Securing the Network

Infrastructure

Objectives
Work with the network cable plant
Secure removable media
Harden network devices
Design network topologies

Working with the Network

Cable Plant
Cable plant: physical infrastructure of a network
(wire, connectors, and cables) used to carry data
communication signals between equipment
Three types of transmission media:
Coaxial cables
Twisted-pair cables
Fiber-optic cables

Coaxial Cables
Coaxial cable was main type of copper cabling used
in computer networks for many years
Has a single copper wire at its center surrounded by
insulation and shielding
Called coaxial because it houses two (co) axes or
shaftsthe copper wire and the shielding
Thick coaxial cable has a copper wire in center
surrounded by a thick layer of insulation that is
covered with braided metal shielding
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Coaxial Cables (continued)

Thin coaxial cable looks similar to the cable that
carries a cable TV signal
A braided copper mesh channel surrounds the
insulation and everything is covered by an outer
shield of insulation for the cable itself
The copper mesh channel protects the core from
interference
BNC connectors: connectors used on the ends of a
thin coaxial cable
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Coaxial Cables (continued)

Twisted-Pair Cables
Standard for copper cabling used in computer
networks today, replacing thin coaxial cable
Composed of two insulated copper wires twisted
around each other and bundled together with other
pairs in a jacket

Twisted-Pair Cables (continued)

Shielded twisted-pair (STP) cables have a foil
shielding on the inside of the jacket to reduce
interference
Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cables do not have
any shielding
Twisted-pair cables have RJ-45 connectors

Fiber-Optic Cables
Coaxial and twisted-pair cables have copper wire at
the center that conducts an electrical signal
Fiber-optic cable uses a very thin cylinder of glass
(core) at its center instead of copper that transmit
light impulses
A glass tube (cladding) surrounds the core
The core and cladding are protected by a jacket

Fiber-Optic Cables (continued)

Classified by the diameter of the core and the
diameter of the cladding
Diameters are measured in microns, each is about
1/25,000 of an inch or one-millionth of a meter
Two types:
Single-mode fiber cables: used when data must be
transmitted over long distances
Multimode cable: supports many simultaneous light
transmissions, generated by light-emitting diodes

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Securing the Cable Plant

Securing cabling outside the protected network is not
the primary security issue for most organizations
Focus is on protecting access to the cable plant in
the internal network
An attacker who can access the internal network
directly through the cable plant has effectively
bypassed the network security perimeter and can
launch his attacks at will

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Securing the Cable Plant (continued)

The attacker can capture packets as they travel
through the network by sniffing
The hardware or software that performs such functions
is called a sniffer

Physical security
First line of defense
Protects the equipment and infrastructure itself
Has one primary goal: to prevent unauthorized users
from reaching the equipment or cable plant in order to
use, steal, or vandalize it

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Securing Removable Media

Securing critical information stored on a file server
can be achieved through strong passwords, network
security devices, antivirus software, and door locks
An employee copying data to a floppy disk or CD and
carrying it home poses two risks:
Storage media could be lost or stolen, compromising
the information
A worm or virus could be introduced to the media,
potentially damaging the stored information and
infecting the network

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Magnetic Media
Record information by changing the magnetic
direction of particles on a platter
Floppy disks were some of the first magnetic media
developed
The capacity of todays 3 1/2-inch disks are 14 MB
Hard drives contain several platters stacked in a
closed unit, each platter having its own head or
apparatus to read and write information
Magnetic tape drives record information in a serial
fashion

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Optical Media
Optical media use a principle for recording information
different from magnetic media
A high-intensity laser burns a tiny pit into the surface
of an optical disc to record a one, but does nothing to
record a zero
Capacity of optical discs varies by type
A Compact Disc-Recordable (CD-R) disc can record
up to 650 MB of data
Data cannot be changed once recorded

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Optical Media (continued)

A Compact Disc-Rewriteable (CD-RW) disc can be
used to record data, erase it, and record again
A Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) can store much larger
amounts of data
DVD formats include Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable
(DVD-R), which can record once up to 395 GB on a
single-sided disc and 79 GB on a double-sided disc

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Electronic Media
Electronic media use flash memory for storage
Flash memory is a solid state storage device
everything is electronic, with no moving or mechanical
parts

