LD7010 Ethical Hacking for Cyber Security Assignment

Solution.pdf

Assessment Overview

For this module, summative assessment worth 100% of the total mark will be viathis singleindividual assignment; to support evidencing achievement of all learning outcomes for the module, a written critical analysis report form the basis of the module assessment. It is an individual assessment and should therefore be all your own work. Students should not collude or plagiarise work. Appropriate action will be taken, according to Northumbria University regulations, if collusion or plagiarism is suspected. Please see the section on academic integrity for clarification.

The purpose of this assignment is to perform and document a penetration testing phase as part of a practical ‘offensive security’ approach against a known network topology with distinguished characteristics and services. Furthermore, the report incorporates state-of-the-art research to demonstrate in-depth theoretical knowledge of a network security auditing paradigm regarding application and network layer attacks. You will learn how to defend a system and provide a better set of services in terms of security and availability and to further understand how planning and executing a set of steps and methods can seriously affect the security of a network.

Module Learning Outcomes

Thisassignment covers Learning Outcomes1-4 in full. On completion of the module, you should be able to demonstrate how you have achieved the following.

1. Assess computer systems, information systems and networks to identify their vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

2. Evaluate and understand the principles of ethical hacking and appreciate where and in what situations these principles should be applied

3. Critically evaluate the core concepts, knowledge and practice of computer security have developed through research

4. Appreciate the legal and ethical issues associated with ethical hacking and be able to apply them appropriately.

Important Information on possible Ethical and Legal Implications

Due to the nature of this module, you MUST ensure that ALL the attacks performed during the coursework are carefully contained within a controlled laboratory environment. The expectedapproach is to utilise virtual technology (e.g. VMware, Hyper-V and VirtualBox) to build your own lab.

Performing attacks on the virtual machines within the dedicated University laboratory is permitted, but it is very important to note that attacking the rest of the university network is NOT allowed. A full monitoring process will be in place and offenders could be prosecuted. Ask your module tutor to clarify any doubts shall you have further inquiries. Overall, make sure you comply with UK-legislation and all associated professional and ethical behaviour.

The purpose of this assignment is NOT to teach you how to break computer system but rather to understand how the countermeasures are applied to protect your potentially vulnerable infrastructure.

 

Requirements

For the practical part of this assignment, you will have to build three Virtual Machines (VM):

• A Linux Server

• You could use CentOS or Ubuntu Server

• Minimum configuration required

• DNS

• An additional service of your own choice (e.g. DHCP, FTP, SMTP, SNMP etc)

• A Client

• Could be either Windows (Visa, 7, 8, 10 etc) or Linux (Fedora, Ubuntu etc)

• You could create multiple copies of the client’s VM if you require more clients to demonstrate an attack  

• Attacker machine

• Kali Linux (the most recent version is highly recommended)

Assignment Tasks and Deliverables

The main submission is a singleindividual report consisting of two parts as follows:

Part A

In this first part of the assignment, you are required to:

• Provide a summary of the configuration steps on the server and client. Include screenshots to evident functionality at the client-side. Discuss the rationale behind service selection and configuration. (10%)

• Demonstrate a minimum of 2 attacks against each of the two services configured. Any further and complex attacks will attract more marks. Log all the important and offensive events against your target including attacks detected, services’ logs nature, origin of the attack and damage caused.Support your demonstration with screenshots. (35%)

• Criticallyreflect on countermeasures and prevention mechanisms applied to mitigate against your attacks.(15%)

Part B

In the second part of the report, you are required to write a short position paper to critically analyse andreflect on recent state-of-the-art attacks and hacking techniques, followed bya discussion on possible countermeasures.(weights 40%)

Your paper should consider the following guidance and contain the following subtitles as a minimum:

• Title page and Abstract

• Introduction

• The nature of the brief/commission and the topic should be briefly outlined and defined alongside details of how the paper is organised. 

• Scope: how did you select the attacks/techniques in this paper? E.g. most recent attacks, wireless attacks, VoIP attacks, DNS attacks etc

• Main body

• Critical discussion, reflection and analysis

• Conclusions

• A brief summary of the key findings established from your research.

• References.

• A full list of references used within the paper should be provided. The Harvard Style of referencing should be applied throughout the assignment. 

