No frills, no fluff
The Cyber Defense Analyst Program is a fast-paced, 14-week program aligned to the NIST workforce role of a Cyber Defense Analyst. Learn the skills you'll need to be a SOC analyst—by doing the job.
Unsatisfied with generic and costly bootcamps, we saw a gap: cybersecurity is not entry-level. It's a field demanding immediate mid-level expertise.
Our vision? A true-to-life trade school experience. We crafted the Cyber Defense Analyst Program to be challenging yet direct, focusing on essential, on-the-job skills rather than unnecessary fluff.
In this program, you're more than a student; you're a Cybersecurity Analyst in a SOC setting, tackling real malware threats and security challenges faced by today's enterprises. This is not just learning; it's immersive preparation for the cybersecurity front lines.
days
hours
minutes
seconds
This course is designed for individuals that want to become proficient in skills required for SOC Tier 1 and 2 Analyst roles.
During the first 9 weeks, you'll engage in self-paced and live class content from Mon-Thurs at 7-9PM CST. The self-paced modules include lectures, labs, assignments, and assessments, preparing you for interactive live sessions where you'll handle malware scenarios as a team, compile reports, and present findings. The live classes are not to zone out to - they are very engaging back and forth with other students and instructors.
For the final 5 weeks, you'll work as a Cybersecurity Analyst in our VSOC, addressing tickets generated by intrusion detection tools. You'll utilize industry-standard platforms, incident response playbooks, and report weekly to a SOC Manager.
To graduate, you must submit reports demonstrating resolution of all tickets, validated by an instructor, earning you a completion badge.
This is what you'll earn: Cyber Defense Analyst Program Graduate - Digital Badge
You'll also earn 59 credits towards a Bachelor of Science at Purdue University Global or any other path with equivalent credit requirements, should you wish to pursue it.
Graduates of this program will be prepared to operate within a Security Operations Center (SOC) at both Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels.
Be capable of monitoring and analyzing security events, managing incidents, and responding to security issues, as well as performing in-depth analysis and escalation of complex threats and vulnerabilities.
Note - we've successfully trained students from 0 experience to Tier 2+ SOC Analysts, including Senior Threat Hunters over the past four years. Our training outcomes can improve many adjacent Cybersecurity & IT roles.
Complete all three of our free pre-requisite Fundamentals courses:
Willingness to Learn: Strong interest and commitment to learning cybersecurity concepts and practices.
IT Experience: 0-1 year of IT-related experience, either self-taught or professional, is recommended but not required.
Basic Computer Skills: Understanding of fundamental computer and internet operations.
Students that benefit from learning in an interactive live class environment instead of self-paced content, and prefer a personalized and tailored ability to ask questions with immediate feedback or clarification on concepts.
Those interested in developing report writing and live presentation skills with feedback provided immediately, or interested in feedback on your assignments submitted including an in-depth VSOC report review.
Brand new students to IT/Cybersecurity, or career changes that want to benefit from technical 1 on 1s and mock interviews, and career support services.
Hours+
Units+
Hands-on Labs
This is what John Hammond had to say about the first iteration of this course.
And guess what? It's only gotten better.
Sandra's reviewed a lot of training programs... hear what she has to say about our real SOC experience.
Learn about the origin story of Level Effect, why we made our original Cyber Defense Analyst program, and the problems we aimed to solve in the cybersecurity training landscape.
The Cyber Defense Analyst Program is a fast-paced, 14-week program aligned to the NIST workforce role of a Cyber Defense Analyst. Learn the skills you'll need to be a SOC analyst—by doing the job.
During the first eight weeks, you'll develop the competencies you'll need to successfully mitigate, contain, and respond to security threats. This is achieved through live classes, real-world scenarios, and practical assessments.
The last four weeks of the class will be spent working in a virtualized Security Operations Center (SOC) environment. You'll have tickets to triage and manage and will report to your SOC manager every week—just like you'd do on the job.
Get job-ready in our dedicated career curriculum that will take you from creating and polishing your resume and social profiles to networking and building your brand. We'll then round it out with real 1-on-1 technical interviews and strategies to succeed.
