C844 Emerging Technologies in Cybersecurity Task 1
A. Describe the network topology you found when running Nmap. Include
screenshots as evidence of running Nmap.
In order to see the network topology, I used the Zenmap version of nmap to run the scan
on the network. As seen in the image below, the network is set up in a star topology.
The central device in the star network is host 192.168.29.2, with 9 devices connecting to
it. All the devices are under the 192.168.27.x subnet, so for simplicity I will refer to the
device by the ID of the last octet of the IP address for the remainder of the report. The
scan also shows the probable operating system of each device within the network.
Hosts 10, 11, 12, 15, and 17 are most likely running Windows, hosts 14, 17, 20 are likely
running a Linux OS, and host 13 is most likely a VPN gateway.
, B. Summarize the vulnerabilities on the network and their potential implications
based on your Nmap results.
Some of the hosts scanned showed potential vulnerabilities based on open ports and operating
systems. I will highlight them below, including images of the Zenmap scan results
Host 192.168.27.12 - The scan for host 12 shows ports 21, 80, 135, 139, and 445
open. Port 21 is potentially vulnerable as the FTP service that runs on it uses cleartext
transmissions. This means that usernames and passwords used for authentication are
not encrypted and can be seen by anyone. Any data or files transmitted using this
protocol are also vulnerable. This protocol is very susceptible to password sniffing and
man-in-the-middle attacks. Ports 135, 139, and 445 are all ports used by the
WannaCry Ransomware to infect Windows systems. The WannaCry Ransomware can
infect every version of Windows from XP to 10. Ransomware is particularly nasty as it
encrypts all the files on your computer, and demands payment, usually in Bitcoin, to
receive the key to decrypt the files. Sometimes, the key isn’t even delivered. The only
way to recover from a ransomware attack is to restore the system from the most recent
backup, which can lead to loss of data going back hours or even days (Shaw, 2018).
A. Describe the network topology you found when running Nmap. Include
screenshots as evidence of running Nmap.
In order to see the network topology, I used the Zenmap version of nmap to run the scan
on the network. As seen in the image below, the network is set up in a star topology.
The central device in the star network is host 192.168.29.2, with 9 devices connecting to
it. All the devices are under the 192.168.27.x subnet, so for simplicity I will refer to the
device by the ID of the last octet of the IP address for the remainder of the report. The
scan also shows the probable operating system of each device within the network.
Hosts 10, 11, 12, 15, and 17 are most likely running Windows, hosts 14, 17, 20 are likely
running a Linux OS, and host 13 is most likely a VPN gateway.
, B. Summarize the vulnerabilities on the network and their potential implications
based on your Nmap results.
Some of the hosts scanned showed potential vulnerabilities based on open ports and operating
systems. I will highlight them below, including images of the Zenmap scan results
Host 192.168.27.12 - The scan for host 12 shows ports 21, 80, 135, 139, and 445
open. Port 21 is potentially vulnerable as the FTP service that runs on it uses cleartext
transmissions. This means that usernames and passwords used for authentication are
not encrypted and can be seen by anyone. Any data or files transmitted using this
protocol are also vulnerable. This protocol is very susceptible to password sniffing and
man-in-the-middle attacks. Ports 135, 139, and 445 are all ports used by the
WannaCry Ransomware to infect Windows systems. The WannaCry Ransomware can
infect every version of Windows from XP to 10. Ransomware is particularly nasty as it
encrypts all the files on your computer, and demands payment, usually in Bitcoin, to
receive the key to decrypt the files. Sometimes, the key isn’t even delivered. The only
way to recover from a ransomware attack is to restore the system from the most recent
backup, which can lead to loss of data going back hours or even days (Shaw, 2018).
