- Cybersecurity
- 3 sections
- 13 slides
- 4 quizzes
- 20-30 min
Devices, updates and backups: holding your hardware
A security update fixes a flaw that has become public, and automated tools look for it within hours: putting it off means leaving open a door everyone knows about. A backup left permanently connected is encrypted along with everything else during an attack: only a copy unplugged after use protects you. And a backup that has never been restored remains a hypothesis rather than a protection, which is why the restore is tested on an ordinary day.
- Written by Skillrung team
- Review by a subject-matter expert under way
- Updated on
What is this course about?
Keep your devices updated and hold a backup that actually works on the day it matters.
This is a core course: the material taught is the same for everyone, only the examples, the tools mentioned and the people you deal with change with your job. It has 3 sections, of which 1 section is followed by a quiz, and reads in 20-30 min. The legal framework cited is French law.
« Remind me tomorrow »
It is the most expensive sentence of the working day. An update put off, a backup nobody ever tried to restore, an external drive left plugged in: three tiny decisions, taken to save two minutes, and they decide what will be left after an attack on your structure.
Key points
What decides how much is left
Four things, all checkable without an IT department.
- Updates installed as soon as they are offered
- A backup unplugged after use, kept somewhere else
- A restore already tested, with its date written down
- A device encrypted as soon as it leaves the premises
What you will be able to do
- Place what actually protects a workstation, and what changes nothing.
- Keep your devices up to date and have a backup you can actually restore.
- Leave with three habits you can apply to your hardware.
The first 4 slides, free
What you read with no account and no card. Here, the generic version; in the player, the examples take the vocabulary of your job.
Try it, before you even create an account
Choose a job: the passage below is rewritten straight away. Nothing is saved, and no extra content opens.
No job selected: the generic version is being shown.
It is the most expensive sentence of the working day. An update put off, a backup nobody ever tried to restore, an external drive left plugged in: three tiny decisions, taken to save two minutes, and they decide what will be left after an attack on your structure.
Real extract from the free slide “« Remind me tomorrow »” of this course.
- FreeSlide 1 of 13 · Why hardware gives way at the worst moment
« Remind me tomorrow »
It is the most expensive sentence of the working day. An update put off, a backup nobody ever tried to restore, an external drive left plugged in: three tiny decisions, taken to save two minutes, and they decide what will be left after an attack on your structure.
- FreeSlide 2 of 13 · Why hardware gives way at the worst moment
What you will be able to do by the end
- Install an update without putting it off
- Tell a backup that protects from one that reassures
- Test a restore in a few minutes
- FreeSlide 3 of 13 · Why hardware gives way at the worst moment
What decides how much is left
Four things, all checkable without an IT department.
- Updates installed as soon as they are offered
- A backup unplugged after use, kept somewhere else
- A restore already tested, with its date written down
- A device encrypted as soon as it leaves the premises
- FreeSlide 4 of 13 · Why hardware gives way at the worst moment
Where do you stand?
One question to place your reflexes, with no score and no judgement. Answer before you carry on.
1 short questions, marked immediately, inside the course.
These 4 slides can be read in the player, with no account and no card.
Read the first slideProgramme
3 sections, 13 slides and 4 quizzes in total. Each content section ends with a quiz that checks it has been learned.
- IntroductionFree
Why hardware gives way at the worst moment
Place what actually protects a workstation, and what changes nothing.
- 4 slides
- SectionSubscribers
Devices, updates and backups
Keep your devices up to date and have a backup you can actually restore.
- 7 slides
- Section quiz: 5 questions
- RecapSubscribers
Your action plan
Leave with three habits you can apply to your hardware.
- 2 slides
9 slides are for subscribers
The first four slides of this course can be read without an account and without a bank card. From the fifth on, the €29.99/month incl. VAT subscription is needed. The Beginner level quiz, though, stays free: it measures your level without asking you for anything.
