Network Foundations

Network Foundations
Network Topology
• Manner in which a network is physically connected and shows the layout
of resources and systems
• Topological structure of a network depicted physically or logically
• Types of topology
• Ring
• Star
• Bus
• Mesh
• Tree
• Hybrid
RING Topology
• Closed loop unidirectional transmission links to which devices are serially
connected
• The transmission is unidirectional, but it can be made bidirectional by having 2
connections between each Network Node, it is called Dual Ring Topology
• Data is transferred in a sequential manner that is bit by bit. Data transmitted,
has to pass through each node of the network, till the destination node.
• Advantage
• Transmitting network is not affected by high traffic or by adding more nodes, as only the
nodes having tokens can transmit data
• Cheap to install and expand
• Disadvantage
• Troubleshooting is difficult in ring topology
• Adding or deleting the computers disturbs the network activity
• Failure of one computer disturbs the whole network
BUS Topology
• Every computer and network device is connected to single cable
• When it has exactly two endpoints, then it is called Linear Bus topology.
• Single cable with nodes attached
• When there are branches from the single cable, it is called Tree topology
• It transmits data only in one direction
• Every device is connected to a single cable
• Advantages
• cost effective / easy to understand / Used in small networks.
• Easy to expand joining two cables together / Cable required is least compared to other
network topology
• Disadvantages
• Cables fails then whole network fails
• If network traffic is heavy or nodes are more the performance of the network decreases.
• Cable has a limited length
• It is slower than the ring topology
STAR Topology
• All the computers are connected to a central node
• Every node has its own dedicated connection to the central node
• The central node acts as a repeater for data flow
• Can be used with twisted pair, Optical Fibre or coaxial cable
• Advantages
• Fast performance with few nodes and low network traffic
• Central nodes can be upgraded easily
• Easy to setup, deploy and troubleshoot
• Failure of one system does not negatively impact the network
• Disadvantages
• Cost of installation is high and expensive to use
• If central node fails then the whole network is stopped
• Performance is based on the central node that is it depends on its capacity
MESH Topology
• It is a point-to-point connection to other nodes or devices. All the network nodes are
connected to each other.
• There are two techniques to transmit data over the Mesh topology, they are :
• Routing: the nodes have a routing logic, as per the network requirements
• Flooding: the same data is transmitted to all the network nodes, hence no routing logic is
required
• Partial Mesh Topology : In this topology some of the systems are connected in the
same fashion as mesh topology but some devices are only connected to two or three
devices.
• Full Mesh Topology : Each and every nodes or devices are connected to each other.
• Advantages
• Each connection can carry its own data load
• Provides security and privacy
• Disadvantage
• Installation and configuration is difficult
• Bulk wiring is required
TREE Topology
• It has a root node and all other nodes are connected to it forming a hierarchy.
It is also called hierarchical topology.
• Used in WAN
• Ideal if workstations are located in groups
• Advantages
• Extension of bus and star topologies
• Expansion of nodes is possible and easy
• Easily managed and maintained
• Error detection is easily done
• Disadvantages
• Heavily cabled
• Costly
• If more nodes are added maintenance is difficult
• Central hub fails, network fails
Media Access
Technologies
General Introduction
• Deals with how systems communicate over the media
• It is usually represented in protocols, NIC drivers and interfaces
• They setup the rules
• on how systems communicate in a network,
• how errors are handled
• The MTU – Maximum transmission unit
• How much data a frame can carry on a specific network
• Some of the Media Access technologies are

