Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Phishing
A friend sent me this link to share with RC readers. [http://www.antiphishing.org/index.html]
There is a section for How To Avoid Phishing Scams and, for when it might be too late, What To Do If You've Given Out Your Personal Financial Information.
I think it's a great link and I hope everyone finds it useful!
There is a section for How To Avoid Phishing Scams and, for when it might be too late, What To Do If You've Given Out Your Personal Financial Information.
I think it's a great link and I hope everyone finds it useful!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Steve Jobs
I hope that everyone understands the extent to which Steve Jobs changed the world. 56 is far too young but he certainly left us with the contributions of many lifetimes.
Wireless Router Settings
The subject of wireless router settings came up in class a while back so I figured I'd post some easy settings you can change to secure your wireless router far beyond the default configuration. Any one in particular is helpful, all of them together are exponentially so.
Change the default SSID and password -
Changing the default SSID makes it harder for tech-savvy users that are within range of your network to find out what brand of wireless router you are using. Router manufacturers typically use a common default password for their products. Chances are, if you haven't changed the default SSID, you haven't changed the default password either. This is very common knowledge and there are even websites dedicated to publishing this information, such as www.routerpasswords.com/, making this a very valid potential risk.
Enable stronger encryption -
Most routers will probably come with some level of encryption already enabled, most likely WEP. The problem is, by today's standards, WEP is garbage. On average, I'd say it takes 15 minutes for someone who wants in to crack WEP, and that's being generous. Granted, for someone skilled who really wants on your network in particular, they're going to get in anyway. However, by implementing stronger encryption like WPA2, it would prolong the process much more and would likely detour who's looking for free WiFi; especially when your neighbor is using default settings.
Disable SSID broadcast -
When you look at the available wireless networks you have the option of connecting to, you're viewing the networks that wish to have their existence known, not necessarily all the wireless networks within range. By default, most/all wireless access points will broadcast their SSID, making it easier for you to identify your network and connect to it. If you disable the broadcast of your SSID, you require that a user manually type in the SSID and passphrase/password, making your WLAN invisible to most and that much harder to figure out.
MAC address filtering -
Most wireless routers come with a feature that lets you add the MAC addresses of the wireless devices you own to a table and then allow only those devices to connect wirelessly. This is very effective in most cases but, like all other security measures, can be overcome if the right person wants in bad enough.
Hope this helps!
Change the default SSID and password -
Changing the default SSID makes it harder for tech-savvy users that are within range of your network to find out what brand of wireless router you are using. Router manufacturers typically use a common default password for their products. Chances are, if you haven't changed the default SSID, you haven't changed the default password either. This is very common knowledge and there are even websites dedicated to publishing this information, such as www.routerpasswords.com/, making this a very valid potential risk.
Enable stronger encryption -
Most routers will probably come with some level of encryption already enabled, most likely WEP. The problem is, by today's standards, WEP is garbage. On average, I'd say it takes 15 minutes for someone who wants in to crack WEP, and that's being generous. Granted, for someone skilled who really wants on your network in particular, they're going to get in anyway. However, by implementing stronger encryption like WPA2, it would prolong the process much more and would likely detour who's looking for free WiFi; especially when your neighbor is using default settings.
Disable SSID broadcast -
When you look at the available wireless networks you have the option of connecting to, you're viewing the networks that wish to have their existence known, not necessarily all the wireless networks within range. By default, most/all wireless access points will broadcast their SSID, making it easier for you to identify your network and connect to it. If you disable the broadcast of your SSID, you require that a user manually type in the SSID and passphrase/password, making your WLAN invisible to most and that much harder to figure out.
MAC address filtering -
Most wireless routers come with a feature that lets you add the MAC addresses of the wireless devices you own to a table and then allow only those devices to connect wirelessly. This is very effective in most cases but, like all other security measures, can be overcome if the right person wants in bad enough.
Hope this helps!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Spiceworks
I'm going to test this out. I've heard of it but never knew what all it was intended to do.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Projects
The following are the chapter objectives from Cisco Exploration I/Cisco Academy's online materials [ISBN-13: 978-1587132087].
If you have a project due on a specific layer of the OSI model, you may find it helpful to use the points expressed for that chapter as a starting point for your Powerpoint slides.
Good luck, everyone.
Chapter Objectives for Network Fundamentals CCNA Exploration v4
Chapter 1 Living in a Network-Centric World
How do networks impact our daily lives?
What is the role of data networking in the human network?
What are the key components of a data network?
What are the opportunities and challenges posed by converged networks?
What are the characteristics of network architectures?
Chapter 2 Communicating over the Network
What is the structure of a network, including devices and media necessary for communications?
