MCD4700 – Introduction to computer systems, networks and security
Assignment 2 – Trimester 1, 2019
Submission guidelines
This is an individual assignment, group work is not permitted (except for parts of task 1.1 as stated below).
Deadline: May 14, 2019, 11:55pm
Submission format: Word (doc, docx) (one file containing both parts 1 and 2), uploaded electronically via Moodle.
Late submission:
• By submitting a Special Consideration Form at: Click Here
• Or, without special consideration, you lose 5% of your mark per day that you submit late (including
weekends). Submissions will not be accepted more than 5 days late.
This means that if you got x marks, only 0.95n × x will be counted where n is the number of days you submit late.
Marks: This assignment will be marked out of 70 points, and count for 20% of your total unit marks.
Plagiarism: It is an academic requirement that the work you submit be original. Zero marks will be awarded for the whole assignment if there is any evidence of copying (including from online sources without proper attribution), collaboration, pasting from websites or textbooks.
Monash Colleges policies on plagiarism, collusion, and cheating available at: Click Here
The faculty’s Plagiarism Policy applies to all assessment:
Further Note: When you are asked to use internet resources to answer a question, this does not mean
copy-pasting text from websites. Write answers in your own words such that your understanding of the answer is evident. Acknowledge any sources by citing them.
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1 WLAN Network Design and Security
For this task, you will perform a WLAN site survey. Your task is to produce a map of (part of) a building that gives an overview of the wireless networks that are available, as well as an analysis of the network.
What you will need: a WiFi-enabled laptop (some smartphones also work, see below), and a place to scan. You can perform a survey of your home, of an office space, of parts of the Monash campus, or inside a shopping centre. If you don’t own a suitable device that you could use for this activity, please try to borrow one from a friend, or contact us to figure out an alternative.
This activity has two sub-tasks:
1.1) Survey
Create a map of the place you want to survey. A simple floorplan will be sufficient, it doesn’t have to be perfectly to scale. Your survey should cover an area of at least 180 square meters (e.g. 18×10 meters, or 12×15, or two storeys of 9×10 each). Be creative – the survey can include hallways or outside areas. Be sure to take the analysis in part b) into account, by designing your survey to include walls, door etc. it will be easier to write something interesting in part b).
Furthermore, your survey must include at least three WiFi access points. These can be your own, but can also include neighbours’ APs. If you are scanning in a commercial area or on campus, you should be able to see enough APs. If you want, you can create an additional AP with a phone (using “Personal hotspot” or “Tethering” features).
For the survey, use a WLAN sniffing tool (see below) at at least eight different locations on your map. For each location, record the technical characteristics of all visible APs. In particular, you should record Network name, MAC address, Signal strength, Vendor, Security, 802.11 version(s) supported, Band (2.4 or 5 GHz) and Channel(s) used. Some of these parameters may not be available with depending on the concrete tools you use, in that case collect as much data as possible.
Create maps, based on your floorplan, that visualise the information you have gathered. Do not use automatically generated “heatmaps” as produced by professional versions of the apps mentioned above. Simple maps that show the values of the different characteristics in different locations are sufficient. You can submit one or two maps, showing different aspects of your scan. The maps need to include locations of the access points (as far as you can determine them, or an approximation of the location based on the observed signal strength).
(20 Marks )
1.2) Write a report (word limit 600) on your observations analysing the data collected in the previous step. Your analysis should investigate the following aspects:
1.2.1 Channel occupancy: Are different access points competing on the same channels? Are they configured to use overlapping channels? (5 Marks )
1.2.2 Interference from walls, doors etc.: How do different materials affect signal strength and noise? Can you notice a difference in attenuation for different APs? (5 Marks )
1.2.3 Coverage: Do the access points sufficiently cover the desired area? Could the placement or configuration be improved? (5 Marks )
1.2.4 Any other aspect of your own choice. Here are a few suggestions:
a- measure the attenuation caused by your own body
b- measure the download and upload speeds in different locations
c- determine the overlap that has been implemented to enable roaming
d- describe how you interpolated the locations of access points from the signal strengths
Describe your findings and explain them with some technical detail (i.e., not only say what you found, but also how you performed the analysis or why you think the network is behaving that way). (5 Marks )
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Tools: You can use e.g. Acrylic Wifi (https://www.acrylicwifi.com/en/) for Windows, NetSpot (http://www.netspotapp.com) for Mac OS and Windows, and LinSSID or wavemon for Linux. If you have an Android smartphone, apps like Wifi Analyzer can also be used. On iOS, WiFi scanning apps do not provide enough detail, so iPhones won’t be suitable for this task. For drawing the site maps, any drawing tool should work, for example LucidChart, or even presentation tools such as Powerpoint, Keynote or Google Slides. Scans of hand-drawn maps are acceptable if they are neat and easily readable.