Buy the course once and own it forever—including future updates and improvements made. Graduates will also have access to our alumni network and will receive extended career support.
Discover the art of outsmarting hackers as you master the craft of dissecting authentic malware samples, forcing them to toil for their entry into your digital domains.
If your goal is to earn a cybersecurity degree, our Cyber Defense Analyst Program is a good pit stop.
Purdue University Global recognizes our Cyber Defense Analyst Program as having the material to cover 59 credits toward their Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity degree.
Check out our modules and screenshots of course content below. You can also find the full syllabus here to get a complete breakdown of what's covered: Cyber Defense Analyst Program Syllabus (LINK)
Engage with the intricacies of network layers, dissecting DNS functionality, HTTP & HTTPS protocols, and TLS/SSL encryption mechanisms. Gain proficiency in utilizing advanced Wireshark techniques and analyzing packet captures to identify security breaches and network inefficiencies.
Delve into advanced email security protocols and threat analysis, including in-depth SMTP mechanics, detailed email header scrutiny, and sophisticated phishing defense strategies. Learn to apply SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication to fortify email infrastructure against sophisticated attacks.
Master advanced Windows internals, exploring API interactions, process lifecycle management, and registry structures. Enhance your skills in identifying malicious activities through memory analysis, thread inspection, and security descriptor evaluation within Windows environments.
Elevate your skills in forensic log analysis and security data interpretation using the ELK stack. Develop expertise in parsing, normalizing, and analyzing complex datasets to uncover hidden threats and perform temporal and geospatial correlation for comprehensive security insights.
Advance your threat intelligence capabilities, utilizing frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK and tools such as OpenCTI for in-depth threat analysis and reporting. Craft actionable intelligence by integrating diverse data sources and employing structured analytical techniques.
Explore advanced offensive cybersecurity techniques, including system exploitation, living off the land binaries and scripts (LOLBAS), and post-exploitation tactics. Train to recognize and mitigate sophisticated cyber-attacks, simulating real-world adversary strategies and defense evasion methods.
Immerse yourself in a simulated Security Operations Center environment, handling real-time alerts, triaging incidents, and responding to a variety of cyber threats. Apply comprehensive cybersecurity concepts in a controlled, realistic setting to prepare for high-stakes SOC operations.
Refine your detection engineering skills, mastering endpoint detection and response (EDR) strategies with Osquery and SigmaHQ. Dive into the technical nuances of crafting and tuning Yara rules for malware identification and simulating adversary tactics for robust detection infrastructure.
Develop advanced incident response skills, from forensic analysis using Velociraptor to intricate log investigation with tools like Hayabusa and Volatility. Systematically approach incident management, from initial detection to containment, eradication, and recovery, aligning with industry-standard frameworks.
These will be exclusive live events to CDA Students only, a monthly basis where we'll throw you into even more advanced scenarios to work together as Analysts and respond to greater threats. More details to come.
Take on our signature CDCP exam post-graduation: a one-week, all-practical challenge, reflecting everything from the Cyber Defense Analyst Program. No multiple-choice—just real-world tasks. Your course includes two attempts. Conquer the challenges, craft detailed reports, and submit them for personalized instructor feedback. Dive in, apply your knowledge, and prove your expertise.
This what you'll earn: CDCP Certification or CDCP Gold Certification
The Cyber Defense Certified Professional badge is a testament to tradecraft mastery. Badge holders have demonstrated a practical ability to hunt, discover, and defend networks from a multitude of threats, whether they come from inside or outside the network.
Takers who exceed the requirements for CDCP certification are awarded the Gold CDCP status. This badge sets the taker apart by showcasing their mastery of the tradecraft required to conduct sophisticated cyber analysis and investigations.