What function do protocols perform in network communications?
What are the advantages of using a layered model to describe network functionality?
What is the role of each layer in the OSI network model and the TCP/IP network model?
What is the importance of addressing and naming schemes in network communications?
Chapter 3 Application Layer Functionality and Protocols
How do the functions of the three upper OSI model layers provide network services to end-user applications?
How do the TCP/IP application layer protocols provide the services specified by the upper layers of the OSI model?
How do people use the application layer to communicate across the information network?
What are the functions of well-known TCP/IP applications, such as the World Wide Web and e-mail, and their related services (HTTP, DNS, DHCP, STMP/POP, and Telnet)?
What are the file-sharing processes that use peer-to-peer applications and the Gnutella protocol?
How do protocols ensure that services running on one kind of device can send to and receive from many different network devices?
How can you use network analysis tools to examine and explain how common user applications work?
Chapter 4 OSI Transport Layer
Why is there a need for the transport layer?
What is the role of the transport layer as it provides the end-to-end transfer of data between applications?
What is the role of two TCP/IP transport layer protocols: TCP and UDP?
How do the key functions of the transport layer protocol, including reliability, port addressing, and segmentation, work?
How do TCP and UDP handle the key functions?
When is it appropriate to use TCP or UDP, and what are some examples of applications that use each protocol?
Chapter 5 OSI Network Layer
What is the method described by the network layer for routing packets from a device on one network to a device on a different network?
How does the Internet Protocol (IP) work at the network layer to provide connectionless, best-effort service to the upper layers of the OSI model?
How are devices grouped into physical and logical networks?
How do the hierarchical addresses of devices allow communication between networks?
How do routers use next-hop addresses to select a path for packets to reach their destination?
How do routers forward packets?
Chapter 6 Addressing the Network: IPv4
What type of addressing structure does IPv4 use?
What is the 8-bit binary equivalent of a given decimal number?
What is the decimal equivalent of a given 8-bit binary number?
What type of address is a given IPv4 address, and how is it used in a network?
How do administrators assign addresses within networks?
How are addresses assigned by ISPs?
What is the network portion of the host address?
What is the role of the subnet mask in dividing networks?
What are the appropriate addressing components for IPv4, given addressing design criteria?
How do you use testing utilities to verify and test network connectivity and operational status of the IP stack on a host?
Chapter 7 OSI Data Link Layer
What is the role of data link layer protocols in data transmission?
How does the data link layer prepare data for transmission on network media?
How do the types of MAC methods operate?
What are several common logical network topologies?
How does the logical topology determine the MAC method for a type of network?
What is the purpose of encapsulating packets into frames to facilitate media access?
What are the purposes of the Layer 2 frame structure?
What are the generic fields of a Layer 2 frame?
What is the role of the key frame header and trailer fields, including addressing, QoS, type of protocol, and Frame Check Sequence?
Chapter 8 OSI Physical Layer
What role do the physical layer protocols and services play in supporting communication across data networks?
What is the purpose of physical layer signaling and encoding used in networks?
How do signals represent bits as a frame as data is transported across the local media?
What are the basic characteristics of copper, fiber, and wireless network media?
What are common implementations of copper, fiber, and wireless media in networks?
Chapter 9 Ethernet
How did Ethernet evolve?
What are the purposes of the fields of the Ethernet frame?
What are the function and characteristics of the media access control method used by Ethernet protocol?
What are the physical and data link layer features of Ethernet?
How are Ethernet hubs and switches different?
What is the purpose of Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and how does it operate?
Chapter 10 Planning and Cabling Networks
What basic network media is required to make a LAN connection?
What are the types of connections used for intermediate and end-device connectivity in a LAN?
What are the pinout configurations for straight-through and crossover cables?
What are the different cabling types, standards, and ports used in WAN connections?
What is the role of device connections management when using Cisco equipment?
How do you design an addressing scheme for an internetwork and assign ranges for hosts, network devices, and the router interface?
Why is network design so important?
Chapter 11 Configuring and Testing Your Network
What is the role of the IOS?
What is the purpose of a configuration file?
What are the classes of devices that have the IOS embedded?
What are the factors contributing to the set of IOS commands available to a device?
What are the IOS modes of operation?
What are the basic IOS commands?
How are the basic show commands used and why?
If you have a project due on a specific layer of the OSI model, you may find it helpful to use the points expressed for that chapter as a starting point for your Powerpoint slides.
Good luck, everyone.
Chapter Objectives for Network Fundamentals CCNA Exploration v4
Chapter 1 Living in a Network-Centric World
How do networks impact our daily lives?
What is the role of data networking in the human network?
