Networking and Computer Security

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain the concepts of confidentiality,

availability and integrity (CIA).
2. Configure host and network level technical
security controls to include host firewalls,
user access controls, host logging, network
filtering, intrusion detection and prevention
and encryption at all levels.

Networking and Computer Security

 Why computer security
• The Internet is a dangerous place
– We are constantly being scanned for weak or
vulnerable systems; new unpatched systems will
be exploited within minutes.

Networking and Computer Security

 Why computer security
• We need to protect
– Our data
– Our ability to use our computers (denial of service attacks)
• Major sources of danger
– Running malicious code on your machine due to system or
application vulnerabilities or improper user actions
– Carrying infected machines (laptops) in from off site

Networking and Computer Security

 Confidentiality,
Integrity and Availability,
- also known as the CIA triad, is a
model designed to guide policies for
information security within an
organization.

Networking and Computer Security

CONFIDENTIALITY
• is equivalent to privacy.
METHODS OF ENSURING CONFIDENTIALITY:

 Data Encryption
 User ID and passwords
 Biometric Verification
 Security Tokens, Key Fobs or Soft Tokens

Networking and Computer Security

 INTEGRITY
• involves maintaining the consistency, accuracy and
trustworthiness of data over its entire life cycle.
METHODS OF ENSURING INTEGRITY:
 File Permissions
 User access controls

Data:
 EMP (Electromagnetic pulse or server crash
 Checksums
 Cryptographic checksums – verification of integrity
 Backup or redundancies
Networking and Computer Security
 AVAILABILITY
• is best ensured by rigorously maintaining all hardware,
performing hardware repairs immediately when needed and
maintaining a correctly functioning operating system
environment that is free of software conflicts.
• Providing adequate communication bandwidth and preventing
the occurrence of bottlenecks are equally important.
Software Security Equipment:

 Firewalls  Can guard against downtime and

 Proxy servers unreachable data due to malicious
actions such as denial-of-service (DOS)
attacks and network intrusions.
Networking and Computer Security
Networking and Computer Security
 Strong Authentication

Networking and Computer Security

 Privacy of Emails and Files
• May not use information in another person’s
files seen incidental to any activity (legitimate
or not) for any purpose w/o either explicit
permission of the owner or a “reasonable
belief the file was meant to be accessed by
others.”
– Whether or not group/world accessible;
– “Group” files implicitly may be used by the group
for the mission of the group;

Networking and Computer Security

 Your role as a user
• Guard against malicious code in email
– Don’t open attachments unless you are sure they
are safe
– Don’t trust who email is from
– Updated and enabled virus signatures
• Guard against malicious code from web
browsing

Networking and Computer Security

 Your role as a user
• Obey Strong Authentication Policy
• Promptly report potential computer security incidents

Networking and Computer Security

 References:
• https://www.slideshare.net/Frederik_Questier
/computer-security-27754651
• https://its.ucsc.edu/security/training/intro.ht
ml
• https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Conf
identiality-integrity-and-availability-CIA

Networking and Computer Security