Best Security & Cryptography courses
The 25 Security & Cryptography courses programmers recommend to each other on Hacker News, ranked by how many people recommended each one, how strongly, in how many separate threads and over how many years (71 recommendations, 2006 to October 2026). 18 of them are free. How ranking works.
Cryptography I
Coursera · intermediate · free
Commenters repeatedly call it one of the best courses they have taken, praising its clear, thorough explanations of crypto fundamentals and its hands-on attack exercises.
Applied Cryptography
Udacity · intermediate · free
An applied cryptography course taught by Dan Boneh's collaborator Professor Eric Evans...
CS255 Introduction to Cryptography (Dan Boneh)
Stanford University · advanced · free
Commenters call Boneh's classes highly recommended and praise him for sharing the course materials openly, and one says the Coursera version is of similarly high quality with less depth.
Modern Binary Exploitation
RPISEC · intermediate · free
Commenters recommend it as a practical step up from beginner exploitation puzzles toward more realistic binary exploitation, with one calling it a highly recommended path into low-level systems and exploit writing.
Securing Digital Democracy
Coursera · intermediate · free
Commenters point to it as a strong, specific course on election and voting security, with one calling it an awesome course and another highly recommending it.
Quantum Cryptography
edX · advanced · free
Commenters call it a highly recommended free course for learning about quantum cryptography and the quantum internet, and note it goes beyond introductory cryptography material.
Malicious Software on Linux and Android
Coursera · intermediate · free
Commenters recommend it for its malware analysis content, and one calls the assembler assignments fun.
MIT Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies lecture series
MIT (YouTube) · intermediate · free
One commenter calls it an incredible MIT course that explains how proof-of-work and consensus fit together, and says it inspired their site.
Hardware Security
VU University Amsterdam · advanced · paid
One commenter, who took it, calls it an amazing course and says they learned a lot about Spectre, Meltdown, cache attacks and Rowhammer.
Computer Security
MIT OpenCourseWare · advanced · free
One commenter calls MIT's computer security class amazing and points to the full set of lectures, notes, labs, and quizzes.
Cyber Security Specialization
Coursera · beginner · freemium
A commenter highly recommends it as a route into computer security, noting it was free if you did not need a certificate.
Software Security
Coursera · intermediate · free
One commenter highly recommends it as a resource for learning secure coding in C.
Security Engineering (Ross Anderson)
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters highly recommend the Ross Anderson lecture series on Security Engineering as a strong introduction to the subject.
CS 4630 Defense Against the Dark Arts
University of Virginia · advanced · free
One commenter calls it an awesome, seemingly open courseware class they found while learning about return-oriented programming.
Cryptopals Crypto Challenges
cryptopals.com · intermediate · free
Commenters suggest it as a practical way to build a gut-level understanding of the severity of various cryptographic attacks, alongside more basic courses.
NYUx Cybersecurity Fundamentals
edX · beginner · freemium
One commenter says cybersecurity pays well and calls the NYU course a "screaming deal" at $1,344 for the certificate, while noting each class can be taken free without certification.
Cryptography and Data Security
Worcester Polytechnic Institute · advanced
One commenter, a former student, calls it one of their favorite grad classes and recalls building a complete Rijndael implementation as the final project.
CSE466 Offensive Computer Security
Arizona State University · intermediate · free
One commenter calls it a great offensive security course and notes that the videos, slides, and labs are open to the public.
Homomorphic Encryption
Udacity
One commenter highly recommends it as a resource for learning homomorphic encryption after seeing a fully homomorphic encryption virtual machine project.
CS 251 Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies
Stanford University · intermediate · free
One commenter recommends the course's readings and draft textbook as a good starting point for understanding Bitcoin and blockchain.
Assembly Language and Shellcoding
Pentester Academy · freemium
Commenters present it as a good option for learning assembly and shellcoding, pointing to its many free videos.
Shellcoding
Pentester Academy · intermediate · freemium
One commenter calls it one of two great courses for learning assembly and shellcoding, and notes that many free videos are included.
Journey into Cryptography
Khan Academy · beginner · free
A commenter lists it among Khan Academy lessons that "should" be checked out, praising the provider's other courses for changing how they think about the world.
Exploit Writing Tutorials
Corelan · intermediate · free
The commenter recommends it as a more current alternative to an older classic article for anyone seriously trying to learn exploit development.
Intro to Cryptography
Udacity · intermediate · free
Commenters note it is applied rather than low-level, and that it pairs well with the Stanford course, with one saying a student who finished it would know enough to attack a CTR-mode stream encryptor.