• Ethernet
• Token Ring
• FDDI
Token Passing Access method
• A token (24-bit control frame) decides which computer can communicate
and at what intervals
• Only the computer having a token can send data
• Other computers have to wait for their turn
• Only the computer that sent the data can remove the data from the
token and release it; destination computer can only copy the data
• Does not have issue with collisions
• Token Ring, FDDI protocols use this method
CSMA
• Carrier Sense multiple access protocol is used by Ethernet
• Two types
• CSMA/CD
• CSMA/CA
• CSMA/CD
• Systems monitor the network for transmission activity; if they sense the network to
be free; the computer transmits the data
• If two systems send the data at the same time, collision occurs
• In a network with highly populated network, damaged cable or connector, cables
exceeding the recommended value cause too many collisions
• If collision happens the devices in the network execute a random collision timer to
force a delay before they attempt to transmit data. This timer is called back-off
algorithm
CSMA
• CSMA/CA
• Systems monitor the network for transmission activity; if they sense the network to
be free; the computer beacons out a broadcast message before transmitting the
data
• This is primarily used in Wireless LAN Technology
Collision and Broadcast domain
• Collision Domain
• Is a group of computers that are contending for the same shared communication
medium
• Collision domains are there in network that are connected by a hub, repeater or
wireless access points
• Broadcast Domain
• Set of computing nodes that can receive all layer 2 broadcast frames
• They are nodes interconnected by switches, bridges or hubs but with no router in
between them
Polling
• Used by mainframe environments

• The systems are divided into primary stations and secondary stations
• Primary stations poll the secondary stations at regular intervals to check for
any data transmission. This is the only time secondary station can
communicate
Ethernet
• A set of technologies that enable several devices to communicate on the
same network
• Usually uses bus or star topology
• It is defined by 802.3 Standard
• It is contention-based technology
• Uses Collision and broadcast domains
• Uses CSMA/CD
• Supports full duplex communication
• Uses coaxial, twisted pair, fibre-optic cabling types
Token Ring
• LAN media access technology developed by IBM
• Defined by 802.5 standard
• Has data transmission rate upto 16Mbps
• Uses token passing technology with star-configured topology
• Each computer is connected to the central hub MAU (Multiple Access Unit)
• Active monitor is used to remove frames that are continuously circulating
the network
• Beaconing mechanism will ensure if a computer detects a problem it sends
a beacon frame
• This frame generates a failure domain, which is between the computer that
issued the beacon and its neighbour downstream.
FDDI
• High speed, token passing media access technology works on Fiber-optic cabling
• Has transmission speed upto 100Mbps
• Provides fault tolerance by providing a secondary counter-rotating ring
• It is primarily used in backbone networks (MAN)
• Can be deployed for distances up to 100Kms
• Devices fall into the following criteria
• Single-attachment station (SAS) – attaches to only one ring through a concentrator
• Single-attached concentrator (SAC) – connects a SAS device to the primary ring
• Dual-attachment station (DAS) – has two ports, each port provides a connection for both the primary and
secondary rings
• Dual-attached concentrator (DAC) – concentrator that connects DAS, SAS, and SAC devices to both the
rings
• FDDI-2 provides fixed bandwidth – makes it work like a broadband connection with QoS
capabilities.
• Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI) – work over UTP and used in LAN environments
Transmission Methods
• Unicast – one to one

• Broadcast – one to all
• Multicast – one to many (Layer 3)
• IGMP is used to report multicast group membership to routers
• IGMP can be used for online streaming and video activities
Network Protocols and Services
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
• ARP finds the hardware address, also known as Media Access Control
(MAC) address, of a host from its known IP address.
• The protocol operates below the network layer as a part of the interface
between the OSI network and OSI link layer.
ARP cache poisoning
• ARP spoofing, ARP cache
poisoning, or ARP poison
routing, is a technique by which
an attacker sends (spoofed)
Address Resolution Protocol
(ARP) messages onto a local area
network.
• The attack can only be used on
networks that use the Address
Resolution Protocol, and is
limited to local network
segments
By 0x55534C - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15034709

