Internet Security for Beginners

Course
  • Cybersecurity
  • Internet

Internet Security for Beginners

Hackers manage again and again to steal passwords, to access sensitive enterprise and user data, and, in the worst case scenario, to even paralyze entire companies. The Internet offers various possibilities to its users, but, at the same time, it harbors dangers and vulnerable points of attack, which many people are not even aware of. In this openHPI course you will learn the basics of Internet security. Why is the Internet insecure by nature of its design? What are the weak spots of the Internet and how are they exploited by cybercriminals? We want to answer these questions and a lot more in this course. Additionally, we will advise you on how to protect yourself from such cyberattacks.

Offered by Prof. Dr. Christoph Meinel | Last updated on Jul 15, 2026 | 13281 enrollments

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  • Beginner
  • EN
  • Certificate
Course information

Since the late sixties, American researchers have not only been able to use computers as standalone calculating machines but to connect them to a broad network. This was the start of the Internet which, in the meantime, connects nearly four billion people and around 23 billion devices, (e.g., computers, smartphones and sensors). The network of networks has therefore also become an attractive target for criminals. Around four million attacks are registered every day, (i.e., 50 per second). Although the economic damage around the globe is huge - and we are talking about US$400 billion a year - only a small amount of resources is spent on Internet security.

Protection from Internet risks requires more action worldwide: from businesses, institutions, public authorities, and every one of us. In this 6-week free course in English, we offer practical support to face this challenging task. With no prior knowledge required, participants can find out what methods hackers use to break into computers and networks. Learn how cybercriminals manage to steal passwords and how you can protect yourself from such cyberattacks.

The workload of this course is equivalent to 2 ECTS credits.

Course characteristics:

  • Language: English
  • Starting from: February 26, 2018
  • Course end: April 9, 2018
  • Duration: 6 weeks (3-6 hours per week)
  • Target group: Anyone who uses the Internet
  • Course requirements: none

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Use the hashtag #intsec2018 to join and contribute to social media conversations about this course.

Additional video lecturing material can be found at www.tele-task.de .

Attention: This course is currently in self-study mode, in which you do not have access to graded assignments/exams. Therefore, we can only issue you a certificate of participation.

Requirements for Proofs of Achievement
  • Confirmation of Participation: You will automatically receive a free Confirmation of Participation once you have completed at least 50% of the content.
  • Certificate: You will receive your official openHPI Certificate by earning at least 50% of the maximum number of points from all graded assignments.

Find out more on our page for Proofs of Achievement and Guidelines.

Our teachers

Prof. Dr. Christoph Meinel

Christoph Meinel (Univ.-Prof., Dr.rer.nat., Dr.sc.nat., 1954) was Managing and Scientific Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH (HPI) until March 2023. He is a full professor (C4) for Informatics at the university of Potsdam and has the chair for "Internet Technology and Systems" at the HPI. From 2017 to 2021 he was the founding dean of the Digital Engineering Faculty of the University of Potsdam. Now he is president of the German University of Digital Science, the first digital university in Germany.
His research interests are broadly diversified in the area of innovative Internet applications and systems, especially in digital education, e-learning & tele-teaching, artifical intelligence and deep learing, and Internet and information security. He is also active in the field of innovation research and investigates the Stanford innovation method design thinking. Former research interest were in telemedicine, as well as in the theoretical foundations of computer science in the areas of complexity theory and efficient OBDD-based algorithms and data structures.