Format and Submission Requirements

Please adhere to the following requirements:

• Submission will be via Turnitin on Blackboard; please see the front cover for the submission date. Please note, you can submit your report formatively to check for originality i.e. to help check for potential academic misconduct in the form of plagiarism. You can do this multiple times. However, you must ensure the last attempt is your final summatively assessed paper and is correctly submitted ahead of the deadline indicated on the cover page.

• The report should be written in a formal reporting style and without use of personal pronouns (for example, no use of ‘I, me, my, our, we, they, he, she’). If you find it difficult, you may want to research the use of the passive voice; help is also available via skills resources online (see above).

• Word count for Part A is 2000 words (+/- 10%) excluding references

• Word count for Part B is 2000 words (+/- 10%) excluding references

• Only Microsoft Word or PDF file formats will be accepted. 

• Layout should make reasonable use of margins, clear headings, single line spacing and font size should be 11pt (i.e. your report should be professionally presented).

• Include page numbers, the module code and your student ID.

• All content including references and appendices (if used) should be contained in a single document. 

• Referencing should be in the Harvard style (see Cite Them Right available at http://www.citethemrightonline.com). Note; you will need your University user ID and password to access this resource.

Academic Integrity

You must adhere to the university regulations on academic conduct. Formal inquiry proceedings will be instigated if there is any suspicion of plagiarism or any other form of misconduct in your work. Refer to the University’s Assessment Regulations for Northumbria Awards if you are unclear as to the meaning of these terms. The latest copy is available on the University website.

This is an INDIVIDUAL assessment and should be entirely your own work. Where you have used someone else’s words (quotations), they should be correctly quoted and referenced in accordance to the Harvard System. Help regarding referencing can be found at: http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/library/resources/referencing/

For guidance on avoiding plagiarism see

• Pears, R. & Shields, G. (2013) Cite Them Right: the essential referencing guide, 9th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

• There’s also Cite Them Right Online. Palgrave Macmillan (2014) Cite Them Right Online.  http://www.citethemrightonline.com/

• http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/studentaz/survival/plag/

• http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/static/5007/llspdf/skills/referencing.pdf

Opportunities for Formative and Final Feedback

The primary mechanism for formative feedback will be via classes. However, informal one-to-one feedback may also be requested via a pre-arranged meeting. Formative assessment will occur in classes where activities will closely align with those required to complete the assessed work.Unmoderated marks and summative feedback for the assignment reportwill be sharedup tofour working weeks after the final submission deadlines. 

Grade Boundaries

Academic Integrity Statement

You must adhere to the university regulations on academic conduct. Formal inquiry proceedings will be instigated if there is any suspicion of plagiarism or any other form of misconduct in your work. Refer to the University’s Assessment Regulations for Northumbria Awards if you are unclear as to the meaning of these terms. The latest copy is available on the University website.

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/university-services/academic-registry/quality-and-teaching-excellence/assessment/guidance-for-students/

Formative Feedback

There will be an opportunity for formative feedback during the semester. You are advised to start working on this assignment as early as possible so that you can seek clarification from the module tutor regarding any questions you might have during the semester. Note that tutors will not predict your grade, and you should not take the lack of comment on any aspect of your work as indicating that it is correct. You should make every effort to take advantage of formative feedback as tutors will not comment on draft work at other times. Remember that you will get more useful feedback from us by asking specific questions.

Penalties for Exceeding Word Limits:

The actual word count is to be declared on the front of the assessment submission. If a given task has a word limit, the following penalties will be applied after any reductions in mark due to late submission have been made, Penalties will be applied as defined in the University Policy on Word Limits Policy. 

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/university-services/academic-registry/quality-and-teaching-excellence/assessment/guidance-for-students/

Late Submission Policy: 

For coursework submitted up to 1 working day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline without approval, 10% of the total marks available for the assessment (i.e.100%) shall be deducted from the assessment mark. Penalties will be applied as defined in the University Policy on the Late submission work. 

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/university-services/academic-registry/quality-and-teaching-excellence/assessment/guidance-for-students/

For clarity: a late piece of work that would have scored 65%, 55% or 45% had it been handed in on time will be awarded 55%, 45% or 35% respectively as 10% of the total available marks will have been deducted. 

Failure to submit: The University requires all students to submit assessed coursework by the deadline stated in the assessment brief.  Where coursework is submitted without approval after the published hand-in deadline, penalties will be applied as defined in the University Policy on the Late Submission of Work.

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/university-services/academic-registry/quality-and-teaching-excellence/assessment/guidance-for-students/

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