DHCP • Server sends
• DHCPACK
• Runs over UDP • Lease is finalized
• Utilizing ports: • Client starts using IP
• 67 – connections to server • DHCPNAK
• 68 – connections to client • Client resumes from DHCPDISCOVER point
• Extension of BOOTP (protocol used for simple interaction)• If client doesn’t want IP - DHCPDECLINE is sent
• DHCPRELEASE gives IP back into pool
• Uses client–server model
• All interactions are initiated by a client
• Server only replies
• Client broadcasts DHCPDISCOVER
• One or more servers return DHCPOFFER with available Address
and NW Information
• Client chooses one offer that it likes best
• broadcasts DHCPREQUEST to identify chosen Server/lease
• DHCPREQUEST also to renew lease
• DHCP Snooping:
• Ensures server can allocate IP address only to those
systems that are identified by their MAC address
RARP and BOOTP
• RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol) is a protocol by which a physical machine in a local
area network can request to learn its IP address from a gateway server's Address Resolution
Protocol (ARP) table or cache.
• An RARP server attached to the physical network normally provides the mapping from a
hardware address to an IP address for many hosts
• As with ARP requests, RARP requests are sent as hardware (Ethernet) level broadcasts. Thus the
server must be present on the same physical network as the diskless workstation
• RARP only provides an IP address to a host
• BOOTP has been used for Unix-like diskless workstations to obtain the network location of their
boot image, in addition to the IP address assignment.
• BOOTP was the predecessor of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, successor to RARP
• It is still based on a client/server exchange, but is implemented as a higher-layer software protocol, using
UDP for message transport. It is not dependent on the particular hardware of the network like RARP.
• It supports sending additional configuration information to a client beyond just an IP address. This extra
information can usually all be sent in one message for efficiency.
• It can handle having the client and server on different networks of an internetwork. This allows the
administration of the server providing IP addresses to be more centralized, saving money as well as
administrative time and hassle.
ICMP
• Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is the component of the TCP/IP
protocol stack that addresses this basic limitation of IP.
• ICMP does not overcome the unreliability issues in IP.
• Reliability must be provided by upper layer protocols if it is needed
• ICMP is an error reporting protocol for IP.
• When datagram delivery errors occur, ICMP is used to report these errors
back to the source of the datagram.
• ICMP does not correct the encountered network problem; it merely
reports the problem.
• ICMP reports on the status of the delivered packet only to the source
device.
• It does not propagate information about network changes to routers.
SNMP
• Client server protocol used to view status of the network, traffic flows, and the
hosts within the network
• Uses UDP 161 and 162 for communication
• Two main components
• Manager – server portion, that polls the agent at regular intervals to check status
information
• Client – software installed in agents, collects information on various parameters of the
system (MIB) and share it with the manager when requested for. Clients use trap message
to alert Manager when specific parameters changes. That is the only time when a client will
respond to manager without polling
• Communities are used to create trust between the manager and agent
• Two community strings are used
• Public – read-only; allows manager to read the data stored in MIB
• Private – read-write; allows manager to read and modify the data in MIB
• Community strings should be strong
• V1 and V2 send community strings in plain text, hence it is important to use V3
DNS
• The mechanism by which Internet software translates names to attributes
such as addresses
• A globally distributed, scalable, reliable database
• Comprised of three components
• A “name space”
• Servers making that name space available
• Resolvers (clients) which query the servers about the name space
• The name space is the structure of the DNS database
• An inverted tree with the root node at the top
• Each node has a label
• The root node has a null label, written as “”
• A domain name is the sequence of labels from a node to the root, separated by dots (“.”s), read left to
right
• The name space has a maximum depth of 127 levels
• Domain names are limited to 255 characters in length
• A node’s domain name identifies its position in the name space
Subdomain
• One domain is a subdomain of another if its domain name ends in the
other’s domain name
• So sales.nominum.com is a subdomain of nominum.com
nominum.com & com domain
• nominum.com is a subdomain of com "" nominum.com
zone
.arpa .com .edu
ams.nominum.co
rwc.nominum.co m zone
m zone acmebw nominum netsol
rwc www ftp ams
molokai skye gouda cheddar

Acknowledgement: David Conrad at nominum.com
Name Servers
• Name servers store information
about the name space in units Name Zon
128.8.10.5
called “zones” serves data for Servers es
both
• The name servers that load a nominum.com
and isc.org
complete zone are said to “have zones
128.8.10.5
authority for” or “be authoritative for” nominum.co

the zone
202.12.28.
• Usually, more than one name 129 serves
data for
server are authoritative for the nominum.c 202.12.28.129
om zone
same zone only isc.org
• This ensures redundancy and spreads
the load 204.152.187.1
• Also, a single name server may be

