What level of English do we need?

B1 is the comfortable level. There is no exam: before the start we simply talk for about fifteen minutes in English about what you do and why security interests you. The conversation is not a filter — it keeps the group moving at one pace. If the level is lower, that is not a refusal: usually the answer is to start in the Russian group and move over later.

What age is this for, and is experience required?

Both programming and cybersecurity start from 7th grade, at about 12–14 years. No experience is needed: every programme begins from zero and every term is explained in plain words. An ordinary laptop is enough — all lab environments run locally.

Is this legal? Are you teaching people to hack?

We teach defence, and to defend you have to understand the attack. All practice happens on our own training environments, isolated from the internet. In the very first lesson every student signs an ethical hacker code of conduct, and legality stays part of the course throughout.

How long does it take and what is the schedule?

Each cybersecurity track is two academic years, twice a week, 90 minutes per class. Programming runs at the same rhythm. Classes are on site in Nalchik, in groups of 8–12 students.

NALCHIK · NEXT INTAKE MID-JANUARY

Cybersecurity, taught in English

Zero Day Academy is a cybersecurity and programming school in Nalchik. We teach students to find the weakness before anyone else does — and to close it. On site, in small groups, with hands-on practice in every single class.

This is the first cybersecurity course in the city taught entirely in English — for students from 9th grade and up and for adults. The Russian group covers exactly the same syllabus.

Book a free consultation See the programmes

twice a week, 90 minutes
groups of 8–12 students

// The English group at a glance

LANGUAGE: English, from the first minute to the last
LEVEL: B1 is comfortable — there is no exam
ENTRY: A fifteen-minute conversation, nothing to prepare
SYLLABUS: Identical to the Russian group

lessons written and ready to teach

of classes are hands-on at the keyboard

cybersecurity careers on our map, with pay ranges for each

languages of instruction: Russian and English

FIRST IN NALCHIK

// Language of instruction

A group where the whole subject happens in English

Security documentation, vulnerability reports, CTF tasks and research are written in English and rarely translated. A student who learns the subject in English reads the source, not somebody's retelling of it.

What that means in practice

The explanation, the slides, the lab instructions and the debrief are all in English.
Terminology is learned the way the industry actually uses it, not through a translation layer.
Written work — incident notes and short reports — is done in English too, because that is what the job looks like.
The syllabus, the pace and the price are identical to the Russian group.

// How to join the English group

There is no exam — there is a conversation

Before the start we talk for about fifteen minutes in English: what you do, what you have already tried, why security interests you. Nothing to prepare for that call.

The conversation is not a filter. It exists so the group moves at one pace: the material is hard enough on its own, and the language should not become a second obstacle. B1 is the comfortable level — enough to follow an explanation and to ask questions.

Below B1 is not a refusal

The rule of the school: in every class the student does something with their own hands at the keyboard. Theory comes in short blocks and is put to work immediately.

Hands-on in every class

Terminal, lab environments, real tools. The student types the commands and configures the systems, instead of watching slides.

CTF competitions

Capture the flag, the same format professionals use: cryptography, web and forensics challenges, school tournaments and public platforms.

Ethics from day one

Every student signs an ethical hacker code of conduct. Offensive techniques are practised only on our own lab environments, and only legally.

Small groups, a practising teacher

Groups of 8–12 students, so the teacher gets to everyone: to look at a mistake, to push the strong one further, to support the beginner.

// Who teaches

Classes are taught by a working practitioner

Not a video course and not a student reading from a manual: someone who works in the field and answers for what they teach. Groups are 8–12 students, so there is time for everyone.

$ whoami

teacher@zeroday

$ ./live-class

Astemir Bekov

Penetration tester, developer and teacher

For nine years I have built web applications and internal corporate services — dashboards, admin panels, CRMs and other line-of-business systems. For more than five years I have worked in offensive security: finding and exploiting vulnerabilities, assessing the security of web applications and taking part in Bug Bounty programs.

I have taught for five years — at an Austrian school and a German university, where classes are held in English. Working across all three fields — development, security and teaching — lets me explain hard things in plain language and tie theory to real tasks rather than textbook examples.

EXPERIENCE: 9 years in development, 5+ in security
FOCUS: Pentesting, offensive security, Bug Bounty
TEACHES: 5 years, including in English — a school in Austria and a university in Germany

My goal is for a student not to memorize tricks, but to understand why a vulnerability is possible in the first place and how to close it.

Book a consultation

// Where this leads

Cybersecurity is more than 20 different jobs

“Security specialist” is not one profession but a whole tree. Some people hunt for weaknesses, some watch the monitors and catch the attack, some investigate incidents or build the defences of a cloud. Here is where a student can end up, and what those roles pay.

