Networking Fundamentals

Data

Host

Receiver

Medium - How is the data transferred: wired, wireless? What kind?

Protocol - Set of rules which determine how devices communicate

Common Network Topologies

Bus, Ring, Star

Mesh Topology

Network Vulnerabilities

• No written security policy

• No policy for hardware and software installations/updates

• Lack of disaster recovery and business continuity plans

• No incident response team

• No policy on use of official assets

• No policy on teleworking or working from home

Weak Tech Related Vulnerabilities

• TCP/IP Apps and protocols

• OS

• Network Device

How are Networks Attacked?

• RECON - gaining knowledge of targets, network topology, hard/software etc

• "Scan n Sniff" - scanning for open ports + services, holes, vulnerabilities

DDoS Attacks

• DDoS - makes network inaccessible by generating unmanageable amount of network traffic

• Ping of death - pinging with an IP packet whose size exceeds maximum size specified

• SYN flood - attacker sends many junk SYNs, consuming network/system resources while blocking other communications

• Smurf attack

Prevention

• Hardening all network equipment with appropriate configurations/patching including firmware updates