Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Unit Code BN203
Unit Title Network Security
Assessment
Type
Assignment #01 (Individual)
Assessment
Title
Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS)
Purpose of
the
assessment
(with ULO
Mapping)
After completing this assessment, student’s should be able to:
- Discuss common threats and attacks on networked information systems
- Identify network threats
-
Explain the major methodologies for secure networks and what threats they
address
Weight 15%
Total Marks 30
Word limit Part A: 750
Part B: 750
Due Date
Submission
Guidelines
All work must be submitted on Moodle by the due date along with a completed
Assignment Cover Page.
The assignment must be in MS Word format, 1.5 spacing, 11-pt Calibri (Body)
font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section
headings.
Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed
appropriately at the end in a reference list using IEEE referencing style.
Extension If an extension of time to submit work is required, a Special Consideration
Application must be submitted directly to the School's Administration Officer, in
Melbourne on Level 6 or in Sydney on Level 7. You must submit this application
three working days prior to the due date of the assignment. Further information
is available at:
http://www.mit.edu.au/about-mit/institute- publications/policies-procedures-
and-guidelines/specialconsiderationdeferment
Academic
Misconduct
Academic Misconduct is a serious offence. Depending on the seriousness of the
case, penalties can vary from a written warning or zero marks to exclusion from
the course or rescinding the degree. Students should make themselves familiar
with the full policy and procedure available at: http://www.mit.edu.au/about-
mit/institute-publications/policies- procedures-and- guidelines/Plagiarism-
Academic-Misconduct- Policy-Procedure For further information, please refer to
the Academic Integrity Section in your Unit Description.
Unit Code: BN203 Unit Name: Network Security
Prepared by: Naveed Dilber Moderated by: Dr Fariza Sabrina April, 2017
Assignment Description
Part A: (15 Marks)
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks present a significant security threat to corporations. In one
study, covering a three-week period, investigators observed more than 12,000 attacks against more than
5000 distinct targets, ranging from well-known ecommerce companies such as Amazon and Hotmail to small
foreign ISPs and dial-up connections. DDoS attacks make computer systems inaccessible by flooding servers,
networks, or even end user systems with useless traffic so that legitimate users can no longer gain access to
those resources. In a typical DDoS attack, a large number of compromised hosts are amassed to send useless
packets. In recent years, the attack methods and tools have become more sophisticated, effective, and more
difficult to trace to the real attackers, while defence technologies have been unable to withstand large-scale
attacks. A denial of service (DoS) attack is an attempt to prevent legitimate users of a service from using that
service. When this attack comes from a single host or network node, then it is simply referred to as a DoS
attack. A more serious threat is posed by a DDoS attack. In a DDoS attack, an attacker is able to recruit a
number of hosts throughout the Internet to simultaneously or in a coordinated fashion launch an attack
upon the target.
Figure 1
1) Using the given DDoS attack diagram in Figure 1, identify type of DDoS attack and justify in detail
how this attack will affects the Victim’s workstation.
2) Discuss atleast two solutions how this attack can be avoided or mitigated.
Marking Criteria:
Section to be included in
the report
Description of the section Marks
Introduction Description of selected topic 2
Analyse Analyse identified issues 6
Evaluate/justification Write justification of your evaluation 4
Conclusion Write summary of the report 2
Reference style Follow IEEE reference style 1
Total 15
Unit Code: BN203 Unit Name: Network Security
Prepared by: Naveed Dilber Moderated by: Dr Fariza Sabrina April, 2017
Part B: (15 Marks)
It is important for networking professionals to stay abreast of new security threats and learn how to address
them. In this task, you will look at some web resources that can help you find out about vulnerabilities on
your network. For this task, you will need a workstation with internet connectivity and a web browser.
1) Connect to the internet and point your browser to the following:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/advisories
2) View the entire list of published security advisories. Scroll through and find any two vulnerabilities
related to Microsoft product that’s familiar to you such as windows, web browsers or Microsoft
office. Click the advisory’s title and number in the left column to view the entire announcement.
3) Read the description of the problem and how it has been addressed. How was the problem
discovered and reported? How could someone exploit this vulnerability? Does the potential
vulnerability belong to any of the categories you learned such as DDoS, Brute Force, Phishing etc?
What are the potential damages this vulnerability could cause, if exploited?
Marking criteria:
Section to be included in
the report
Description of the section Marks
Introduction Description of each vulnerability 2
Answering question #03 Answering in detail in your own words 10
Conclusion What have you learned from this task 3
Total 15
Marking Rubric:
Grade
Mark
HD
80%+
D
70%-79%
CR
60%-69%
P
50%-59%
Fail
< 50%
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfact
ory
Identification
and Analysis
and
description
Highly valid and
appropriate
Valid and
appropriate
Generally valid
and appropriate
Valid but no
appropriate
Not valid
and not
appropriate
Explanation/
justification
All elements are
present and
well integrated.
Components
present with
good
cohesion
Components
present and
mostly well
integrated
Most
components
present
Lacks
structure.
Reference
style
Clear styles with
excellent source
of references.
Clear
referencing/
style
Generally good
referencing/style
Unclear
referencing/
style
Lacks
consistency
with many
errors
Presentation
and diagrams
Proper writing
and drawing.
Professionally
presented
Properly
written and
drawing,
with some
minor
deficiencies
Mostly good, but
some structure or
presentation
problems
Acceptable
presentation
Poor
structure,
careless
presentatio