2 Cyber Security
Information on security problems, weaknesses and attacks can be found in many places (blogs, newsletters, experts’ pages, etc.). Your task is to pick one item from the following list, read the news item, look up and read the referenced sources, and finally write a report on the findings.
• https://www.wired.com/story/russia-fancy-bear-hackers-phishing/
• https://www.wired.com/story/rowhammer-ecc-memory-data-hack/
• https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/11/usps-site-exposed-data-on-60-million-users/
• https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/11/busting-sim-swappers-and-sim-swap-myths/
• https://www.zdnet.com/article/new-linux-crypto-miner-steals-your-root-password-and-disables- your-antivirus/
• https://www.zdnet.com/article/ukrainian-police-arrest-hacker-who-infected-over-2000-users- with-darkcomet-rat/
• https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/mirai-evolves-from-iot-devices-to-linux- servers/d/d-id/1333329
• https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/11/using machine l.html
• https://hotforsecurity.bitdefender.com/blog/hackers-target-critical-wordpress-plugin-flaw-
to-install-backdoors-and-create-admin-accounts-20597.html
• https://thehackernews.com/2018/11/apple-macos-zeroday.html
• https://thehackernews.com/2018/11/word-processor-vulnerability.html
1. Chose one of the 11 news items above, read the text.
2. Look up and read the articles and information referenced in the news item.
3. Write a short summary of the news item in your own words (between 50 and 200 words).
4. Identify which software, hardware or system is affected (max 50 words). The identification should be as precise as possible. Include exact product names, distribution of the product, version numbers, etc.
5. Describe how the problem was discovered and how it was initially published. Try to find this infor- mation in the referenced articles. The problem might have been found by researchers at a university, by a professional security company, by some hacker, published in a scientific conference/journal, in a newspaper on a blog, etc. Was it the result of targeted research, found by chance, were any tools used, etc? (write 50-100 words)
6. Estimate how serious the issue/weakness/attack is, describe what is necessary to exploit the weak- ness, evaluate what the consequences might be if it is exploited, and what reactions you think are necessary/useful on (i) a technical level, (ii) in terms of human behaviour, and (iii) on a policy level (between 150 and 300 words).
(20 Marks )
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Report Structure
For task 1 and task 2, you should stick to the word count. A maximum/minimum of 10 percent above/below the maximum/minimum word count is acceptable. Additional text will be ignored in the marking. You should first think about the main statements you want to make and then write a concise text. Additional text will be ignored in the marking. You should first think about the main statements you want to make and then write a concise text.
Your report must be your individual work (no group work is permitted). You should structure the re- port in accordance with the items in the task description. Your report should be well structured, readable, and use adequate language. All information from external sources must be properly referenced (see resources on Moodle about referencing). References do not count for the word count.
Report well-written and presented professionally: • Title page
• Table of Contents
• Appropriate use of figures and tables
• References and in text citations
• Overall structure, presentation and formatting • Grammar punctuation and spelling
(10 Marks )
File to be submitted:
One file only named ”YourLastName-FirstName-StudentID”.docx or doc: Your report should include:
1. Title Page (including: Title, Your Name, Your Student ID, Lecturer Name, Tutor Name, Tutorial Day/Time).
2. Table of contents auto generated.
3. Either summary or abstract or introduction (This report is about …. ” no more than 100 words”).
4. Part 1 and Part 2, including heading for each part and subheading for each point. References.
The word limit doesn’t include the title page, the contents page, summary, references, labels and the de- scription of the figures.
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