Update, October 2026: Several entries below were time-limited offers made in spring 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic; the dated offers have ended and have been removed, and discount codes may no longer work. FedVTE has been replaced by CISA Learning, and SANS retired Cyber Aces in June 2023. NIST keeps the current list on its Free and Low Cost Online Cybersecurity Learning Content page; links to pages that no longer exist point to archived copies.
Under the NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION (NICE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has provided information and links to free and low-cost security training content.
Find the related materials published by NIST in the table below.
| Name and Hyperlink to Materials | Description |
|---|---|
| Career Explorations: Cybersecurity | Free cybersecurity curriculum for 5th – 10th graders. |
| Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Workshop Training | Collection of security learnings, principles, and recommendations for modernizing security in your organization. |
| CLARK Center Plan C | Free cybersecurity curriculum that is primarily video-based or provide online assignments that can be easily integrated into a virtual learning environments. |
| CompTIA | Free online training for CompTIA IT Fundamentals and other resources. |
| Culture of Cybersecurity | Free, downloadable kids activities to help your family learn basic cybersecurity concepts and defense strategies. |
| Cyber Security for Remote Workers Staff Awareness E-learning Course | Low cost non-technical course help employees remain safe, and understand what to do if and when they experience a cyber attack or phishing scam. |
| CybSafe Remote Working Toolkit | Free (3 months) access to cyber security modules (including social engineering, public Wi-Fi, and device security) plus Assist (security FAQs, advice, and guidance) and Protect (interactive security behaviours and habits checklist) tools. |
| Cybrary | Free information technology and cybersecurity training portal. |
| EC-Council | Free resources for the information security community in the form of webinars, blogs, online video training, and much more. |
| Elastic | Free on-demand Elastic Stack, observability, and security courses. |
| CISA Learning (formerly the Federal Virtual Training Environment, FedVTE) | Free online cybersecurity training for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government staff and contractors, veterans, military personnel and US residents. |
| Fortinet | Free access to the FortiGate Essentials Training Course and Network Security Expert courses 1 and 2. |
| Fundamentals of Cybersecurity Information | Free (sign up and use class code 2A4E1) courses for middle and high school students. |
| Hacker101 | Free class for web security. |
| Holistic Information Security Practitioner Institute (HISPI) | Heavily discounted (use code HISPI-COVID-19) online, on-demand Cyber Security Management Course. |
| Hopper’s Roppers Security Training | Community built around a series of free courses that provide training to beginners in the security field. |
| IBM (hosted by Coursera) | Free (7-day trial) suite of courses on IT Fundamentals for Cybersecurity Specialization. |
| IBM Security Learning Academy | Free technical training for IBM Security products. |
| Infosec Skills | Free access (7-day trial; low cost after trial) to 500+ courses, 70+ learning paths, and 100+ browser-based labs for IT, security, and engineering professionals. |
| Information Security and Cyber Security Staff Awareness E-Learning Course | Low cost course aimed employees who are involved in processing information, use information technology in their daily job, or use the Internet as a means of conducting business. |
| (ISC)2 Webinars and Courses | Free technical webinars and courses to earn Continuing Professional Education (CPEs). |
| (ISC)2 Utilizing Big Data | Free course for (ISC)2 members (low cost for non-members) that provides an overview of Big Data components, architectures and applications. |
| ITProTV | Free membership (65+ hours of IT training content) and low cost memberships (4000+ hours of content, practice exams, and virtual labs). |
| Microsoft Cyber Security Architecture | Collection of best practices that is presented in a series of videos that provide clear actionable guidance for security-related decisions |
| Microsoft Technologies Training | Free security-related courses on Microsoft Technologies. |
| M.E. Kabay | Free industry courses and course materials for students, teachers and others are welcome to use for free courses and lectures. |
| Mossé Cyber Security Institute | Sixty-five free exercises including Penetration Testing, Red Teaming, Security Tools, Cyber Defence, Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC), and theory, concepts, and fundamentals of cyber security. |
| National CyberWatch Center Cloud-Based Labs | Heavily discounted online labs tied to industry certifications and higher education courses. |
| NICCS Education and Training Catalog | Database of free and for pay, online and in person courses. |
| NICERC at Home | Free activities and Capture the Flag challenges that teach foundational cybersecurity skills and introduction to cybersecurity careers. |
| NIST Cybersecurity Professional (NCSP) Awareness Training | Free course (use codeNCSPFREE) that introduces students to the basic concepts associated with Digital Transformation, Cybersecurity Risk Management, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. |
| Open P-TECH | Free digital learning on the tech skills of tomorrow. |
| Palo Alto Networks | Free activities, lessons and virtual environments that increase a students knowledge of cybersecurity through narrated content, interactions, demonstrations, and knowledge checks. |
| Phishing Staff Awareness E-Learning Course | Low cost phishing awareness training. |
| picoCTF | Free computer security game targeted at middle and high school students. |
| SANS | Free cybersecurity community resources and programs including white papers, webcasts, newsletters, tools/workstations, scholarship/community programs, templates, blogs, cyber ranges, and security posters. |
| Web Security Academy | Free online web security training. |