What are the key components of a data network?
What are the opportunities and challenges posed by converged networks?
What are the characteristics of network architectures?
Chapter 2 Communicating over the Network
What is the structure of a network, including devices and media necessary for communications?
What function do protocols perform in network communications?
What are the advantages of using a layered model to describe network functionality?
What is the role of each layer in the OSI network model and the TCP/IP network model?
What is the importance of addressing and naming schemes in network communications?
Chapter 3 Application Layer Functionality and Protocols
How do the functions of the three upper OSI model layers provide network services to end-user applications?
How do the TCP/IP application layer protocols provide the services specified by the upper layers of the OSI model?
How do people use the application layer to communicate across the information network?
What are the functions of well-known TCP/IP applications, such as the World Wide Web and e-mail, and their related services (HTTP, DNS, DHCP, STMP/POP, and Telnet)?
What are the file-sharing processes that use peer-to-peer applications and the Gnutella protocol?
How do protocols ensure that services running on one kind of device can send to and receive from many different network devices?
How can you use network analysis tools to examine and explain how common user applications work?
Chapter 4 OSI Transport Layer
Why is there a need for the transport layer?
What is the role of the transport layer as it provides the end-to-end transfer of data between applications?
What is the role of two TCP/IP transport layer protocols: TCP and UDP?
How do the key functions of the transport layer protocol, including reliability, port addressing, and segmentation, work?
How do TCP and UDP handle the key functions?
When is it appropriate to use TCP or UDP, and what are some examples of applications that use each protocol?
Chapter 5 OSI Network Layer
What is the method described by the network layer for routing packets from a device on one network to a device on a different network?
How does the Internet Protocol (IP) work at the network layer to provide connectionless, best-effort service to the upper layers of the OSI model?
How are devices grouped into physical and logical networks?
How do the hierarchical addresses of devices allow communication between networks?
How do routers use next-hop addresses to select a path for packets to reach their destination?
How do routers forward packets?
Chapter 6 Addressing the Network: IPv4
What type of addressing structure does IPv4 use?
What is the 8-bit binary equivalent of a given decimal number?
What is the decimal equivalent of a given 8-bit binary number?
What type of address is a given IPv4 address, and how is it used in a network?
How do administrators assign addresses within networks?
How are addresses assigned by ISPs?
What is the network portion of the host address?
What is the role of the subnet mask in dividing networks?
What are the appropriate addressing components for IPv4, given addressing design criteria?
How do you use testing utilities to verify and test network connectivity and operational status of the IP stack on a host?
Chapter 7 OSI Data Link Layer
What is the role of data link layer protocols in data transmission?
How does the data link layer prepare data for transmission on network media?
How do the types of MAC methods operate?
What are several common logical network topologies?
How does the logical topology determine the MAC method for a type of network?
What is the purpose of encapsulating packets into frames to facilitate media access?
What are the purposes of the Layer 2 frame structure?
What are the generic fields of a Layer 2 frame?
What is the role of the key frame header and trailer fields, including addressing, QoS, type of protocol, and Frame Check Sequence?
Chapter 8 OSI Physical Layer
What role do the physical layer protocols and services play in supporting communication across data networks?
What is the purpose of physical layer signaling and encoding used in networks?
How do signals represent bits as a frame as data is transported across the local media?
What are the basic characteristics of copper, fiber, and wireless network media?
What are common implementations of copper, fiber, and wireless media in networks?
Chapter 9 Ethernet
How did Ethernet evolve?
What are the purposes of the fields of the Ethernet frame?
What are the function and characteristics of the media access control method used by Ethernet protocol?
What are the physical and data link layer features of Ethernet?
How are Ethernet hubs and switches different?
What is the purpose of Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and how does it operate?
Chapter 10 Planning and Cabling Networks
What basic network media is required to make a LAN connection?
What are the types of connections used for intermediate and end-device connectivity in a LAN?
What are the pinout configurations for straight-through and crossover cables?
What are the different cabling types, standards, and ports used in WAN connections?
What is the role of device connections management when using Cisco equipment?
How do you design an addressing scheme for an internetwork and assign ranges for hosts, network devices, and the router interface?
Why is network design so important?
Chapter 11 Configuring and Testing Your Network
What is the role of the IOS?
What is the purpose of a configuration file?
What are the classes of devices that have the IOS embedded?
What are the factors contributing to the set of IOS commands available to a device?
What are the IOS modes of operation?
What are the basic IOS commands?
How are the basic show commands used and why?
Saturday, September 17, 2011
I know this isn't computer-related but...
...It's my blog and I can do what I want. What I want to do right now is show you all the only import car I would buy.
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