The pandemic brought online learning to a much wider audience

Online learning is nothing new for me — I take courses from time to time. But during the crisis there was no alternative to online teaching, whether for school or continuing education. I got to experience it from both sides — as an instructor and as a student. As an instructor I taught the online version of the Online Safety course at Czechitas; as a student I took the Continuous Monitoring and Security Operations course from SANS.

Student

SANS offers two online learning options. One is SANS Live, where you follow the instructor live via video conference together with other students. The alternative is SANS OnDemand, where you watch a recording. The advantage is that you choose which part to watch and when, and you have four months to do it. Of course you also get printed materials, a USB drive with the necessary data, and plenty of electronic materials (videos, mp3s). The bonus is the option to take NetWars, which is a great opportunity to broaden your horizons across different domains (Pen Test, Forensics, or ICS).

Instructor

The online version of the Online Safety course is almost identical. It's a much bigger challenge though, because the participants have lots of questions and things they're curious about. As long as whoever isn't presenting at that moment handles the questions, it works well.

I see it as an ideal opportunity, because no other course lends itself to the online format as naturally as this one. Why? Not long before, a few issues with Zoom had been widely reported. Where better to show how to handle vulnerabilities — what to trust, how to protect your privacy, and what to watch out for (passwords, HTTPS, or phishing).