SmartMedia cards range in capacity from 2 MB to

128 MB
The card itself is only 45 mm long, 37 mm wide, and
less than 1 mm thick
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Electronic Media (continued)

CompactFlash card
Consists of a small circuit board with flash memory
chips and a dedicated controller chip encased in a
shell
Come in 33 mm and 55 mm thicknesses and store
between 8MB and 192 MB of data

USB memory stick is becoming very popular

Can hold between 8 MB and 1 GB of memory

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Keeping Removable Media Secure

Protecting removable media involves making sure
that antivirus and other security software are installed
on all systems that may receive a removable media
device, including employee home computers

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Hardening Network Devices

Each device that is connected to a network is a
potential target of an attack and must be properly
protected
Network devices to be hardened categorized as:
Standard network devices
Communication devices
Network security devices

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Hardening Standard Network

Devices
A standard network device is a typical piece of
equipment that is found on almost every network,
such as a workstation, server, switch, or router
This equipment has basic security features that you
can use to harden the devices

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Workstations and Servers

Workstation: personal computer attached to a
network (also called a client)
Connected to a LAN and shares resources with other
workstations and network equipment
Can be used independently of the network and can
have their own applications installed

Server: computer on a network dedicated to

managing and controlling the network

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Switches and Routers

Switch
Most commonly used in Ethernet LANs
Receives a packet from one network device and sends it
to the destination device only
Limits the collision domain (part of network on which
multiple devices may attempt to send packets
simultaneously)

A switch is used within a single network

Routers connect two or more single networks to form
a larger network

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Switches and Routers (continued)

Switches and routers must also be protected against
attacks
Switches and routers can be managed using the
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), part
of the TCP/IP protocol suite
Software agents are loaded onto each network
device to be managed

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Switches and Routers (continued)

Each agent monitors network traffic and stores that
information in its management information base
(MIB)
A computer with SNMP management software
(SNMP management station) communicates with
software agents on each network device and collects
the data stored in the MIBs

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Hardening Communication Devices

A second category of network devices are those that
communicate over longer distances
Include:
Modems
Remote access servers
Telecom/PBX Systems
Mobile devices

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Modems
Most common communication device
Broadband is increasing in popularity and can create
network connection speeds of 15 Mbps and higher
Two popular broadband technologies:
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) transmits data at
15 Mbps over regular telephone lines
Another broadband technology uses the local cable
television system

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Modems (continued)
A computer connects to a cable modem, which is
connected to the coaxial cable that brings cable TV
signals to the home
Because cable connectivity is shared in a
neighborhood, other users can use a sniffer to view
traffic
Another risk with DSL and cable modem connections
is that broadband connections are charged at a set
monthly rate, not by the minute of connect time
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Remote Access Servers

Set of technologies that allows a remote user to
connect to a network through the Internet or a wide
area network (WAN)
Users run remote access client software and initiate a
connection to a Remote Access Server (RAS), which
authenticates users and passes service requests to
the network

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Remote Access Servers (continued)

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Remote Access Servers (continued)

Remote access clients can run almost all networkbased applications without modification
Possible because remote access technology supports
both drive letters and universal naming convention
(UNC) names

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Telecom/PBX Systems
Term used to describe a Private Branch eXchange
The definition of a PBX comes from the words that
make up its name:
Private
Branch
eXchange

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Mobile Devices
As cellular phones and personal digital assistants
(PDAs) have become increasingly popular, they have
become the target of attackers
Some defenses against attacks on these devices use
real-time data encryption and passwords to protect
the system so that an intruder cannot beam a virus
through a wireless connection

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Hardening Network Security Devices

The final category of network devices includes those
designed and used strictly to protect the network
Include:
Firewalls
Intrusion-detection systems
Network monitoring and diagnostic devices

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Firewalls
Typically used to filter packets
Designed to prevent malicious packets from entering
the network or its computers (sometimes called a
packet filter)
Typically located outside the network security
perimeter as first line of defense
Can be software or hardware configurations

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Firewalls (continued)
Software firewall runs as a program on a local
computer (sometimes known as a personal firewall)
Enterprise firewalls are software firewalls designed to
run on a dedicated device and protect a network
instead of only one computer
One disadvantage is that it is only as strong as the
operating system of the computer

