Qualifi Ltd · RQF Level 5

Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in Networking and Cyber Security

You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.

LevelRQF Level 5
Total credits240
Guided learning1,200 hours
Units in this qualification11

Awarded by Qualifi Ltd · on the Ofqual register

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What you’ll learn

What each unit actually teaches you to do

The Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in Networking and Cyber Security develops knowledge and skills in network security, data communications, and cyber security threat and risk. Learners will gain an understanding of network design, administration, incident response, investigations, and forensics. It is suitable for individuals pursuing a career in the digital technology sector.

These are the units Qualifi Ltd registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.

CryptographyReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

This unit introduces learners to key cryptographic principles, including symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashing algorithms, and digital signatures. You'll understand relevant standards, regulations, and laws, and develop skills to design encryption plans for organisations.

What you'll be able to do

Understand key cryptographic principles and modes of operation, including symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashing, and digital signatures.
Understand the standards, regulations, and laws that apply to business and government organisations in relation to encryption, such as GDPR, PCI DSS, and industry-specific regulations.
Design an encryption plan and courses of action for a given organisation, considering factors such as data sensitivity, compliance requirements, and business needs.

Cyber Security Threat and RiskReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

This unit provides learners with knowledge of complex cyber security threats and risks affecting businesses. You'll examine recent mega-breaches, malware, and ransomware attacks, and understand how threat actors develop customised intrusion tools to exploit vulnerabilities.

What you'll be able to do

Understand complex business cyber security threats and risks, including their potential impact on organisations.
Understand recent mega-breaches, including the vulnerabilities exploited and the consequences for affected organisations.
Explain malware and ransomware attacks, including their methods of propagation and potential damage.
Understand how threats and malicious hackers are advancing, including their evolving techniques and targets.
Understand the development of customised intrusion tools, including their purpose and functionality.

Database Security and Computer ProgrammingReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

This unit provides learners with an understanding of database security measures, including access controls, encryption, and auditing mechanisms. You'll also examine cloud-based storage security and the relationship between computer programming and hacking techniques.

What you'll be able to do

Understand the broad range of security measures required to protect databases from unauthorised access and data breaches.
Understand database categories of control, including access controls, encryption, and auditing mechanisms.
Understand the underpinning concepts of cloud-based storage solutions, including their security implications and best practices.
Understand the relationship between computer programming and computer hacking, including how programming skills can be used for both defensive and offensive purposes.
Understand the “interpreted” general-purpose programming language Python, including its syntax, data structures, and common libraries.

Digital Investigations and ForensicsReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

You'll explore the core principles, legal, and ethical considerations of digital investigations. The unit covers the use of investigative tools at a strategic level and planning for the establishment and management of digital forensics teams.

What you'll be able to do

Understand the core principles of digital investigations, including legal and ethical considerations.
Apply different types of tools that support professional digital investigations at a strategic level.
Plan for the establishment and management of an investigation and forensics team.
Understand the critical importance of safeguarding evidential integrity throughout digital investigations.

Incident Response, Investigations and ForensicsReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

You'll understand the role and components of incident response as a business function, including the operation of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). The unit covers aligned task forces for business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management, and the investigation of major computer incidents.

What you'll be able to do

Understand the role and composite parts of Incident Response as a business function and how Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) operate.
Understand how aligned task forces operate for Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and crisis management in the context of incident response.
Understand how major computer incidents are formally investigated, including evidence gathering and analysis.
Understand the relevant laws and guidance in relation to the conduct and planned structure of major incident investigations, ensuring compliance and best practice.

Network Design and AdministrationReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

You'll study the principles of network design, including scalability, redundancy, and security, as well as different network topologies. The unit includes practical skills in configuring local area networks (LANs) and virtual LANs (VLANs), alongside network administration tasks.

What you'll be able to do

Understand the principles of network design and their application in different contexts
Configure a local area network (LAN) according to specified requirements
Configure a virtual local area network (VLAN) to meet specific organisational needs
Administer a network, including user management, security protocols, and resource allocation

Network Routing and SwitchingReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

You'll study the fundamental principles of network switching and routing, including various switching techniques and network switch components. The unit covers the requirements for network switching in different environments and practical routing tasks.

What you'll be able to do

Understand the principles of network switching.
Understand the requirements of network switching.
Perform network routing tasks according to specified configurations.

Network Security and Data CommunicationsReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

You'll develop an understanding of how computer and digital devices communicate over networks, including communication protocols. The unit covers potential cyber security vulnerabilities in networking, web applications, and software, alongside methods of security prevention and system hardening.

What you'll be able to do

Understand how computer and digital devices communicate with one another over a network.
Understand, at a strategic level, how computer networking, web applications, and software can be exploited by malicious actors.
Understand methods of security prevention and systems hardening techniques to mitigate potential exploits.
Understand key network security and systems resilience tools, terminology and models used in the industry.

Physical IT NetworkingReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

This unit equips learners with practical knowledge of physical IT networking components, including cables, connectors, and devices. You'll apply installation techniques and security protocols to establish and maintain physical network infrastructures effectively.

What you'll be able to do

Apply knowledge of the components of physical networking in a practical context.
Understand the components and interfaces between different physical networking attributes, including cabling, connectors, and network devices.
Install security protocols in a physical network to protect against unauthorised access and data breaches.