CDA On-Demand (Self-Paced) | CDA Live (Instructor-led) | |
---|---|---|
Features | ||
Course Access Time | Lifetime |
Lifetime |
Technical & Virtual SOC Syllabus The technical content is exactly the same between on-demand and live. |
||
Career Prep Syllabus The career support syllabus is the same between on-demand and live. |
||
Cyber Range Access | 200 hours included, additional can be purchased after |
Unlimited during cohort, additional can be purchased after |
CDCP Attempts Included | 2 |
2 |
Private Discord Channels | ||
Support & Help Requests Students can submit help tickets within a private Discord channel. We'll respond within 1-2 business days at most. |
First priority support |
|
Awards 59 Credits towards a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity at Purdue University Global | ||
Live Instructor Led Classes The technical content will be the same between the two. The difference with CDA Live is that instructors lead four classes per week instructing some of the harder content per module, and taking questions and answers. |
||
SOC Manager Live Review Class During the Virtual SOC weeks, an instructor will conduct walkthroughs with the class with Q&A provided once per week. |
||
Individual & Group Presentations with Live Feedback | ||
Live Technical 1 on 1s Live 1 on 1s are technical interviews for SOC Analyst 1 and 2 roles. |
||
Live Career Support A port of the first several weeks in live is dedicated to group career support discussion, with Q&A. |
||
Mock Technical Interviews, Resume & LinkedIn Reviews See below |
||
Personalized Feedback on VSOC Report Submissions | ||
Recordings of Live Classes from Cohort Each live class in a cohort is recorded. The CDA Live students will have access to their cohort recordings forever. |
||
Cost | $499 Launch Rate! (will go up later!) |
$5000 |
Financing Plans We have financing plans available through Klarna and Affirm. More details coming soon. |
Yes - Monthly, Buy Now Pay Later |
Yes - Monthly, Buy Now Pay Later |
Upgrade to Live | Pay the difference of what you paid versus $5000 to partake in the next available cohort with all the benefits included. |
N/A |
Access the Course Now! | Apply Now |
Yes, our pricing might surprise you compared to other bootcamps. But here's the thing: we're not a bootcamp. We evolved from that initial label into something more unique – a trade school focused on the essence of cybersecurity. Discover our roots in our recorded origin story.
Our latest curriculum cuts to the chase: hands-on, technical skills for real-world application. Immerse yourself in our virtualized SOC, a true-to-life simulation of your future role. Forget outdated objectives and bloated disconnected content. There's no need to pay for 2-3 weeks in python and 2-3 weeks in compliance and 2-3 weeks in "ethical hacking" to perform SOC Analyst Tier 1 and 2 work. This is learning with purpose.
We provide TWO VetSec members with a full scholarship to attend our program each cohort. In addition, VetSec members receive a $500 discount on our listed course price.
The simple answer is our program is not a bootcamp. We’ve spent the past three years refining and perfecting the CDA experience based on feedback from current students and alumni.
We've revamped our Cyber Defense Analyst Program to cater specifically to highly qualified students seeking SOC Tier 1 and 2 positions.
Our students and alumni have expressed overwhelming satisfaction with the program, highlighting that it empowers them to outperform their peers. We ultimately recognized that some of the content in the course would be better suited for separate training courses or more advanced tiers (we're looking at you, malware development and penetration testing). As a result, we took the initiative to better streamline the curriculum.
This improvement allowed us to significantly reduce the cost of the program, making it more accessible to aspiring professionals. Our commitment to delivering top-notch education that specifically focuses on the requirements for SOC Tier 1 and 2 roles remains unwavering, ensuring our students receive the best value for their investment.
The new revised Cyber Defense Analyst Program is just as effective, offering a superior learning experience at a fraction of the previous cost, and demonstrating our dedication to student success and affordability.
P.S. If you’re a go-getter who wants additional training, stay tuned: We’ve got more courses on the horizon!
We typically run three cohorts per year each running 14 weeks. During a cohort, students are expected to be present during live virtual instruction which takes place on Monday through Thursday from 7pm-9pm CT. (8pm-10pm ET or 5pm-7pm PT)
Our students get hired in roles such as Cyber Security Analyst, Security Operations Analyst, Cyber Security Engineer, Security Consultant, Digital Forensics & Incident Response Analyst, Compliance Analyst and Penetration Tester.
No, we host all of the virtual computers, network devices, and tools for you. Any common computer that can run a web browser, Zoom, and Discord should be more than sufficient. If you have concerns, please reach out and we can assess if you are good to go!
Considering that the course is held on-demand and live remotely online, there are some key items that will make your experience much smoother.