was dissatisfied with the explanations provided throughout the course, as they often seemed to miss the mark.

Moreover, the Operating System section did not meet my expectations, and one particular lab in the first section proved to be problematic. Despite my efforts, the lab never opened for me, yet I was surprised to find that I received a grade for it. Furthermore, I was informed that I exceeded the allotted time for the lab, which only added to my frustration. This situation reflects poorly on both Google and Coursera, and it is disheartening to encounter such issues.

Overall, I strongly believe that significant improvements are needed in the course. The Qwiklabs sections, in particular, were aggravating and not conducive to the learning experience, especially for individuals with busy schedules like myself. It is disappointing to find that the course did not cater effectively to the needs of adult learners.

Considering these factors, I must regrettably assign the Google IT Support Professional Course a strong D-. I hope that this feedback will be taken into account to enhance the course's quality and address the various issues that hindered my learning experience.

As a dedicated student and customer, I trust that you will take these concerns seriously and work towards creating a more satisfactory learning environment for future participants.

By Anthony R

Jul 19, 2021

Of all the courses, this was honestly the best one. However, most courses are filled with mistakes and errors, the modules don't work well, the information is outdated, and annoying jokes and liberal politics are forced on the student. This course should in no way be labelled as preparation for the CompTIA A+ exam. In information and conciseness, this course is far worse than Professor Messer's free YouTube series. The only thing this is good for really is the badge and credential, though I'm still not sure how much benefit this provides.

By BAUDUIN G

Sep 21, 2025

This course is a joke... You will NOT learn anything useful, the only thing that you will learn is vocabulary and that's it. Absolutely ZERO examples on computer screen or whatsoever, just a guy sitting in front of you and shooting technical acronyms at your face with vague and general explanations for hours. This is terrible..

By Justin C

Aug 20, 2023

This is the worst course I have taken on your website so far. A ton of information and different terms being thrown at me very quickly without going into any real detail. I feel I have learned nothing.

By Sasha B

Mar 12, 2018

Courses developed for people who didn't see computers and Internets in their life even one time. Good for my grandmom.

By Carmos1970

Jun 6, 2019

terrible support when u have problems using there software for labs! and by terrible i mean zero support!

By Amit S

Jul 19, 2022

The lectures are all over the place. The content does not flow well and it super hard to follow along.