Solving real world security problems through hacking and protection

• Main Author: Teo, Brendon Kai Liang
• Other Authors: Liu Yang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Engineering::Computer science and engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/156667
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Cyber-Security is a collection of technologies, processes and implementations designed to protect the ever-growing world of digital assets against threats. Over the past decade, cyber security’s importance has grown significantly, in tandem with the exponential growth of electronic devices connecting to the internet, especially so given the new challenges that companies must adopt to due to the prevalence of Covid-19. A new wave of telecommunication platforms has risen, fulfilling the WFH and safe-distancing criteria mandated by governments globally. This increased exposure leads to a greater number of surface vectors for potential compromises. Network-Security has as a result seen a huge proportional increase in importance as businesses adapt to new work-from-home models. Company policies such as the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) only accentuates the growing number of personal devices and hence the need for Cyber Security as they work in tandem, abovementioned. Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) are amongst the most widely used defences for securing a network which scans each individual packet against a pre-configured list of malicious signatures. The algorithm used in most popular NIDS is “Signature-Based Detection” which offers low false-positive rates that is effective in detecting known security threats in the wild. However, a hacker will always find ways of bypassing and compromising a system, regardless of prior implementation of safety measures for a highly secured network. For this project, I will be setting up a NIDS on a Kali Linux Virtual Machine and testing various forms of attacks that can possibly evade detection by the system. These attacks will range from Packet Fragmentations, False-Positive Drowning attacks and Reverse Shells. Possible measures and implementations will also be provided to help Network Administrators or Users better secure their networks.