DCN – Assignment 2

Network Security & management

Christopher Waite: 0103396

  1. Keywords

Network – A computer network is a series of computers and other devices         linked to share files and resources.

Wireless – A term used to describe devices without wires connecting them to sources with which they communicate.

Firewall – A firewall is a piece of hardware or software specifically designed to prevent remote devices from accessing it.

Anti-virus – Ant-virus software detects, and erases files infected with malicious code.

WLAN – WLAN is short for Wireless LAN (Local Area Network) and it describes a network consisting of wireless devices.

  1. Key – Keys in this context are pieces of code used to authenticate devices, files, and locations.

Cryptography – This is the coding of keys used as described above.

E-mail – E-mail (Electronic mail) is a form of communication allowing users to send messages and files to one another quickly via a computer and telephone line.

  1. WEP – Wired Equivalent Privacy is the algorithm used to encrypt traffic using the IEEE 802.11b standard.

  1. AP – access point is a device that clients must connect to in order to gain access to a network.

  1. IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers are where the standards outlines are registered.

  1. Protocol – a protocol is a set of rules by which something adheres.

  1. EAP – Extensible Authorisation Protocol is the authorisation used by Cisco on their AP’s.

  1. MAC – Message Authentication Code.

  1. Static – In this case a static object, such as a key, is one that remains the same.

  1. Dynamic – In this case a dynamic object, such as a key, is one that changes every time it is used.

  1. ACL – Access Control List is a list used in some devices to authenticate a source and check its authorisation.

  1. Abstract

Network security and management is becoming increasingly important as file sharing becomes more popular amongst computer users. As advances are made in networking technology allowing for innovations such as wireless network access, a huge security issue has been raised with past solutions being inadequate to deal with today’s issues. This research paper will examine and compare journal papers currently looking at this issue and attempt to give an increased insight into the problem.

  1. Introduction

The idea of networking started out as a way to share files and resources. With simple connection such as peer-to-peer access via a serial cable, and later on network cards, security was not really an issue. People only shared files and resources so tacks only came from internal sources such as transportable media like 3.5” floppy disks. They could transport viruses whether purposely brought or not. Thus if you needed to secure your network you would buy an anti-virus package. With the introduction of the Internet came an entirely new threat. The Internet opened up the possibilities of malicious attacks from remote computers. An anti-virus package was not enough so further tools such as firewalls were required. The Internet allows us to do more and more each day with the advent of innovations such as Internet shopping and e-mail, we have opened our computers and private information to many security threats. Recent technological strides such as wireless networking further aggravate this problem by making the security threat itself mobile. So how can we safeguard ourselves against these attacks?

Join now!

To answer this question I have compared two journal papers. The references to these papers can be found in the bibliography.

  1. Findings

The papers I have researched have highlighted the following points with regards to network security.

  1. Firewalls

Firewalls are an essential part of securing a network. They exist in various forms and deal with security in a variety of ways. Firewalls basically work by monitoring ports on your computing for any outside locations trying to access your computer. Firewalls come in hardware and software versions. Both have their good and bad ...

This is a preview of the whole essay