Unit 5

Network Security
Network Security means protecting data from threats and unauthorized access.
Confidentiality – is a situation where you would be expected to keep something secret.

Ways to protect Data Confidentiality

▪ Ensure only authorized users can access the network and its resources. For ex.
managing director of a company can have access to financial information but lower level
employees do not have such access.
▪ Ensure the data stored about others should not be misused by anyone or leaked to third
party.
▪ Data should be encrypted so that in case if anyone has access to data won’t be able to
read it without encryption key.

Denial of Service (DoS) – is an attack on network which prevents legitimate users from
accessing network services.

Importance of Network Security

▪ Data stored on the network could be required for running of the organization.
▪ Data might be private and confidential
▪ Data might be financially valuable

Authentication - is the process of checking the identity of a user of a computer system or

network.
Validation – matching the details provided by the user with the details stored on a central
server. If details match, then access is validated.

Methods of Network Security

1) Access Control – is a method that controls whether a particular user will gain access to
a particular file or not. Access control can be read only, where a user can open the file
and read its content but cannot modify or delete the file. Or it can be read and write
access, where the user can read as well as alter the contents and save the changes made
in the file. Full control means where user has read and write access as well as
permission to delete the file. Access controls are set up by an organization’s system
administrator according to the management’s requirements.
 2) Firewall – is used to monitor and control data that is moving from one network to
another. A firewall inspects incoming and outgoing data and uses a set of rules called
firewall policies to allow the movement of data. The rules can be customized as per the
requirements of the organization.

3) Physical Security – ensures that critical parts of the network can be accessed only by
authorized people. It also includes protecting against theft of equipment. It involves
installing burglar alarm, security tagging and physically locking down equipment, etc. To
protect a network physically lock the server rooms. Use Electronic locks or biometric
locks. Entry/exit can be recorded using CCTV cameras. Access card for entry or security
guards can be set up.

Cyber Attacks
A Cyber attack is any kind of electronic attack on a computer system, server, network or other
IT devices. These attacks might be designed to :

• Gain access to data contained within the system

• Delete or modify information
• Make the system unavailable for use
• Physically damage a device connected to the network

Types of Cyber attack

1) Social Engineering – Attacks that rely on exploiting human behaviour. In this type of
attack, the attacker engineers a situation where the target person gives away confidential
information or gives access to confidential data. Ex. Phishing, shoulder surfing, pharming.
Phishing: an attempt to get sensitive, confidential information from the user of a computer
system or service through fake emails, phone calls or instant messaging. Phishing often targets
getting usernames and passwords or financial details like bank account or credit card details.
Example Scenario: An email is sent to a person asking the user to update details at a
bank or online payment system. The reason given for this request is fraud attempt on
the user’s account. Once the user clicks on a link within the email, a fake website opens
that looks like a real website. When the user enters login details, they are passed to the
attacker, who uses that detail for financial gain.
Pharming: an attempt to redirect the user to a fake website through malware sent as a link.
This malware changes the IP address of the domain name to a bogus one. It can also infect the
DNS servers themselves, so that everybody is directed to the bogus site.
Shoulder Surfing: an attempt to gain access to confidential information by directly observing a
user, by looking over the shoulder as they type the password or PIN details.
Technical Weakness (Vulnerabilities)
1) Unpatched Software – The software developer often provides updates (called patches) to
fix security issues of the software. These patches needs to be installed manually, if they are not
installed then the software remains vulnerable and attackers can gain unauthorized access to
information.
2) Eavesdropping – intercepting data being sent to/from another computer system.
Security weaknesses like unpatched software or using USB device might allow malware to be
installed on the network that allows an eavesdropping attack to be carried out.
3) Code Vulnerabilities – a computer program that has been written in such a way that it
creates a potential security issue that may be taken advantage of to gain access to the computer
system or data within it.

Security Measures
1) Modular testing – testing each block of code as it is completed to ensure that the code
works as expected and there is no code vulnerabilities.
2) Penetration testing – a method where the IT system of an organization are deliberately
attacked to find any weaknesses. These attacks are authorized by the organization and are
therefore legal.
3) Commercial analysis tools – software tools to scan a system for vulnerabilities. These tools
look for common issues and alert the user to them.
4) Audit Trail – a record of activities that have taken place on a computer system. This record
is generated automatically and will record what has happened and who or what made the
change.
5) Using secure Operating systems.
6) Providing effective network security.
7) Ethical Hacking – intentionally hacking the system to find vulnerabilities in the system.
8) Code reviews to remove vulnerabilities
Important Questions:
Ques. Santiago wants to find and fix network vulnerabilities before the reputation of the company
suffers. Discuss the methods he can use. You should consider:
• ethical hacking
• commercial analysis tools
• review of network and user policies.
Ans.

Ques. Discuss methods a movie streaming company could use to secure its network.
Your answer should consider:
· physical security
· access control
· firewalls.
Ans. Physical Security:
• The movie streaming company should use physical security to protect its products and
data from unauthorized access.
• Physical security can be used to only allow authorized people to enter critical areas,
such as rooms with file servers where the movies are stored.
• The machine storing the movies and the movie streaming company’s data should be in
locked rooms/cupboards.
• Each door could be fitted with an electronic lock system which can record who enters
the server room and when
• Electronic lock systems can read cards/fobs/biometrics of employees and check them
against details stored on a database to determine if an employee has special permission
to enter the movie server room.
Access Control
• The movie streaming company should enforce strict access control to determine who
can log onto its network.
• Each time someone attempts to log onto the movie streaming company’s network, their
credentials are checked against a database
• The credentials also determine what access the person can have, such as to the
customer files but not the movie files.
• Different employees/people need different levels of access to do their job, for example,
the billing department does not need access to employee records or the movie files.
• Access control limits employees to only that level of access needed, for example, the
payroll department would not need to access the stored movies.
• Controlling access means that an apprentice cannot delete movies, thereby reducing the
chance of accidental corruption or deletion of data.
• Access control is set up by the system’s administrator, who has the highest level of
privileges and can see all the unencrypted data across all machines, including customer
records and movie files.

Firewalls
• A firewall acts as a barrier between the movie streaming company’s network and the
internet.
• The movie streaming company may choose to purchase firewalls that are software,
hardware or a combination.
• The movie streaming company should have hardware firewalls on the entry points to its
network and software firewalls on each company-owned device.
• Firewalls use a set of rules to determine which packets of data are allowed in and out, so
unauthorized access attempts to the movie streaming company’s network will be
denied.
• Rules can be customized to suit the movie streaming company's particular needs.
• They can flag up suspicious activity by employees such as downloading viruses or
sending confidential data, including movie files, outside the movie streaming company.

Ques. A company stores statistics about its business on a server. Explain one type of access to the
statistics file a student on work experience at the company should be given.

Ans.
Ques. A company needs to secure its network from attacks by its employees. Explain the best
choice of penetration testing the company should use.
Ans.

Ques. The ability to share data via networks has many advantages, but there are also disadvantages.
A patch for an instant messaging application is available. Explain why users of the application
should apply the patch.
Ans. A patch will fix any known security issues. So the machine running the application is less
vulnerable to successful cyberattacks.
Ques. There are security concerns associated with cloud storage. State one way in which providers
of cloud storage could prevent security breaches by their own employees.

Ans.

Ques. A computer stores images online. A code review is an important stage in software
development. State the purpose of a code review.

Ans,