Free guides from M-Learn
Learn malware and cyber defence, from zero
To learn cyber defence, start with how malware works: what it is, how it spreads and what it does. Then learn how defenders detect it, analyse it and respond to it. These 11 free guides follow that order, each one answering a single question in plain English, with no prior knowledge needed.
1. The basics
What malware is, the main kinds, and how they differ.
- What is malware?A plain definition, the four stages every infection goes through, and where defenders break the chain.
- Types of malware, comparedViruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, spyware and more, side by side in one table.
- Virus vs worm vs trojan: what is the difference?The one-line difference, then a step-by-step demo of how each one spreads.
2. The threats you will meet
The attacks that cause the most damage today, and the history that shaped them.
- Famous malware attacks: a timeline from 1986 to 202318 outbreaks that changed cyber defence, each with a source. Free CSV to download and cite.
- How does ransomware work?The six stages of a modern attack, and the defence that breaks each one.
- How to spot a phishing linkFind the real domain in any link, and test one in the free inspector.
3. How defenders stop it
Detection, analysis, response and recovery: the work of a security team.
- How does antivirus detect malware?Signatures, heuristics, behaviour, sandboxes and machine learning, with a live hash demo.
- What is EDR (endpoint detection and response)?What EDR records, how it differs from antivirus, and what an alert looks like.
- What is malware analysis?Static vs dynamic analysis, the indicators they produce, and how to start safely.
- Incident response: the steps, explainedThe NIST and SANS steps side by side, and what to do in the first hour.
- The 3-2-1 backup rule, explainedThree copies, two kinds of storage, one offsite. Check your own setup in seconds.
Free tools
Small tools that put the guides into practice. Each runs entirely in your browser.
- Link inspectorPaste a link, see its real domain and every phishing trick in it. Nothing leaves your browser.
- File hash calculatorHash a file without uploading it, and compare it with a published checksum.
- 3-2-1 backup checkerList your copies, see if they meet 3-2-1, and what to change if not.
- Malware attacks dataset18 outbreaks from 1986 to 2023 with sources. Free CSV under CC BY 4.0.
Why learn this?
Knowing how attacks work is the most reliable protection there is, at home and at work.
Most attacks still need someone to click a link, reuse a password or skip an update. Someone who knows what a phishing link looks like, why updates matter and what a backup is for is hard to fool. And for anyone thinking about a security career, these are the fundamentals every analyst, incident responder and threat hunter starts with.
How long does it take?
Each guide takes five to ten minutes to read. To go further, the M-Learn app turns these topics into 8 courses and 144 short lessons, with questions after every lesson and a certificate when you finish.
The M-Learn app
Take the full course, free to start.
M-Learn turns topics like this one into short lessons with a diagram on every page, two quick questions after each lesson, and a certificate when you finish a course. 8 courses, 144 lessons, in 11 languages.
Free to start. Coming soon to Android and iOS.