1 serves data
for isc.org 204.152.187.11
zone only
authoritative for many zones
Name Servers
• Two main types of servers
• Authoritative – maintains the data
• Master – where the data is edited
• Slave – where data is replicated to
• Caching – stores data obtained from an authoritative server
• You can think of a name server as part of:
• database server, answering queries about the parts of the name space it knows about
(i.e., is authoritative for),
• cache, temporarily storing data it learns from other name servers, and
• agent, helping resolvers and other name servers find data
Name Resolution
• A DNS query has three parameters:
• A domain name (e.g., www.nominum.com),
• Remember, every node has a domain name!
• A class (e.g., IN), and
• A type (e.g., A)
• Upon receiving a query from a resolver, a name server
• 1) looks for the answer in its authoritative data and its cache
• 2) If step 1 fails, the answer must be looked up
The Resolution Process
• Let’s look at the resolution process step-by-step:
annie.west.sprockets.com
ping www.nominum.com.
• The workstation annie asks its configured name
server, dakota, for www.nominum.com’s address
dakota.west.sprockets.com
What’s the IP address

of
www.nominum.com?
• The name server dakota asks a root name server, m, for
www.nominum.com’s address
m.root-servers.net

of
www.nominum.com?
• The root server m refers dakota to the com name servers
• This type of response is called a “referral”
m.root-servers.net
dakota.west.sprockets.com Here’s a list of the
com name servers.
Ask one of them.
• The name server dakota asks a com name server, f,
for www.nominum.com’s address
of
www.nominum.com?
m.root-servers.net
f.gtld-servers.net
• The com name server f refers dakota to the
nominum.com name servers
Here’s a list of the
nominum.com
name servers.
Ask one of them.
m.root-servers.net
f.gtld-servers.net
• The name server dakota asks a nominum.com name server,
ns1.sanjose, for www.nominum.com’s address
of
www.nominum.com?
m.root-servers.net
ns1.sanjose.nominum.net
f.gtld-servers.net
• The nominum.com name server ns1.sanjose
responds with www.nominum.com’s address
m.root-servers.net
Here’s the IP ns1.sanjose.nominum.net

address for
www.nominum.com
f.gtld-servers.net
• The name server dakota responds to annie with
www.nominum.com’s address
Here’s the IP
address for
www.nominum.com
m.root-servers.net
f.gtld-servers.net
Resolution Process (Caching)
• After the previous query, the name server dakota now knows:
– The names and IP addresses of the com name servers
– The names and IP addresses of the nominum.com name servers
– The IP address of www.nominum.com
• Let’s look at the resolution process again
ping ftp.nominum.com.
• The workstation annie asks its configured name
server, dakota, for ftp.nominum.com’s address
m.root-servers.net
What’s the IP address ns1.sanjose.nominum.net

of ftp.nominum.com?
f.gtld-servers.net
• dakota has cached a NS record indicating ns1.sanjose is an
nominum.com name server, so it asks it for
ftp.nominum.com’s address
of ftp.nominum.com?
m.root-servers.net
f.gtld-servers.net
• The nominum.com name server ns1.sanjose
responds with ftp.nominum.com’s address
m.root-servers.net
Here’s the IP
address for ns1.sanjose.nominum.net
ftp.nominum.com
f.gtld-servers.net
• The name server dakota responds to annie with
ftp.nominum.com’s address
Here’s the IP
address for
ftp.nominum.com
m.root-servers.net
f.gtld-servers.net
DNS Attacks
• DNS cache poisoning
• These attacks capture and divert queries to another website unknown to users
• Denial of service (DoS)
• Attempts to make a given service impossible or very hard to access. Attacks sometimes
use brute force (saturating servers by flooding them with simultaneous queries) or go
for a more subtle approach by exhausting a rare resource on the server
• Distributed denial of service (DDoS)
• An elaborate form of DoS that involve thousands of computers generally as part of a
botnet or robot network: a network of zombie computers that the attacker
commandeers from their unwitting owners by spreading malware from one machine to
another
• Reflected attacks
• send thousands of requests with the victim’s name as the source address. When
recipients answer, all replies converge on the official sender, whose infrastructures are
then affected.
DNS Attacks
• Reflective amplification DoS:
• if the size of the answer is larger than the question, an amplification effect is
caused. The same technique as reflected attacks is used, except that the difference
in weight between the answer and question amplifies the extent of the attack. A
variant can exploit the protective measures in place, which need time to decode
the long replies; this may slow down query resolution
• Cybersquatting
• involves registering a domain name with the deliberate intent of undermining and
profiting from a third party’s rights or in some way harming that third party.
• "Name-jacking" or theft
• appropriating the domain name (updating the holder’s field and/or contacts) or
taking control by technical means to divert traffic, such as by modifying the name
servers hosting the site.
SMTP
 SMTP clients and servers have two main components
 User Agents – Prepares the message, encloses it in an envelope. (ex. Thunderbird, Eudora)
 Mail Transfer Agent – Transfers the mail across the internet (ex. Sendmail, Exim)
POP vs. IMAP