Security Strategy: Laws, Policies and ImplementationReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

This unit covers the concept of cyber security strategy, including strategic management, planning, and gaining organisational buy-in. You'll explore relevant legislation, industry standards, and the implementation of security and risk management policies within cyber security frameworks.

What you'll be able to do

Understand the concept of strategy and the strategic management of planning and buy-in processes in relation to cyber security.
Understand how legislation, formal industry standards, and training accreditation support and enhance cyber security practices.
Understand how to implement Plan, Do, Check, and Act (PDCA) security and risk management policies within an organisation.
Understand the future legal and technical environment and its potential impact on cyber security planning and digital risk management strategies.
Understand how to plan and design a security audit for a cyber network, including scope, methodology, and reporting.

System AdministrationReal unit · Qualifi Ltd

You'll gain knowledge of system administration principles and responsibilities, including security, performance, and maintenance. The unit covers user and file system management tasks within different organisational contexts.

What you'll be able to do

Understand the principles of system administration.
Understand the requirements of system administration.
Perform user management tasks within a system administration context.
Perform file system management tasks within a system administration context.

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

Your passport

Every credit is a stamp you keep

Level 5 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.

CryptographyCyber Security Threat and RiskDatabase Security and Computer ProgrammingDigital Investigations and ForensicsIncident Response, Investigations and ForensicsNetwork Design and AdministrationNetwork Routing and SwitchingNetwork Security and Data Communications

Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.

Who’d teach you this

The Evidence Evaluator

Assessor

Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.

Meet all twelve tutors

Where this connects

Where these credits take you

A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration

Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in Networking and Cyber Security

Assist in Implementing Digital Forensic Processes
Assist with digital forensic examinations under supervision
Carry Out Intrusion Detection and Analysis
Carry out digital forensic examination activities
Contribute to Information Security Incident Investigation and Management Activities
Contribute to digital forensic examination activities
Deliver digital forensic services
Design Network Infrastructure Solutions

This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

Where this can lead

International Security Incident Response Specialist

Your journey here as an International Security Incident Response Specialist is just the beginning. The skills you'll hone – critical thinking, forensic analysis, rapid problem-solving under pressure – are invaluable, not just in security, but in any complex technical environment. We're excited to see where you take it.

See the whole journey →

Opens the roleInternational Security Incident Response SpecialistOne of the jobs this qualification is a route intoSee the role →Opens the roleSenior Incident Response EngineerOne of the jobs this qualification is a route intoSee the role →Opens the roleIncident Response ManagerOne of the jobs this qualification is a route intoSee the role →Opens the roleAssociate Incident Response EngineerOne of the jobs this qualification is a route intoSee the role →Opens the roleIncident Response EngineerOne of the jobs this qualification is a route intoSee the role →Opens the roleSenior International Security Incident Response SpecialistOne of the jobs this qualification is a route intoSee the role →Future FluencyAll ten future skillsSee how every unit is contextualised by the tenExplore →

Showing 6 roles, drawn from 124 job records mapped to this qualification.

Skills it covers

What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.

Assist in Implementing Digital Forensic ProcessesAssist with digital forensic examinations under supervisionCarry Out Intrusion Detection and AnalysisCarry out digital forensic examination activitiesContribute to Information Security Incident Investigation and Management ActivitiesContribute to digital forensic examination activitiesDeliver digital forensic servicesDesign Network Infrastructure SolutionsDevelop and implement cryptographic methodsDirect Digital Forensic Examination ActivitiesLead Forensic ExaminationLead the Delivery of the Network Design Capability and StrategyManage Intrusion Detection and AnalysisManage digital forensic activitiesManage digital forensic examination activities

How you’ll actually learn this

One-to-one, on your own real work

A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.

One-to-one, on your real workNo lectures, no past-papers. Every unit is practised on the actual tasks your job throws at you, a tutor beside you, not a video in front of you.

Taught to the top, not the testMost courses stop at remembering. Your companion keeps climbing: analysing, judging, creating. That’s the part a machine can’t do for you.

Credits you keep, a map that continuesEvery unit is regulated and yours for good. The day you finish, Zavmo already knows the next role your new credits open.

CryptographyLevel 5

Applied to your work in any of these jobs

Which job do you mean?

International Security Incident Response Specialist Senior Incident Response Engineer Incident Response Manager Associate Incident Response Engineer Incident Response Engineer Senior International Security Incident Response Specialist

This unit introduces learners to key cryptographic principles, including symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashing algorithms, and digital signatures. Learners will understand relevant standards, regulations, and laws, and develop skills to design encryption plans for organisations.

How the thinking builds

Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyse
Evaluate
Create

An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

Your PlanIllustration

Built for Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in Networking and Cyber Security

11 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Qualifi Ltd.

Cryptography
Cyber Security Threat and Risk
Database Security and Computer Programming
Digital Investigations and Forensics
Incident Response, Investigations and Forensics
Network Design and Administration

and 5 more in the full unit list below.

These are the real units of this credential, in its own order. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

Why it sticks

Most courses stop at remembering

There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.

6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
4AnalyseThe Analyst
3ApplyThe Coach
2UnderstandThe Connector
1RememberThe Builder

Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you

Why this matters: AI can already remember and understand for you. What it can’t do is take your real problem and judge the right call. So the only learning worth paying for is the learning that takes you to the top. That’s exactly what a tutor doing it with you, on your real work, is for.

The value

Why the companion is worth £70 a month

You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.

That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.

Earned on your own work, taught to the top.

Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.

Build my plan, free

No card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.