Networking Fundamentals for Cybersecurity

Explore how OSI layers map to cloud services, from the physical layer through hypervisors and containerization to software defined data centers.

Delve into the tcp/udp troubleshooting landscape, map port numbers and protocols, and use ping, traceroute, ip config, netstat, telnet, and wireshark to diagnose network issues.

Learn why you should not replicate lab setups; analyze how routers, servers, and devices are configured to understand real-world networks, preparing for practical cybersecurity labs using Linux.

Master IPv4 troubleshooting by verifying firewall permissions and correct IP addressing. Configure proper default gateways, monitor subnetting, and block RFC 1918 traffic with ACLs.

Explore IPv6 in a nutshell, covering what IPv6 is, its address space, network and host portions, zero compression, and a comparison with IPv4, plus ARP and neighbor discovery.

Explore the dhcp process in a nutshell, what dhcp is and how it works, plus security, troubleshooting, apipa, dhcp relay, nic-based assignments, and dhcp client identifier.

Watch a Wireshark demo of the DHCP lifecycle—discover, offer, request, and acknowledge—over UDP ports 67 and 68, with broadcasts and unicast. Explore cloud implications, including DHCP starvation attacks.

Explore the domain name system (dns) from fundamentals to troubleshooting, network security and cloud perspectives, guided by two videos that explain how dns works from scratch.

Explains how a DNS query travels from a client to resolvers and authoritative servers, using Wireshark to filter IPv6 AAAA records, UDP port 53, and recursion.

Learn how the ping tool, an ICMP based utility, tests reachability using echo requests and replies, and analyzes TTL and RTT to troubleshoot networks and security issues with command options.

Explore ICMP in Wireshark, showing echo request and echo reply (type 8 and 0) and destination unreachable and time exceeded messages, observed during a ping between a PC and a router.

Explore the netstat command to view network connections and sockets, and use options like -n, -a, -b, and -f to reveal ports, processes, and host names.

Explore the CIA triad—confidentiality, integrity, availability—alongside defense in depth and threats like internal and external attackers, ransomware, and signature-based IDS and IPS.

Explore Cisco switches and ports, including catalyst models, LEDs, speed and duplex, poe, SFP and gbic modules, and front-back panel layouts.

Explore how traditional arp discovers mac addresses for a given ipv4 address by broadcasting requests, mapping ip to mac, and populating the arp cache for subsequent unicast communication.

Plan ahead for incidents with a structured incident response process: preparation, identification, containment, investigation, eradication, recovery, and follow-up, plus documentation, monitoring, staff training, tabletop exercises, and backups.

Configure secure shell access to switches and routers in a practice lab using PuTTY from a Windows server, setting up VLAN management, hostname, domain, RSA keys, and enable secret.

Learn to implement a standard access list to permit only a single IP for secure shell access to a switch, and verify connectivity through a hands-on lab.

Discover snmp, the simple network management protocol, and its versions one through three, focusing on security. Configure snmp on a Cisco router with community strings, traps, and saving the setup.

Analyze network protocol and port activity to identify open ports and traffic on a target host. Use Nmap Zenmap GUI to scan and mitigate attacks by blocking unnecessary ports.

Explore password and account lockout policies and configure them with group policy in a Windows domain, applying length, history, age, complexity, and reversible encryption settings.