POP3:
All Messages
Internet
IMAP: Dr.Amer
Friends
….
Internet
Post Office Protocol v3
 Simple
 Allows the user to obtain a list of their Emails
 Users can retrieve their emails
 Users can either delete or keep the email on their system
 Minimizes server resources

Internet Mail Access Protocol v4
 Has more features than POP3
 User can check the email header before downloading
 Emails can be accessed from any location
 Can search the email for a specific string of characters before

downloading
 User can download parts of an email
 User can create, delete, or rename mailboxes on a server

Email Threats
• Email Spoofing
• Modifying the fields in the email header so that the email appears to be from a
trusted source
• Controls
• SMTP-AUTH
• The AUTH command is an ESMTP command (SMTP service extension) that is used to
authenticate the client to the server. The AUTH command sends the clients username and
password to the e-mail server.
• Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
• Allows administrators to specify which hosts are allowed to send emails from a given domain.
This is done by creating a SPF record in DNS
• Phishing Attack
• Spear Phishing
• Targets a particular set of population
• Whaling attack
• Target high profile individuals
Network Address translation
• NAT is a gateway between Internal private network and Internet that performs
transparent routing and address translation
• 3 Basic types of NAT implementation
• Static NAT
• Each Private IP is fixed a public IP address
• Primarily done for Public facing servers and devices that interact with non-IP
protocols
• Dynamic NAT
• A pool of IP is reserved for Translation
• Private IP connecting to Internet use one IP from the pool on a first-come
first-serve basis
• Port address translation (PAT)
• One IP is used to NAT a group of private IPs
Routing Protocols
• Autonomous Systems
• An autonomous system (AS) is a portion of the internetwork under the same administrative authority.
• A unique ASN is allocated to each AS for use in BGP routing.
• Routing Protocols
• Routing protocols were created for routers. These protocols have been designed to allow the exchange of
routing tables, or known networks, between routers
• The two main types of routing: Static routing and Dynamic routing
• Dynamic Routing Protocol
• Dynamically discover and maintain routes
• Calculate routes, Distribute routing updates to other routers
• Reach agreement with other routers about the network topology
• Static Routing Protocol
• Statically programmed routers send data over routes defined by the network Administrator.
• Route Flapping
• Occurs when a router alternately advertises a destination network via one route then another (or as
unavailable, and then available again) in quick sequence.
• Blackhole
• A null route (blackhole route) is a network route (routing table entry) that goes nowhere.
Dynamic Routing Protocols – Distance Vector
• Routes are advertised as vectors of (distance,
direction), where distance is defined in terms of a
metric and direction is defined in terms of the next-
hop router.
• each router learns routes from its neighbouring
routers' perspectives and then advertises the routes
from its own perspective.
• Distance vector routing is sometimes referred to as
"routing by rumor.“
• Distance vector routing protocols include the
following:
• Routing Information Protocol (RIP) for IP
• Xerox Networking System's XNS RIP
• Novell's IPX RIP
• Cisco's Internet Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)
• AppleTalk's Routing Table Maintenance Protocol (RTMP)
Link State Routing Protocol
• The basic concept of link-state routing is that every node constructs a map of the
connectivity to the network, in the form of a graph, showing which nodes are connected
to which other nodes.
• Each router in the network keeps a copy of it, without changing it. After obtaining the
complete picture of network topology, each router will independently calculate its own
best paths to reach the destination networks.
• Link state protocols are based on Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm to find the best path
to a destination.
• Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm is also known as Dijkstra algorithm.
• Whenever a link's state changes, a routing update called a Link-State Advertisement (LSA)
is exchanged between routers
• When a router receives an LSA routing update, the link-state algorithm is used to
recalculate the shortest path to affected destinations.
• Examples of link state routing protocols are:
• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) for IP
• Novell's NetWare Link Services Protocol (NLSP)
Distance Vector Vs Link State
Distance Vector Link State
Distance Vector router tells ONLY Link-State router tells ALL other routers
neighbours about ALL routes about ONLY its neighbors and links
With Distance Vector protocols a router In Link-State protocols Update and
can't send out new vectors until it has Decision processes are independent
processed them
Displays faster convergence than distance
vector routing protocols
More scalable due to hierarchical nature
Require more memory to store state
information
Interior vs Exterior Routing Protocols
Interior Routing Protocols
• Routing Information Protocol