How your level is measured
- Beginner
- Questions drawn
- 10
- Pass mark
- 70 %
- Question bank
- ≥ 30
- Time limit
- 20 min
Free, no account and no subscription.
- Intermediate
- Questions drawn
- 12
- Pass mark
- 75 %
- Question bank
- ≥ 36
- Time limit
- 24 min
Subscribers only, once the Beginner level is passed.
- Expert
- Questions drawn
- 15
- Pass mark
- 80 %
- Question bank
- ≥ 45
- Time limit
- 30 min
Subscribers only, once the Intermediate level is passed.
The level shown for a course is the highest level you have passed, with your best score and its date. Questions are drawn at random on every attempt. Play the Beginner quiz for this course or read how we measure your level.
Which jobs is it for?
Common core: the examples change with your job, what is taught stays the same. It addresses all 58 jobs in the directory. See courses by job.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need technical knowledge to take this course?
No. Everything is explained through everyday actions: reading a message, choosing a password, plugging in a drive, calling the right person. No command line, no setting reserved for an IT department. The examples adapt to the job you indicate.
My organisation is very small: am I really a target?
Yes. The vast majority of attacks target no one in particular: they cast a wide net and exploit whatever opens. A small organisation is often more exposed, for lack of an IT department and a verified backup.
How does this course fit into the theme?
It is one step of the Cybersecurity theme. Each course is short and self-contained; the theme exam measures your level across all of them and issues a personal certificate.
What can I read without a subscription?
The first four slides of every course are available without an account and without a subscription, as is the Beginner level quiz. From the fifth slide onwards, the €29.99/month incl. VAT subscription is required. Creating a free account unlocks no extra slide: it keeps your progress, your job and your results.
How is my level measured?
By three level quizzes: Beginner (10 questions, 70 % to pass), Intermediate (12 questions, 75 %) and Expert (15 questions, 80 %). The level shown is the highest level passed, with the best score obtained and its date.
Who writes and who reviews this course
Editorial team of skillrung.com
The skillrung editorial team writes the courses from the publications of the French and European authorities: ANSSI, CNIL, Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, Légifrance and EUR-Lex. Every figure is tied to its primary source, dated and verifiable from the course page. The team does not stand in for an expert reviewer: every course intended for publication is reviewed by a named professional of the field concerned, whose name and review date appear on the course page.
Review by a subject-matter expert under way
This course is written by our editorial team from dated primary sources, and its review by an external subject-matter expert is under way. Last updated: .
We invent no name, no title and no qualification to look the part. Our production process is described in detail on the page our method.
Artificial intelligence assisted the drafting. Editorial responsibility for the published text remains human.
Statements with regulatory scope verified on .
Sources
Every figure stated in this course points to a primary source, dated and verifiable.
- Rançongiciel : que faire si votre organisation est victime d'une attaque ?
Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, published on
What Skillrung is not
- Skillrung is not a French training body certified under the Qualiopi scheme.
- As things stand, our content is not eligible for the French CPF, OPCO, DPC or FAF funding schemes.
- A Skillrung certificate of completion is not a diploma, not a professional title and not a qualification registered in any national register. It records a result obtained in an unsupervised online assessment, on a given date.
- Taking a Skillrung course does not make your organisation compliant and does not replace the obligations that fall on your employer or on you.
- Our content is educational. It is neither legal advice, nor medical advice, nor a security audit.
- For a self-employed professional or a company, the subscription is a deductible business expense : confirm this with your accountant.
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Keep going on Skillrung
The pages that follow on from this one, in the recommended order.
- Cybersecurity courses
- Passwords and two-factor authentication: holding your accounts
- Protecting your sensitive data: what you actually have to defend
- Responding to an incident: the first minutes and the alert chain
- Spotting a malicious message: the signs that still hold
- Backing up your work data: what, where and how often
- Security updates: why you should install them, and when to do it
- Who writes this: Skillrung team
- The course catalogue
- Courses by job
- Practical guides
- Free quizzes
- Our teaching method
- The subscription and its price