FireAI University
Learn to protect yourself online
Free courses that explain how the internet really works, who can see what, and how to make your computer safe, step by step.
- NGOs and activists
- Lawyers and their clients
- Journalists and whistleblowers
- Anyone who needs a safer computer
Free, no account, nothing tracked. Your progress stays in this browser.
Foundations
- 01 · Beginner
How the internet works
What really happens between your computer and a website, who takes part, and what each of them can see.
Lessons: 4 · 30 min - 02 · Beginner
TCP/IP: addresses, ports and connections
The rules every device on the internet follows: IP addresses, ports, TCP and UDP, and what your router does.
Lessons: 4 · 26 min - 03 · Beginner
DNS: the internet’s address book
How names become addresses, who sees your lookups, and how encrypted DNS changes that.
Lessons: 4 · 26 min - 04 · Beginner
Data brokers: who sells your life
How personal data is collected, combined and sold, and the practical steps that reduce what they get.
Lessons: 4 · 34 min - 05 · Beginner
Your operating system, your first line of defence
What an operating system does, how permissions and sandboxing protect you, and why updates matter.
Lessons: 4 · 29 min - 06 · Intermediate
Layers of security: native hygiene for a safer Mac
A step-by-step plan, from threat modelling to encryption, backups and a firewall, for people who can’t afford a breach.
Lessons: 5 · 39 min
Expert track
The expert courses are organised around the Knowledge Units that the NCAE-C program publishes for cyber defense degrees (CAE-CD, 2024). Read the Knowledge Units
- 07 · Expert
Threat modelling and risk for people at risk
Who might target you, how attacks unfold, and how to choose protections in proportion to the real risk.
Lessons: 4 · 35 min - 08 · Expert
Cryptography you can rely on
What encryption, hashing and signatures really guarantee, how TLS and end-to-end encryption work, and where keys make or break them.
Lessons: 4 · 34 min - 09 · Expert
Network defense for a single computer
Firewalls, egress filtering, logging and detection applied to the one machine you must protect, and how to read what it tells you.
Lessons: 4 · 35 min - 10 · Expert
macOS hardening, setting by setting
Reduce the attack surface of a Mac: secure installation, encryption, services, ports, accounts, updates and built-in defences, with the commands to check each one.
Lessons: 5 · 43 min - 11 · Expert
Understanding cloud security
Who is responsible for what in the cloud, how accounts and keys get compromised, and how to keep your files and services under your control.
Lessons: 4 · 34 min
FireAI University is independent: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or designated by the NSA or the NCAE-C program. We use their published Knowledge Units as a curriculum guide.