• It is a distance vector protocol
• Considered a legacy protocol (slow performance and lack of
functionality)
• Should be used only within small networks
• V1 has no authentication
• V2 sends passwords in clear text or MD5 Hashed
• V3 supports IPV6
• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

• It is a Link state protocol
• Uses LSA to send out routing table information
• Provides more stable network than RIP
• Requires more memory and CPU resources
• Allows for hierarchical routing network
• OSPF V3 uses IPSec for authentication
• Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)

• It is a Distance Vector protocol
• Cisco Proprietary
• IGRP is intended for use in gateways connecting several networks.
• The metrics used by IGRP include the following:
• Topological delay time - the amount of time it would take to get to the destination along that pat
• Narrowest bandwidth segment of the path - the bandwidth in bits per second of the
slowest link in the path.
• Channel occupancy of the path - indicates how much of that bandwidth is currently in use
• Reliability of the path - It is the fraction of packets that arrive at the destination undamaged.
• Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)

• Cisco-proprietary Hybrid routing protocol, incorporating features of
both Distance-Vector and Link-State routing protocols.
• EIGRP will form neighbour relationships with adjacent routers in the
same Autonomous System (AS).
• EIGRP traffic is either sent as unicasts, or as multicasts on address
224.0.0.10, depending on the EIGRP packet type.
• EIGRP routers do not send periodic, full-table routing updates.
Updates are sent when a change occurs, and include only the change.
• EIGRP supports IP, IPX, and Appletalk routing.
• Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
• Used in networks that cannot tolerate router single point of failure
• Used in router HA
• Designed to increase the availability of the default gateway
• A virtual router is advertised as default gateway and two routers are
mapped to the virtual router, acting as redundant pairs
• Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS)
• Link State protocol
• Similar to OSPF builds database of network topology
• Vendor neutral classless and hierarchical routing protocol
• Does not support IP address
Exterior Routing Protocol
• Exterior Gateway Protocols handle routing
outside an Autonomous System
• Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a routing
protocol used to transfer data and information
between different host gateways, the Internet or
autonomous systems.
• BGP is a Path Vector Protocol (PVP), which
maintains paths to different hosts, networks and
gateway routers and determines the routing
decision based on that.
• It uses both Link state and Distance vector
routing routing algorithms
• Creates a network topology using Link state
functionality
• Propagates the updates a periodic intervals
similar to Distance Vector routing
Networking Devices
Repeaters
• Works at the physical layer
• Does not understand IP or MAC address
• Helps extend the network connections by extending the signals
between cable segments
• Helps amplify signals
• Works best for Digital signals than analog signals
• Hub is a multi-port repeater
• Broadcasts packets to all ports
Bridges
• Works at the Datalink layer (MAC address)
• Works with frames
• Helps amplify signals
• Segments a large network into smaller networks
• 3 main type of bridges
• Local: Connects two LAN segments with a local area
• Remote: Connects two LAN segments over a MAN
• Translation: Connects two LAN segments using different
types and standards
• Broadcast Storm:
• Bridges can forward broadcast traffic causing a network or
broadcast storm
Transparent Bridging
• A bridge that observes incoming network traffic to identify
media access control (MAC) addresses.
• Transparent bridge records MAC addresses in a table that is
much like a routing table and evaluates that information
whenever a packet is routed toward its location.
• The algorithm has five parts:
• Learning
• Flooding
• Filtering
• Forwarding
• Avoiding loops
Spanning Tree Algorithm
• Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a Layer 2 protocol that runs on
bridges and switches.
• Implemented on bridges and switches in order to prevent
loops in the network
• The algorithm is responsible for a bridge using only the most
efficient path when faced with multiple paths.
• The spanning tree algorithm determines the network (which
computer hosts are in which segment) and this data is
exchanged using Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs).
