AP Career Kickstart Cybersecurity (AP CK Cybersecurity)

This rigorous, yearlong course introduces students to foundational cybersecurity principles through a structured five-unit framework aligned with the AP Career Kickstart mission to blend college-level rigor with real-world career readiness. The units are as follows:

1. Developing a Cyber Mindset– Students explore the concepts of threats, vulnerabilities, and risk; they begin building a multifaceted understanding of information security.

2. Securing  Physical Spaces – This unit covers protections for physical environments and infrastructure, highlighting access control, environmental threats, and physical safeguards.

3. Securing Networks – Students dive into network-level defenses, including protocols, configurations, and hardening methods to safeguard data in transit.

4. Securing Devices – Focus shifts to endpoint security—protecting devices from malware, intrusion, and unauthorized access.

5. Securing Applications and Data – Students tackle application-layer protection, data encryption, and strategies for maintaining data integrity and confidentiality.
   Each unit features authentic cybersecurity scenarios and real-world challenges to sharpen students' analytical, defensive, and problem-solving skills institutionalized in the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) framework.