From Basics to Advanced Cybersecurity

From Basics to Advanced Cybersecurity is a complete, ground-up introduction to modern cybersecurity, written for readers who want a real working understanding of the field rather than a glossary of buzzwords.

Across twenty chapters, Dr. Abeer Saleh Alshammari builds a single continuous argument: cybersecurity is a discipline you can learn in careful, connected stages. The book begins with foundational concepts, the CIA triad, authentication, authorization, and accountability, and threat actors and defense in depth, then moves through networking fundamentals, firewalls and network segmentation, wireless security, identity and access management, endpoint security, application security and secure development, cryptography and data protection, and data classification and backup resilience. From there it covers how real attacks unfold: social engineering and phishing, malware and ransomware, and web, supply chain, and identity attacks, framed through attack chains and MITRE ATT&CK thinking. The book closes with security operations (SOC, SIEM, SOAR, and threat intelligence), incident response and digital forensics, and cloud security fundamentals and the shared responsibility model.

Each chapter follows a consistent teaching structure: an opening scenario, learning objectives, core concepts, a real-world example, paired Think Like an Attacker and Think Like a Defender perspectives, a Dr. Abeer Explains analogy for plain-language intuition, a Governance and Risk Perspective connecting technical material to organizational decision-making, common mistakes to avoid, a practical exercise, and a Knowledge Check with an answer key at the back of the book. A glossary, acronym list, and chapter-by-chapter source references are also included.

This is Book 1 in the Dr. Abeer Cybersecurity Series, drawing on more than twenty years of the author's experience across government, energy, technology, and cybersecurity practice, IT audit, governance, risk and compliance, and professional training. It is written for students and career-changers building a foundation, IT and network professionals moving into security, managers and aspiring leaders who need technical fluency without becoming hands-on practitioners, and anyone studying for CISSP, CISM, or a similar certification who wants the underlying concepts to make sense before tackling exam-specific preparation.

Learn more about the author and the series at CyberAbeer.com.