Education
Virtus Academy
Practitioner-built, laboratory-intensive courses in embedded systems reverse engineering, offensive security, and applied cybersecurity. The pipeline runs from 9th-grade digital foundations through graduate-register capstones — with every course taught on industry-standard tools, capstoned on real commercial targets, and graded on artifacts that look like professional deliverables.
We’re gauging interest, not taking enrollments. If you’re an individual learner, parent, school, or organization who wants to see a specific course offered, tell us which ones — priority follows demand.
Register Interest
Email academy@virtuscybersecurity.com with the course codes you’re interested in, your register (individual learner, school program, corporate cohort), and a sentence about why. We’ll get back to you with cohort timing and scheduling as courses come online. An online interest form is coming soon.
The Pipeline
Virtus Academy is organized as a four-year secondary-school pipeline feeding into a graduate-register flagship course, with parallel offerings for adult and professional learners on a compressed track. Courses are designed to stand alone — you can register interest in any course independently — but the pipeline is the shape of the curriculum.
Electives and bridges — VCA-CSA-101 (Fundamentals of Computing Systems), VCA-PEN-101 (Introduction to Penetration Testing), VCA-WIR-101 (Wireless Penetration Testing), and VCA-RE-201 (Reverse Engineering of Burst Radio Signals) — are taken in 11th or 12th grade as schedule and student interest permit.
Adult / professional track: the same courses are offered on a compressed schedule for individual practitioners and corporate cohorts. Same material, adjusted register — the capstone expectations match the graduate level rather than the 9th–12th-grade scaffolded level.
Foundation Stream
The computing and networking groundwork every downstream course assumes. 9th–10th grade in the secondary pipeline; entry point for adult learners without prior technical background.
VCA-FND-101 — Digital Foundations
Binary, hex, Boolean logic, computer architecture at the block level, Linux shell, and basic Git. Students leave knowing what computing machinery is — they can decode a byte in a hex dump by model, not by memorization. Capstone: documented teardown of a discarded consumer device.
VCA-FND-102 — Python and Automation
Python 3 taught as a professional automation language. Six working CLI tools, `argparse`, file I/O, Git as daily practice, basic testing with `pytest`. Capstone is a student-chosen automation tool for something the student actually does in their life.
VCA-HW-101 — Electronics and Microcontrollers
DC circuits, Ohm’s law, breadboarding, Arduino, sensors and actuators, soldering. Capstone: a self-contained Arduino data logger in a student-fabricated enclosure. Bridges the software pipeline into the hardware world that RE-101 demands.
No direct industry cert — Virtus Academy certificate serves as the credential of record.
VCA-NET-101 — Networks and Packet Analysis
OSI and TCP/IP models, Wireshark, DHCP, DNS, HTTP, Python sockets. Students learn to see what’s actually on the wire. Capstone: documented map of the student’s own home network with traffic analysis.
Cybersecurity & Reverse Engineering Core
The direct on-ramp to RE-101. Cybersecurity literacy, the forward-construction bridge, and an introductory RE course that works through hex editors, assembly, Ghidra, and CrackMes.
VCA-SEC-101 — Cybersecurity Principles
CIA triad, STRIDE threat modeling, OWASP Top 10, crypto literacy, coordinated disclosure. picoCTF as the weekly lab spine. Capstone: a written explainer of a significant historical CVE. Required for every downstream offensive or RE course in the pipeline.
VCA-RE-011 — Introduction to Reverse Engineering
Hex editors, x86-64 assembly, Ghidra, CrackMes, guided firmware teardown. The conceptual scaffolding for RE-101. Capstone: a professional-register firmware analysis report.
Conceptually prepares for GIAC GREM post-career-start.
VCA-CSA-101 — Fundamentals of Computing Systems
Build a computer from NAND gates up. Twelve modules spanning combinational logic through ALU, CPU, assembler, virtual machine, compiler, and minimal operating system — running a real application on hardware the student designed. Principal reading: Nisan & Schocken, The Elements of Computing Systems.
No industry cert — capstone artifact (the working computer) is the credential.
Advanced & Specialty
Post-flagship courses. Direct RE-101 follow-on, plus the offensive-security electives and the RE-201 burst-radio-signals sequel.
VCA-ADV-101 — Adversarial Techniques: CVE-to-Tool
Take a disclosed CVE on the same SB6141 target as RE-101 and build an authorization-gated testing tool that a professional analyst could hand to a client engagement. Tool safety engineering, CVSS scoring, coordinated disclosure under CERT/CC practice. Capstone: a working Python tool plus a disclosure-ready report.
Long-term preparation for OffSec OSCP (post-18).
VCA-PEN-101 — Introduction to Penetration Testing
The full engagement lifecycle a professional pen tester executes — scoping, reconnaissance, enumeration, exploitation, privilege escalation, lateral movement, reporting. Capstone: a five-day simulated engagement against an instructor-built target network with client-style report and oral debrief.
VCA-WIR-101 — Wireless Penetration Testing
802.11 fundamentals through WPA/WPA2 handshake cracking, Bluetooth/BLE survey, sub-GHz SDR reconnaissance. FCC regulation and engagement-boundary ethics embedded throughout. Capstone: a five-day simulated wireless engagement with site-survey report.
VCA-RE-201 — Reverse Engineering of Burst Radio Signals
Software-defined radio methodology for capturing, demodulating, and reverse engineering short-burst RF protocols — IoT sensors, keyless-entry systems, industrial telemetry. Anchored in the instructor’s masters-thesis subject matter. Capstone target announced when cohort is scheduled.
Earliest cohort target: 2027 if interest supports two RE streams.
The Virtus Academy Approach
01
Practitioner-Built
Every course is designed by operators who use the material in paid engagements. If a technique isn’t useful in real work, it doesn’t make the syllabus.
02
Lab-Intensive
Laboratory time dominates the schedule. Students build hardware benches, run industry-standard tooling, and produce artifacts that look like professional deliverables.
03
Real Targets
Every capstone is an end-to-end engagement against a real commercial device or protocol. No toy labs, no fictional scenarios — graduates produce publication-quality reports.
Certifications: Prepare, Exceed, Earn as a Side Effect
Virtus Academy is not a CompTIA prep shop. It is a trade-school-register program whose courses prepare students to do the work, not to pass the test. Industry certifications (CompTIA, Cisco, ISC2, Python Institute, OffSec) are mapped onto the pipeline because they’re portable, employer-readable, and validate a body of knowledge for students who want that validation. But the Virtus course always exceeds the cert it aligns with — and certs are never required to complete a Virtus course.
When a Virtus course has no natural industry-cert match — true for HW-101, CSA-101, RE-101, and RE-011 at this level — the Virtus completion certificate is the credential, and the capstone artifact itself (a working data logger, a built computer, a reverse-engineering report) is the portfolio piece.
Academic Independence
Virtus Academy is the education arm of Virtus Cybersecurity, LLC — a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). The program is independent; no affiliation with, or endorsement by, any government academy or university is claimed or implied. Credentials issued by Virtus Academy are private certifications attesting to successful completion of the stated course requirements.
Tell Us What You Want to See First
Cohort scheduling priority follows demand. If you want a specific course offered — or you’re a school or organization that wants to run a pipeline — send a note.
Email academy@virtuscybersecurity.comAn online interest form is in development.