Cybersecurity Fundamentals
Introduction to networking and the Internet protocol stack; Vulnerable protocols such as HTTP, DNS, and BGP; Overview of wireless communications, vulnerabilities, and security protocols; Introduction to cryptography; Discussion of cyber threats and defenses; Firewalls and IDS/IPS; Kerberos; Transport Layer Security, including certificates; Network Layer Security. The following are the course objectives follows:
- Gain experience with the online course system.
- Explain the general architecture of the Internet, including the main functions of end systems and routers.
- Describe the basic client-server architecture and how typical network applications (web, email) fit into the architecture.
- Explain how web pages are requested and delivered using HTTP.
- Explain in general how DNS enables our use of the Internet and, in particular, how hosts determine the IP address of network servers.
- Explain how MAC addresses are used and assigned to a packet as it traverses a network.
- Differentiate between wireless LANs and wired LANs.
- Explain how IP CIDR addressing is performed and how an IP address is assigned from a group of available addresses.
- Explain the core functions of TCP including details of connection setup.
- Analyze and differentiate among types of malware and attacks.
- Analyze and differentiate among types of wireless attacks and application attacks.
- Identify vulnerabilities potentially present in DNS, databases, and web applications.
- Summarize general cryptography concepts.
- Describe how certificates can be used for authentication and encryption.
- Explain how firewalls and VPNs can be used to protect a network.
Course Material
This course consisted of 15 modules with various lab activities. Some examples of topics covered in these labs are as follows:
- HTTP operation, including understanding requests and replies
- Subnetting and converting IP addresses to and from binary
- Understanding the basic operation of RSA
- Using the NVD and understanding the information it provides
- Evaluating a case study and mapping its aspects to the Cyber Kill Chain
- Examining SQL commands and how they can be used to perform SQL injection
Near the end of the semester, I had to apply the knowledge learned throughout this course by writing a technical analysis of a recent cyberattack