Microsoft Security eLearning Courses

I noticed Michael mention some new e-learning clinics on security that Microsoft is hosting. I was kinda interested in the developer focused one which is Clinic 2806: Microsoft® Security Guidance Training for Developers.

The layout of the course is pretty good. A quick review of the modules in the course may be in order:

• Clinic Introduction
  
• Essentials of Application Security
  • Welcome to Essentials of Application Security
    
  • The Importance of Application Security
    
  • Secure Application Development Practices
    
  • Security Technologies
    
  • Secure Development Guidelines
    
  • Summary
  
  
• Writing Secure Code - Best Practices
  • Welcome to Writing Secure Code - Best Practices
    
  • Secure Development Process
    
  • Threat Modeling
    
  • Risk Mitigation
    
  • Security Best Practices
    
  • Summary
  
  
• Writing Secure Code - Threat Defense
  
  • Welcome to Writing Secure Code - Threat Defense
    
  • The Need for Secure Code
    
  • Defending Against Memory Issues
    
  • Defending Against Arithmetic Errors
    
  • Defending Against Cross-Site Scripting
    
  • Defending Against SQL Injection
    
  • Defending Against Canonicalization Issues
    
  • Defending Against Cryptography Weaknesses
    
  • Defending Against Unicode Issues
    
  • Defending Against Denial of Service
    
  • Summary
  
  
• Implementing Application Security Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
  
  • Welcome to Implementing Application Security Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
    
  • .NET Framework Security Features
    
  • Code-Access Security
    
  • Role-Based Security
    
  • Cryptography
    
  • Securing ASP.NET Web Applications
    
  • Securing ASP.NET Web Services
    
  • Summary
  
  
• Clinic Summary
  
• Clinic Evaluation
  

As you can see this is a well rounded course, well suited to educate the principles of secure programming to many a developer. Almost all of this is covered off in Microsoft's security webcasts, but this structured format might make for more focused instruction for those who don't grasp the concepts that easily.

Well done Microsoft. Education is key when it comes to security, and I like to see offerings like this... especially when its free. Whats this mean to you? It means you should probably go take the course if you are even considering touching code! Knowledge is power and all that. Never say no to free education. And even if you know these concepts... its nice to see how others are presenting the topic... allowing you to learn from the experience and pass it along to your teams.

Enjoy!