Realizm

I'm basically a newbie. I don't really know anything about hacking or anything in depth about programming, but I am having something of a growing interest in network security.


What kind of courses should I take to gain some knowledge about this? I'd like to know more about securing networks and ensuring that information can not be viewed by other people or only by those who I'd like it to be, etc. I don't even know if you really call this network security..

I would like to know more about tracking hackers and monitoring for them, though. I'm sure there are courses that focus on network/computer security somewhere, though..

Sorry for my ignorance on this subject.

Thanks