CYB202 – Network Security

Adversarial attempts to carry out cyber-attacks against organisational networks are increasing both in magnitude and sophistication. This unit covers the principles of network security and provides students with the essential knowledge and skills to design network security solutions. The first part of the unit comprises network protocol security including the following protocols: TCP/IP, IPv6, ICMP, ARP and RARP, DHCP and DNS. Transport layer security is comprehensively presented through an explanation of the threat vectors against specific transport layer protocols. In the second part of the unit, topics include wireless network security and email security. Network security controls make up the third component of this unit comprising firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Network security protocols for authentication, namely Kerberos, are also covered, and the unit concludes with an introduction to the public key infrastructure. Practical labs include network traffic analysis experiments and wireless packet sniffing.

Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss networking protocols and their interactions across ICT platforms and services
• Explain contemporary and legacy network security protocols
• Analyse network protocols and services for security vulnerabilities based on ethical principles for network security
• Examine networks for cybersecurity threats and propose strategies to counter and mitigate diverse network and communication threats
• Apply tools to identify network threats and vulnerabilities and to formulate robust cybersecurity countermeasures and mitigation strategies