Unit 2 - Securing the Network Connection

Overview

Understanding and implementing network standards and compliance measures can make security controls of critical importance very effective.

This unit introduces foundational knowledge on analyzing, configuring, and hardening networking components using tools and frameworks like STIGs, OpenSCAP, and DNS configurations.

Learning Objectives

By the end of Unit 2 students will have foundational knowledge and skills of the concepts below:

1. Identifying and analyzing STIGs related to Linux networking.
2. Understand and configure secure name resolution using nsswitch.conf and DNS.
3. Utilizing tools like tcpdump, ngrep, ss, and netstat to monitor network behavior.
4. Applying OpenSCAP and SCC tools for network compliance assessments.
5. Exploring known network-based exploits and understanding their anatomy via the Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis.

Key Terms and Definitions

sysctl	nsswitch.conf
DNS	Openscap
CIS Benchmarks	ss/netstat
tcpdump	ngrep