Class 4

Class 4 – Networking & Security Fundamentals

Class Material: Week 2

This lecture focuses on core cybersecurity principles, common network threats, vulnerability scanning, and defensive tools used to secure modern network infrastructures.

Key Topics Covered:

Cybersecurity Core Concepts
Introduces the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) as the backbone of cybersecurity.
Additional principles include authentication, non-repudiation, and accountability.

Security Domains and Trends
Highlights domains like application security, endpoint protection, and identity access management (IAM).
Discusses modern challenges such as cloud security, Zero Trust models, and DevSecOps.

Network Security Principles
Focuses on ensuring that systems and networks remain resilient against breaches.
Emphasizes access control, encryption, and secure architecture.

Common Threats and Attacks
Details techniques like sniffing, spoofing, MITM attacks, and DDoS that target network vulnerabilities.
Discusses ways these attacks are executed and how they impact system security.

Scanning and Enumeration
Covers ethical network scanning using tools like Nmap and Nessus.
Explains the importance of mapping network devices and discovering vulnerabilities.

OS Fingerprinting
Describes active and passive techniques to detect operating systems used by hosts.
Highlights tools and methods attackers use to identify vulnerabilities based on OS type.

Intrusion Detection and Prevention
Explains IDS and IPS technologies that monitor and block malicious network traffic.
Describes their configurations, use cases, and significance in layered security.

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)
Illustrates how organizations isolate external-facing services from internal systems for added security.
Covers DMZ architecture and components typically placed within it.

Wireshark and Packet Analysis
Introduces Wireshark as a tool for inspecting packet-level traffic.
Shows how cybersecurity professionals use it for troubleshooting and detecting threats.

Linux Command Practice
Walks through network commands like Nmap, firewall rules, and IP configurations for real-world application.

Conclusion:
This session emphasizes threat identification, defensive strategies, and hands-on scanning tools, critical insights into how networks are attacked and how organizations use layered defenses to mitigate those threats.