IPv4 Subnetting Videos

 Video 1. Intro to IPv4 Subnetting

Video 2.  Converting Dotted Decimal to Binary

Video 3. Subnetting Rules

Video 4. Basic Subnetting Part 1

Video 5. Basic Subnetting Part 2.

Blue, Red, White, Purple & Yellow Teams explained

 Organization Security Exercise Types

In the context of cybersecurity, red, blue, white, purple, and yellow teams represent different roles focused on enhancing security. Red teams simulate attacks, blue teams defend against them, and purple teams bridge the gap between the two. Yellow teams focus on building secure systems, while white teams oversee the process and ensure compliance. 

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Red Team: This team acts as the "attacker," simulating real-world cyberattacks to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in an organization's systems and defenses. They use techniques like penetration testing and social engineering to assess the effectiveness of security measures. 

Blue Team: This team focuses on defense, protecting the organization's systems and networks from cyberattacks. Their responsibilities include implementing security measures, monitoring for threats, and responding to security incidents. 

Purple Team: This team acts as a bridge between the red and blue teams, facilitating communication and collaboration. They combine red team attack tactics with blue team defense strategies to improve the overall security posture. 

Yellow Team: This team is focused on building secure systems and applications. They work closely with developers to ensure that security is integrated into the design and development process. 

White Team: This team oversees the red/blue/purple team exercises, ensuring that they adhere to rules of engagement, document findings, and provide objective assessments. They also facilitate lessons learned from the exercises. 

DNS Record Types to know for the exam

 DNS RECORD TYPES

Make sure you know the following DNA record types for this exam and how they are used:

A: host (IPv4). Maps the name to an IPv4 address.

AAAA: host (IPv6) Maps the name to an IPv6 address.

CNAME: (Canonical Name): Alias. Example: Sites that use www as the hostname of a web server might internally call it something else, such as Dallwebserver1.

MX: Mail Exchanger. This is used for an email server.

NS: Name Server. Provides a list of the authoritative DNS servers responsible for the domain you are trying to query.

PTR: Pointer. This is a reverse record; it resolves IPv4 or IPv6 addresses to domain names.

SOA: Start of Authority. Keeps track of all of the DNS changes to help with replication.

TXT: Text. Stores descriptive information about the domain in a text format. 

SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework. It helps prevent spammers from sending emails from your domain using the email addresses of your email servers. 

WIRELESS AUTHENTICATION METHODS

These authenticate the device only. These devices do not use TLS, which is only used with certificates. Do not use a username; only use a password (PSK).

 WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

·       Built on RC4 – uses a 24-bit IV – PSK (Pre-Shared Key)

·       Prone to IV (Initialization Vector) attack

 WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

·       Built on RC4 – uses TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol)

·       Personal Mode (PSK) or Enterprise Mode (with RADIUS)

·       The PSK is prone to brute force attacks

 WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2)

·       Built on AES – uses CCMP

·       Personal Mode (PSK) or Enterprise Mode (with RADIUS)

·       The PSK is prone to brute force attacks

·       AES replaced RC4, CCMP replaced TKIP

 WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 3)

• Built on GCMP-256 (Galois/Counter Mode Protocol)
• Replaces PSK with SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals)

 WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup)

• Connection is generally used with a pushbutton
• If there is no push button, use the 8-digit PIN at the bottom of the AP
• Prone to a brute force attack, can be broken in less than 11,000 attempt
• Tools used for cracking WPS: Reaver, Wifite, Wash 

 The following authenticate the user and require certificates. When using certificates, you must use TLS.

 Enterprise Mode / 802.1x Authentication

• Using this method requires a RADIUS server
• Authentication can be accomplished with a username & password, smart card, or token
• Authentication is used against an enterprise directory service / AAA server / RADIUS
• 802.1x requires a Supplicant, Authenticator, and Authentication server (AAA / RADIUS) 

 EAP-TLS (Extensible Authentication Protocol-Transport Layer Security)

• Certificates are needed on both the server and wireless device (Supplicant)
• Provides mutual authentication
• Authenticates the user – uses an enterprise directory service

 EAP-TTLS (Extensible Authentication Protocol – Tunneled Transport Layer Security)

• Certificate on the server only
• Authenticates the user - uses an enterprise directory service
• End-to-end protection of authentication credentials

 PEAP (Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol)

• Certificate on the server only
• Uses TLS
• Authenticates the user – uses an enterprise directory service
• End-to-end protection of authentication credentials

 The following authenticates the user and do not use certificates

 LEAP (Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol)

• Does not require certificates
• Replaced with EAP-FAST

 EAP-FAST (Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling)

• Do not use certificates
• Replaced LEAP

 The following is the RADIUS federation

 Multiple organizations allow access to one another’s users

Uses the native 802.1x client (Supplicant)

Each organization has a RADIUS server and joins a mesh

Facebook Group for study help.

 CompTIA Exam Certification Study Group

I have started a Facebook group to help individuals pass the CompTIA exams: A+, Network+, Security+, and the soon-to-come CySA+. The group will include explanations of different concepts. It will also be a place for questions that individuals need clarification on whether the answers are correct and explanations. 

Below is the link to join the group. 

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2411609635806164/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Mission Essential Functions / Critical Systems

CRITICAL SYSTEMS AND FUNCTIONS

MTD (Maximum Tolerable Downtime) is the longest period of a business outage without causing permanent business failure. Each organization will have its own MTD. 

RTO (Recovery Time Objective): This is the expected time to get a system back online and functional. If the RTO exceeds the MTD, plan to move to an alternate site.

RPO (Recovery Point Objective): This measures how much data the company will lose in a given time. If the RPO is 4 hours, the backup must run every 4 hours; if the RPO is 12 hours, a backup must run every 12 hours.

KPI (Key Performance Indicators): This measures the reliability of an asset such as a server.

1. MTTF (Mean Time to Failure): This is normally an estimate of a product's expected lifetime, estimated in thousands of hours.

2. MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): This is the rating of a component/device that predicts the time between failures. It can be listed in tens of thousands or thousands of hours. 

3. MTTR (Mean Time to Repair): This is the actual time it takes to get a system back online. People often confuse this with RTO, which is the expected time, not the actual time to repair. This can also be called "replace" or "recover". 

Media Sanitization Methods - Hard Drive / Paper

HARD DISKS

If the goal is for the media never to be reused, there are three methods (for mechanical drives, not solid-state)

1. One method is shredding. You must disassemble the drive, take the platters, and run them through a shredder.

2. The other method is to use powerful magnets. This is typically done with specialized machinery that can be quite costly. If you have had several dives, the degaussing method is the fastest of the two options.

3. Another method is to use pulverizing, in which a machine crushes the drive to destroy all components, making the data unrecoverable. 

If the plan is to repurpose the drives, the best method is to employ a disk wiping/overwriting program. It is better to use a program that writes random patterns of ones and zeroes. Even if all you use is the zero-filling approach, specialized tools can still recover data. Wiping is also known as purging. 

Formatting will not help with wiping data. All it does is remove the reference to the data. 

Solid State Drives sometimes come with a built-in data sanitization tool. Degaussing will not work on SSDs. 

PAPER MEDIA

It is best to use a cross-cut shredder. Some of these devices are rated according to the size of the cut they make. 

Another method is that some high-security organizations add water to the paper after it has been shredded. This displaces the ink, and it is known as "Pulling."

You can also burn paper documents. We did this in the military. Since the information we had was considered Top Secret, we burned the paper in an incinerator with a screen at the top to keep the ashes from floating off. Then, we pulverized the ashes.