Source Routing
• Technique whereby the sender of a packet can specify the
route that a packet should take through the network.
• It is assumed that the source of the packet knows about the
layout of the network and can specify the best path for the
packet
• A common form of source routing is called loose source record
route (LSRR). When using LSRR the sender will provide one or
more hops that the packet must go through.
• This is dangerous because it allows the sender to bypass
control points.
Switch
• Combines the functionality of the repeater and bridge
• It’s a multiport bridge
• Works at Layer 2, but there are switches that can work upto
Layer 4
• Prevents collision domains and reduces broadcast
• Switches that work at layers beyond 2 are called as multi-
layered switches
• They use hardware-based processing power to offer routing
functionality, packet inspection, QoS etc.
Switch – Tags/Label (MPLS)
• Layer 3 and 4 Switches use a concept called tags to route traffic
• Tags are assigned to each network or subnet and the information is
stored in the switches
• When a packet reaches the first switch, the destination is verified and
the tag is mapped
• From now on, every other switch will just look at the tag and route
the traffic instead of analysing the complete header information
• This ensures efficient routing and also helps in setting labels for
different priority data
VLAN
• A VLAN is a group of devices on one or more LANs that are configured to
communicate as if they were attached to the same wire
• VLAN controls the broadcast without the use of layer 3 devices.
• Switch ports are operate in 2 different modes; Access and Trunks.
• Access ports: are those which carry the traffic of only one VLAN.
• Trunk ports: It carries multiple VLANs at a time. Unlike access ports
when the switch forwards a frame out the trunk interface it adds
VLAN tagging information.
VLAN Hopping Attacks
• The basic concept behind all VLAN hopping attacks is for an attacking
host on a VLAN to gain access to traffic on other VLANs that would
normally not be accessible.
• There are two primary methods of VLAN hopping: switch spoofing and
double tagging
• Switch spoofing: An attacking host imitates a trunking switch by speaking the tagging
and trunking protocols used in maintaining a VLAN. Switch spoofing can only be
exploited when interfaces are set to negotiate a trunk.
• Double tagging attack: A double tagging attack begins when an attacker sends a frame
connected to a switch port using two VLAN tags in the frame header. If the attacker is
connected to an 802.1Q trunk port, the first tag matches that of the native VLAN
(usually 1). The second tag identifies the VLAN the attacker would like to forward the
frame to.
Router
• Layer 3 device
• Works with packets
• Helps interconnect different segments, network or VLANs
• Controls broadcast as well as collision domains
• Controls access between segments via ACLs
• Performs Address Translation
Gateway
• Gateways regulate traffic between two dissimilar networks, while
routers regulate traffic between similar networks
• Gateways perform more complex functions than the router
• Eg: connect voice and data network; connect IPX with IP network
Firewalls
• Used to restrict access to one network from another network
• Considered chock points in the network
• Work from Layer 3 to Layer 7
• Different types
• Packet filtering
• Stateful
• Proxy
• Dynamic Packet filtering
• Kernel Proxy
• 3 different firewall architectures
• Screened host
• Multihomed
• Screened subnet
Packet Filtering Firewall
• Works in Layer 3 and 4
• Stateless firewalls
• Takes decision based on source and destination IP/Port numbers, protocol type and
direction
Advantage Disadvantage
Not application dependent Cannot prevent attacks that attack
application specific vulnerabilities
Scalable Has limited logging facilities
Have high performance Do not support identity based access
Commonly used as first line of defence Cannot detect spoofed address
May not be able to detect fragmentation
attacks
Stateful firewalls
• Maintains a state table of all connections; only the first packet is
deep inspected, subsequent connections are not inspected
• Provides high degree of security and does not introduce the
performance hit
• It is scalable and transparent to the user
• Provides data for tracking connectionless protocols

Proxy Firewalls
• Intercepts and inspects the packets before it is delivered to the
destination
• It breaks the connection between the peers
• Two types of proxies
• Circuit Level Proxy
• Application Layer Proxy