4.8 M
cybersecurity jobs worldwide with nobody to fill them
ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study
+29 %
growth in security analyst jobs in the US between 2024 and 2034 — many times the average across the labour market
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
$10,400
median monthly pay of an information security analyst in the US — $124,910 a year
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024
+40 %
year-on-year growth of median security salaries offered in Russia
hh.ru

Finding weaknesses

Penetration tester
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
150 000 – 350 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$7 900 – 11 700
Red Team operator
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
200 000 – 400 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$9 200 – 14 200
Bug bounty hunter
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
from 10 000 ₽ per finding to 1 M+ for a critical one
WORLD, $/MO
$500 – 50 000 per report
Mobile application security specialist
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
180 000 – 350 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$9 200 – 13 300

Defence and investigation

SOC analyst
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
80 000 – 250 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$5 400 – 10 800
Incident responder
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
150 000 – 300 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$7 500 – 12 500
Digital forensics analyst
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
130 000 – 280 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$6 700 – 10 800
Detection engineer
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
180 000 – 350 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$8 300 – 12 900
Threat intelligence analyst
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
150 000 – 300 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$7 500 – 12 100
OSINT analyst
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
100 000 – 220 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$5 800 – 10 000

Security engineering

Application security engineer
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
200 000 – 350 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$9 200 – 13 300
DevSecOps engineer
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
250 000 – 450 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$10 800 – 14 600
Cloud security engineer
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
200 000 – 400 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$10 000 – 14 600
Network security engineer
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
120 000 – 250 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$6 700 – 10 800
Secure software developer
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
200 000 – 400 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$9 200 – 14 200
Cryptography engineer
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
200 000 – 400 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$10 000 – 15 800

AI, data and governance

AI security specialist
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
250 000 – 450 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$12 500 – 16 700
Data protection analyst
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
150 000 – 300 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$8 300 – 12 500
Security auditor
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
120 000 – 250 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$7 500 – 11 700
Head of security (CISO)
RUSSIA, ₽/MO
from 400 000 ₽
WORLD, $/MO
$16 700+

Sources: ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, hh.ru and public industry salary reviews for 2025–2026. All figures are monthly — roubles in Russia, dollars worldwide. These are market ranges rather than a promise from the school: pay depends on experience, city and employer.

// Fees and intake

From 9 500 ₽ a month. Next intake in mid-January

Classes run all year, but a student cannot join in the middle of a course — the group would already be ahead. So intake happens in windows, and the next one opens in mid-January.

Programming

Full-stack + AI — from the basics to a finished product with AI inside

from 9 500 ₽a month

Cybersecurity

Tracks A and B, Web for Pentesters, Red Team and the AI intensive — the only courses of their kind in the city

New Year discount — 15 %1 November to 10 January

13 600 ₽a month

~~16 000 ₽~~ regular price

Cybersecurity in English

The same syllabus, taught entirely in English

New Year discount — 15 %1 November to 10 January

15 470 ₽a month

~~18 200 ₽~~ regular price

Every tier means 8 classes of 90 minutes a month in a group of 8–12 students.

Red Team / Blue Team — the professional course

A separate format for students and adults: 3 years, three 150-minute classes a week, in Russian only.

17 600 ₽a month

// How payment works

Paid monthly — no need to pay for a year upfront
A second child from the same family studies with a 10 % discount
Lab environments, materials and CTF entries are included in the price

The consultation before you start is free

// The next intake

Enrolment opens in mid-January 2027

8–12 students per grouptwice a week, 90 minutes

The places are few for a reason: past twelve students the teacher stops getting to everyone at the keyboard, and the whole school rests on exactly that. So the list opens early, and places go to those who asked first.

1Now — the requestYou leave your contacts. Places in the January group are held in the order requests arrive.
2Before January — the consultationWe call, work out which programme fits and answer every question. Free, and it commits you to nothing.
3Mid-January — the first classThe group is formed, the schedule is agreed, the student starts.

Hold a place in the January group

// Questions

Frequently asked

If your question is not here, leave a request and we will answer it.

Yes — the English group runs entirely in English: the explanation, the materials, the exercises and the debrief. The syllabus is identical to the Russian group; only the language changes. This is the first cybersecurity course in Nalchik taught this way.

// Find your track

Not sure where to start? Three questions is all it takes

There are 7 programmes, and you do not have to compare them yourself. Answer three questions and we will show you where to begin.

Question 1 of 3

How old is the student?

// Apply

Book a free consultation

Leave your contacts and a question if you have one. We will call back, work out which programme fits, go through the schedule and hold a place in the next group.

The consultation is free and commits you to nothing
Open to everyone: no entrance exams, no selection
On site: 69 Nogmova St, Nalchik
Twice a week, 90 minutes per class
Russian and English groups — the language is your choice
Next intake — mid-January, 8–12 students per group