Financial Services ISAC to offer online security courses

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) announced today that it will offer online security courses to its members and the public. The ISAC supports the disclosure of cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities among federal agencies and financial companies and organizations.

The FS/ISAC Learning Center will offer basic security awareness courses starting at $3 per student. ISAC members will receive credits for free courses. They can also create customized learning centers.

The online center will offer individuals and organizations a wide variety of courses on e-mail safety at work and home, identity theft, spyware and viruses, social engineering, Internet and computer ethics for children.

Groups or agencies can create a curriculum of pre-selected courses for their members or employees. Those employees would receive an access code so they could take those courses at their own pace.

The FS/ISAC created the online center in partnership with Security Awareness and Trusted Learning, two online training companies founded by Winn Schwartau, a cybersecurity expert.

“End users have the power within them to control their own computer security if they learn the basics,” Schwartau said, in a press release announcing the online courses. “When companies rely too heavily on the technology and not the people, that’s when breaches occur en masse.”

Earlier this week, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff emphasized that the private sector needs to do more to protect its cybersecurity infrastructure and report breaches.