Circuit-level Vs Application Layer Proxy
Circuit-level Proxy Application Layer Proxy
• Works at the session layer Works at the application layer
• Cannot look into the contents of the packet Has visibility to the entire packet
• Takes decision based on the header Takes decision based on the content of the packet
information
• It is application independent Has one proxy per protocol
• SOCKS is a circuit level proxy Capable of authenticating users directly
Has performance issues due to deep inspection

Dynamic Packet Filtering
• Helps in creating dynamic ACLs for connections initiated
from internal networks
• Return traffic is allowed based on the dynamic source port
combinations
• Helps prevent creating multiple ACLs in the firewall
Kernel Proxy firewalls
• 5th generation firewall
• It creates dynamic, customized network stacks when a
packet needs to be evaluated
• The packet is scrutinized at every layer of the protocol stack
and action is determined
• It breaks the connection between the peers (proxy)
• Faster than application proxy firewalls
• Can perform NAT functionality
Firewall Architecture
• Dual-Homed Firewall:
• A device that has two interfaces connecting to two different segments, controlling
traffic flow
• The device should not perform packet forwarding and routing functionalities
• Screened Host:
• A device that is connected to the Internet router; segregating the Internal network
• Traffic from the Internet router can only connect to this firewall; after inspection it is
passed on to the internal network
• Screened Subnet:
• Adds another layer of protection to the screened-host architecture
• Instead of routing traffic from the internet after screened host firewall, the
connection passes through another firewall
• This creates DMZ segment in the network
• Provides multiple layer protection
Firewall best Practices
• Silent Rule: Drop noisy traffic without logging

• Stealth Rule: Frist rule, block connections
targeting the firewall
• Cleanup Rule: Last rule, drops and logs all
traffic that does not meet the preceding rules
• Negate Rule: provide access only to the
required needs.
Proxy Servers
• Acts as intermediary between clients that need to
communicate
• Caches the responses it receives so that requests from
other clients are served faster
• Forwarding proxy: Forwards connections from the clients
to the intended destinations; helps perform URL filtering,
malware protection, data loss prevention
• Reverse Proxy: Acts as intended servers the clients try to
connect to; can perform load balancing, encryption,
caching
Honeypot
• A computer that is intended to be exploited by attacker
• Usually sits in the screened subnet
• Should not be directly connected or be a jump host to
internal network
• Helps understand the strategies targeted by the attacker
• Two or more honeypots combined together to form
Honeynet
• Tarpit is a type of honeypot that provides protection against
automated scanners by delaying the responses to be timed-
out
Karthikeyan Dhayalan
MD & Chief Security Partner
www.cyintegriti.com

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Network Foundations

• Some of the Media Access technologies are

• Used by mainframe environments

• Unicast – one to one

By 0x55534C - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15034709

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authority for” or “be authoritative for” nominum.co

• Also, a single name server may be

What’s the IP address

What’s the IP address

Here’s the IP ns1.sanjose.nominum.net

What’s the IP address ns1.sanjose.nominum.net

POP vs. IMAP

 Allows the user to obtain a list of their Emails

 Users can retrieve their emails

 Users can either delete or keep the email on their system

 Minimizes server resources

 User can check the email header before downloading

 Emails can be accessed from any location

 Can search the email for a specific string of characters before

 User can download parts of an email

 User can create, delete, or rename mailboxes on a server

• Routing Information Protocol

• Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

• Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)

• Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)

• Gateways regulate traffic between two dissimilar networks, while

routers regulate traffic between similar networks

• Gateways perform more complex functions than the router

• Maintains a state table of all connections; only the first packet is

deep inspected, subsequent connections are not inspected

• Provides high degree of security and does not introduce the

• It is scalable and transparent to the user

• Provides data for tracking connectionless protocols

• Intercepts and inspects the packets before it is delivered to the

• It breaks the connection between the peers

• Two types of proxies

• Circuit Level Proxy

• Application Layer Proxy

• Works at the session layer Works at the application layer

• It is application independent Has one proxy per protocol

• SOCKS is a circuit level proxy Capable of authenticating users directly

Has performance issues due to deep inspection

• Silent Rule: Drop noisy traffic without logging

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