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Firewalls (continued)
Filter packets in one of two ways:
Stateless packet filtering: permits or denies each
packet based strictly on the rule base
Stateful packet filtering: records state of a connection
between an internal computer and an external server;
makes decisions based on connection and rule base

Can perform content filtering to block access to

undesirable Web sites

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Firewalls (continued)
An application layer firewall can defend against
worms better than other kinds of firewalls
Reassembles and analyzes packet streams instead of
examining individual packets

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Intrusion-Detection Systems (IDSs)

Devices that establish and maintain network security
Active IDS (or reactive IDS) performs a specific
function when it senses an attack, such as dropping
packets or tracing the attack back to a source
Installed on the server or, in some instances, on all
computers on the network

Passive IDS sends information about what

happened, but does not take action

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Intrusion-Detection Systems (IDSs)

(continued)
Host-based IDS monitors critical operating system files
and computers processor activity and memory; scans
event logs for signs of suspicious activity
Network-based IDS monitors all network traffic instead
of only the activity on a computer
Typically located just behind the firewall

Other IDS systems are based on behavior:

Watch network activity and report abnormal behavior
Result in many false alarms

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Network Monitoring and

Diagnostic Devices
SNMP enables network administrators to:
Monitor network performance
Find and solve network problems
Plan for network growth

Managed device:
Network device that contains an SNMP agent
Collects and stores management information and
makes it available to SNMP

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Designing Network Topologies

Topology: physical layout of the network devices, how
they are interconnected, and how they communicate
Essential to establishing its security
Although network topologies can be modified for
security reasons, the network still must reflect the
needs of the organization and users

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Security Zones
One of the keys to mapping the topology of a network
is to separate secure users from outsiders through:
Demilitarized Zones (DMZs)
Intranets
Extranets

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Demilitarized Zones (DMZs)

Separate networks that sit outside the secure
network perimeter
Outside users can access the DMZ, but cannot enter
the secure network
For extra security, some networks use a DMZ with
two firewalls
The types of servers that should be located in the
DMZ include:
Web servers

E-mail servers

Remote access servers

FTP servers

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Demilitarized Zones (DMZs)

(continued)

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Intranets
Networks that use the same protocols as the public
Internet, but are only accessible to trusted inside
users
Disadvantage is that it does not allow remote trusted
users access to information

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Extranets
Sometimes called a cross between the Internet and
an intranet
Accessible to users that are not trusted internal
users, but trusted external users
Not accessible to the general public, but allows
vendors and business partners to access a company
Web site

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Network Address Translation (NAT)

You cannot attack what you do not see is the
philosophy behind Network Address Translation
(NAT) systems
Hides the IP addresses of network devices from
attackers
Computers are assigned special IP addresses
(known as private addresses)

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Network Address Translation

(NAT) (continued)
These IP addresses are not assigned to any specific
user or organization; anyone can use them on their
own private internal network
Port address translation (PAT) is a variation of NAT
Each packet is given the same IP address, but a
different TCP port number

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Honeypots
Computers located in a DMZ loaded with software
and data files that appear to be authentic
Intended to trap or trick attackers
Two-fold purpose:
To direct attackers attention away from real servers on
the network
To examine techniques used by attackers

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Honeypots (continued)

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Virtual LANs (VLANs)

Segment a network with switches to divide the
network into a hierarchy
Core switches reside at the top of the hierarchy and
carry traffic between switches
Workgroup switches are connected directly to the
devices on the network
Core switches must work faster than workgroup
switches because core switches must handle the
traffic of several workgroup switches
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Virtual LANs (VLANs)

(continued)

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Virtual LANs (VLANs)

(continued)
Segment a network by grouping similar users
together
Instead of segmenting by user, you can segment a
network by separating devices into logical groups
(known as creating a VLAN)

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Summary
Cable plant: physical infrastructure (wire, connectors,
and cables that carry data communication signals
between equipment)
Removable media used to store information include:
Magnetic storage (removable disks, hard drives)
Optical storage (CD and DVD)
Electronic storage (USB memory sticks, FlashCards)

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Summary (continued)
Network devices (workstations, servers, switches,
and routers) should all be hardened to repel attackers
A networks topology plays a critical role in resisting
attackers
Hiding the IP address of a network device can help
disguise it so that an attacker cannot find it

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