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Operating Systems and Networks
2,000 words
Security of Operating Systems and Networks – Individual Assignment
This individual assignment focuses on the security of operating systems and computer networks. Students are required to produce a professional technical report of approximately 2,000 words demonstrating a deep and systematic understanding of operating-system security, networking functions, security threats, vulnerabilities and practical security testing. The assessment carries 50% and forms 100% of the module assessment. Students are expected to support their work with appropriate technical evidence, images showing practical steps and relevant sources. The assignment uses a business scenario involving Net-Tech, a small and medium-sized technology-services enterprise. The organisation is concerned about the security of its proposed system, including operating-system attacks such as buffer overflow and network threats such as hacking and phishing. Students are required to investigate, design and experiment with the features and functions of a web server used to serve the company's website, while assessing the security landscape and presenting findings that can support appropriate organisational security decisions. As part of the practical work, students must create a prototype Net-Tech network test rig. This includes creating two users, with one configured as a superuser and another as a standard user, applying appropriate baseline security measures, installing suitable software and identifying vulnerabilities, using appropriate tools to conduct security tests, and writing scripts to automate repetitive tasks. Students must document assumptions and parameters used within the project, including further security implementations and recommendations such as the use of a suitable database for a database-driven website. The report is structured around introduction, background research, pre-engagement, engagement and post-engagement activities. The introduction should explain the business scenario, assumptions, aims, objectives, deliverables, available skills and resources, constraints and project plan. The background research should address common vulnerabilities, threats, risk models, security-testing approaches, relevant attack and testing tools, legal and organisational requirements, and ethical, social, professional and sustainability considerations. The pre-engagement section covers the test-rig setup and testing strategy. The engagement section requires practical comparison and demonstration of operating-system and network security, including user authentication, file and directory permissions, protection against stack-overflow attacks, network weaknesses, operating-system discovery, firewalls, listening ports, network statistics, prevention of denial-of-service attacks and scripting for automation. The post-engagement section requires a summary of the work, deductions and limitations, mitigation measures and recommendations, and personal reflection. The assessment requires students to use relevant sources, provide a bibliography and demonstrate appropriate analysis, evaluation and reflection. The assignment is designed to assess learning outcomes relating to knowledge of network security threats and the development of complex software and scripts relevant to operating systems and computer networks.
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Networking and Security Practice
Networking and Security Practice – Recorded Demonstration
This assessment for the MSc Cyber Security module Networking and Security Practice is a practical recorded-demonstration coursework designed to assess students' ability to configure, secure, troubleshoot and monitor a virtualised sandbox network. The assessment contributes 60% of the module mark and consists of four recorded demonstration videos, with each video limited to a maximum of five minutes. The completed videos are submitted through a Moodle quiz as video files or accessible links. The practical environment uses virtual machines running Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop on VirtualBox or UTM. Students deploy a four-machine architecture consisting of a Gateway, Webserver, Workstation and Zabbix-Server. The Gateway acts as the router, firewall and NAT gateway; the Webserver hosts an Nginx web server; the Workstation is used for administration and testing; and the Zabbix-Server provides network monitoring. The architecture requires appropriate network interfaces, IP addresses, routing and communication between the different internal networks. The coursework develops practical networking and system administration skills through several phases. Students install and configure operating systems, allocate virtual machine resources, configure static IP addresses, enable IP forwarding and NAT masquerading, and implement firewall rules using iptables. They also develop command-line proficiency using networking, DNS, security, remote-access and web tools including ping, traceroute, ss, nslookup, dig, nmap, Wireshark, netcat, SSH, SCP, rsync, curl and wget. Students must also configure secure remote access and deploy an Nginx web server. SSH must be hardened by disabling password authentication and root login, while key-based authentication is used for secure access. The Webserver must contain a customised landing page showing the student's name and student ID, which is accessed from the Workstation. The monitoring component requires installation and configuration of Zabbix, deployment of agents across the virtual machines, host monitoring, a customised dashboard containing at least five live-data widgets and configured alerts or triggers. Students must explain what their selected monitoring elements measure and why they are operationally useful. The traffic-analysis component uses Wireshark to capture and examine HTTP, ICMP and DNS traffic. Students apply appropriate filters, identify protocols using the Protocol Hierarchy and discuss the security implications of unencrypted HTTP traffic, including secure alternatives such as HTTPS and DNS over TLS. The security-evaluation component uses Nmap within the isolated virtualised sandbox to identify open ports and services, assess vulnerabilities and recommend mitigations. Students must also demonstrate iptables forwarding and NAT masquerading rules. The four videos cover Network Infrastructure, Network Monitoring, Traffic Analysis and Security Evaluation. The assessment is marked out of 100, with 35 marks allocated to Network Infrastructure, 25 to Network Monitoring, 20 to Traffic Analysis and 20 to Security Evaluation. Students are expected to provide clear voice narration, explain commands and outputs, demonstrate technical understanding and critically relate their work to network security. The assessment develops employability skills in Linux administration, remote system management, network troubleshooting, security hardening, packet analysis, port and service scanning, virtualisation and network monitoring. It also requires students to conduct security testing ethically within their own isolated virtualised environment and prohibits unauthorised scanning of university networks, public websites or other systems.
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Network Systems and Administration
3,500 words
Network Systems and Administration – Linux System and Network Administration Portfolio
This assessment is an individual portfolio for the Network Systems and Administration unit. It consists of two quizzes and a report based on a case study involving the development, implementation, configuration, testing, maintenance, and evaluation of a network solution using an industry-standard network operating system. The report requires students to justify their design and implementation decisions, provide a detailed testing strategy, develop a maintenance and disaster recovery plan, and critically evaluate the completed solution. The case study concerns Piranha, a small organisation in which the business owner has been maintaining a server containing information relating to finance, management, production, and sales. The student is required to undertake the role of Network Systems Administrator and configure an appropriate Linux-based network environment. The practical work includes creating a new user account with root access, confirming root privileges, verifying access to company files, and configuring group-based access controls for finance, management, production, and sales directories. Students must then establish a client-server network by installing a Linux distribution on a separate virtual machine in VirtualBox. SSH connections are required to verify user access and the configured file permissions. The assessment also requires students to use Wireshark to observe network traffic during SSH sessions, report on packet types and encryption, identify potential security vulnerabilities, and recommend improvements such as SSH keys and unique passwords. A maintenance schedule and a brief disaster recovery or backup strategy must also be proposed. The final report must document the practical work with clear explanations and screenshots showing commands, user accounts, and results. The report should be between 1,500 and 3,500 words. The assessment also includes Linux Essentials and Networking Essentials final grades. The marking criteria cover system and network administration, the maintenance plan, reflection and report writing, screenshots, references, and Harvard referencing.
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