NAME

SAMI ULLAH

ID

14019019072

SEC

ASSIGNMENT#1

TOPIC WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)

SUBMITTED TO

MR.KHALID ASGHAR

UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

WHAT IS WAN?
A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network or computer
network that extends over a large geographical distance.

Business, education and government entities use wide area networks to relay data
among staff, students, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical
locations.The Internet may be considered a WAN.

DESIGN OPTIONS
The textbook definition of a WAN is a computer network spanning regions, countries, or
even the world.However, in terms of the application of computer networking protocols
and concepts.

It may be best to view WANs as computer networking technologies used to transmit

data over long distances, and between different LANs, MANs and other localised
computer networking architectures.

WANs are used to connect LANs and other types of networks together, so that users
and computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other
locations. Many WANs are built for one particular organization and are private.

Others, built by Internet service providers, provide connections from an organization's

LAN to the Internet.

WANs can also be built using less costly circuit switching or packet switching methods.
Performance improvements are sometimes delivered via wide area file services or WAN
optimization.
TYPES OF WAN
ATM
Cable modem
Dial-up
DSL
Frame relay
ISDN
Leased line
SONET
X.25
SD-WAN

CONNECTION TECHNOLOGY
Many technologies are available for wide area network links. Examples include circuit
switched telephone lines, radio wave transmission, and optic fiber. New developments
in technologies have successively increased transmission rates.

Point-to-Point Links
A point-to-point link provides a single, pre established WAN communications path
from the customer premises through a carrier network, such as a telephone company,
to a remote network. A point-to-point link is also known as a leased line because its
established path is permanent and fixed for each remote network reached through the
carrier facilities. The carrier company reserves point-to-point links for the private use
of the customer.
Circuit Switching
Circuit switching is a WAN switching method in which a dedicated physical circuit is
established, maintained, and terminated through a carrier network for each
communication session. Circuit switching accommodates two types of transmissions:
datagram transmissions and data-stream transmissions. Used extensively in telephone
company networks, circuit switching operates much like a normal telephone call.

Packet Switching
Packet switching is a WAN switching method in which network devices share a single
point-to-point link to transport packets from a source to a destination across a carrier
network. Statistical multiplexing is used to enable devices to share these circuits.
WAN Virtual Circuits
A virtual circuit is a logical circuit created to ensure reliable communication between
two network devices.Two types of virtual circuits exist: switched virtual
circuits (SVCs) and permanent virtual circuits(PVCs).

WAN Devices
WANs use numerous types of devices that are specific to WAN environments. WAN
switches, access servers, modems, CSU/DSUs, and ISDN terminal adapters are
discussed in the following sections.

WAN Switch
A WAN switch is a multiport internetworking device used in carrier networks. These
devices typically switch such traffic as Frame Relay, X.25, and SMDS and operate at
the data link layer of the OSI reference model.

Biggest WAN Security Threats

The biggest WAN security threat to enterprise applications may very well be
ignorance on the part of IT management. I say that because at the root of every data
breach, there is usually some oversight, some sort of assumption, or a lack of doing
whats needed in terms of business best practices or compliance regulation.

Many of the issues we are seeing can be traced to managers having their heads in
the sand, and that mindset gets pushed down throughout the IT organization,
creating the current threat environment, whether it is denial that the organization
could be a valuable target to hackers or that the organization actually has sensitive
information that might be of interest to others.
It can affect the insight that you have to your environment, depending on the tools or,
more often, the lack of tools that you have at your disposal.

Safety
Yes, networking is highly beneficial: it allows global communications to take place
almost instantaneously, enables data sharing at rates and levels never seen before
in history, and provides new means of socialization and entertainment. But for all
these benefits, there are still dangers. Networking, when unsecured, can put
threaten the privacy of your data and that of your coworkers and employees.

Use a Secure Intranet

While the internet is an indispensable tool and necessary resource for businesses
and individuals alike, it should not be used as the primary mechanism for
networking. Because the internet is unsecure, data shared across it can be easily
seen and accessed by just about anyone.

For example, if an employee logs onto a business server using the public WiFi at
his local library, then anyone who is also logged on to that network can see the
data being shared, access it, steal it and use it for all sorts of nefarious purposes.
Use VPNs at Home
If a Bring Your Own Device policy is implemented within the office, local area
networks will not be secured by password protections. If an employee picked up a
virus while browsing the internet at home, as soon as he enters into the business
network, that virus can move from the private device into the business server.
Worse, if any data has been saved or cached on the users device, a hacker or other
intruder might have access to valuable business information without the employee
needing to actually be logged into the companys servers.

Design Firewalls with Safety in Mind

Firewalls are the first line of defense and often times the most important when it
comes to defending the network. They essentially block all data from entering or
exiting a server, file, folder or network except when explicitly permitted. Within a
firewall, businesses can design VPNs to act as the gateway into the network, or at
least past the first abstraction layer.

It is important to also understand that on both WANs and LANs, firewalls can
prevent users from accessing certain sites on the internet. These might include
social media sites, pornography/adult-only sites, hate sites or the like.
Encrypting and Limiting Access to Business Data
If data is sequestered by department or need, then more firewalls may be placed
around specific pieces and packets of data, files, or folders. Determining where and
how firewalls should be created to protect things within the datas servers is
something that will need to be given consideration. But beyond firewalls, data
should be protected internally not just by constructing external walls.

Educate Employees about Cybersecurity and Safe

Networking
All of these policies may be for naught if your employees do not know why they
are being instituted. Safety may mean that employees have do a little more work to
access the servers, networks, and data they need.

Educating them as to the necessity of these protocols can help them to better
understand and even support the new networking safety standards.

This is especially true if employees are going to be bringing their own devices into
work. Not only will they need to know about the safety protocols at work, but also
those which they will have to follow at home.