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Course Code - OSEI-041

This document discusses network security elements that help secure remote access to an enterprise network. It identifies key elements as an IT security policy, enforcement of that policy through tools like firewalls, and a defense-in-depth strategy using multiple layers of security controls. The application layer in networking models is discussed as the top layer where actual communication between applications occurs, with examples given of protocols like HTTP, FTP, and DNS.

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70 views

Course Code - OSEI-041

This document discusses network security elements that help secure remote access to an enterprise network. It identifies key elements as an IT security policy, enforcement of that policy through tools like firewalls, and a defense-in-depth strategy using multiple layers of security controls. The application layer in networking models is discussed as the top layer where actual communication between applications occurs, with examples given of protocols like HTTP, FTP, and DNS.

Uploaded by

IGNOU ASSIGNMENT
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Course Code : OSEI-041 : OSEI-041

Course Title : Information Security

Maximum Marks : 20

Last Date of Submission : As per SED Notification on IGNOU’s website

Question 1: In today's business context, the employees of an organisation

discharge their daily duties by using the tools and services provided by the

organisation on its Enterprise Network. There is a need for employees on

travel or out of their workplace to access the Enterprise Network to look at or

modify/add information on the network. What are the elements that help us

secure network connectivity? (10 Marks)

SOLUTION

A network comprises two or more computational systems connected by

physical and/or wireless connections. Networks broadly use peer-to-peer or

client-server architecture apart from a number of networking protocols for the

connected systems to communicate with each other.

Network security is a subgroup of networking. It involves securing the

connected network infrastructure from the core to the edge of the network

perimeter. Typically managed by a network administrator, network security


involves implementing IT security policy and deploying network software and

hardware to:

● Protect the network, its infrastructure and all its traffic from external

cyberattacks

● Protect all IT assets and resources available via the network from

unauthorized access

● Ensure authorized users have adequate access to these network IT assets

and resources to effectively perform work

Some of the most common threats to network and computer systems are:

● Distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS)

● Malware

● Spyware

● Adware

● Computer worms

● Botnets

● Trojan horses
An IT security policy identifies the rules and procedures for all authorized

individuals accessing and using an organization's IT assets and resources. It is

the principle document for network security. Its goal is to outline rules for

ensuring the security of organizational assets.

Employees today often use several tools and applications to conduct business

productively. Policy driven by the organization’s culture supports these routines

and focuses on safely enabling these tools for employees. Enforcement and

auditing procedures for any regulatory compliance to which an organization is

subject must be mapped out in the policy as well.

Enforcement

Enforcement concerns analyzing all network traffic flows and should aim to

preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all systems and

information on the network. When it comes to enforcing protections, network

security operates on a defense-in-depth model and follows the principles of the

“CIA” triad:

● Confidentiality – protecting assets from unauthorized entities

● Integrity – ensuring the modification of assets is handled in a specified

and authorized manner


● Availability – maintaining a state of the system in which authorized users

have continuous access to said assets

Strong enforcement strives to provide CIA to network traffic flows. This begins

with a classification of traffic flows by application, user and content. As the

vehicle for content, all applications must first be identified by the firewall

regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactics or encryption. Proper application

identification provides full visibility into the content it carries. Policy

management can be simplified by identifying applications and mapping their

use to a user identity while inspecting the content at all times for the

preservation of CIA principles.

The concept of defense in depth is observed as a best practice in network

security, prescribing for the network to be secured in layers. These layers apply

an assortment of security controls to sift out threats trying to enter the

network: access control, identification, authentication, malware detection,

encryption, file type filtering, URL filtering and content filtering.

These layers are built through the deployment of firewalls, intrusion prevention

systems (IPS) and antivirus components. Among the components for

enforcement, the firewall (an access control mechanism) is the foundation of

network security.
Providing CIA of network traffic flows is difficult to accomplish with legacy

technology. Traditional firewalls are plagued by controls that rely on ports and

protocols to identify applications – which have now developed evasive

characteristics to bypass the controls – and the assumption that IP address

equates to user identity.

Next-generation firewalls retain an access control mission but re-engineer the

technology; they observe all traffic across all ports, can classify applications and

their content, and identify employees as users. This enables access controls

nuanced enough to enforce the IT security policy as it applies to each employee

of an organization, with no compromise in security.

Additional services for layering network security to implement a

defense-in-depth strategy have been incorporated in the traditional model as

add-on components. IPS and antivirus, for example, are effective tools for

scanning content and preventing malware attacks. However, organizations

must be cautious of the complexity and cost that additional components may

add to network security and, more importantly, not depend on these additional

components to do the core job of the firewall.


Question 2: What is Application Layer? Explain the protocols included in the

Application Layer. (10 Marks)

SOLUTION

Application layer is the top most layer in OSI and TCP/IP layered model. This

layer exists in both layered Models because of its significance, of interacting

with user and user applications. This layer is for applications which are

involved in communication system.

A user may or may not directly interacts with the applications. Application

layer is where the actual communication is initiated and reflects. Because this

layer is on the top of the layer stack, it does not serve any other layers.

Application layer takes the help of Transport and all layers below it to

communicate or transfer its data to the remote host.

When an application layer protocol wants to communicate with its peer

application layer protocol on remote host, it hands over the data or

information to the Transport layer. The transport layer does the rest with the

help of all the layers below it.


There’is an ambiguity in understanding Application Layer and its protocol. Not

every user application can be put into Application Layer. except those

applications which interact with the communication system. For example,

designing software or text-editor cannot be considered as application layer

programs.

On the other hand, when we use a Web Browser, which is actually using Hyper

Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to interact with the network. HTTP is Application

Layer protocol.

Another example is File Transfer Protocol, which helps a user to transfer text

based or binary files across the network. A user can use this protocol in either
GUI based software like FileZilla or CuteFTP and the same user can use FTP in

Command Line mode.

Hence, irrespective of which software you use, it is the protocol which is

considered at Application Layer used by that software. DNS is a protocol which

helps user application protocols such as HTTP to accomplish its work.

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