Security Hands-On Projects

Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T3 2020
Unit Code HS3011
Unit Title Information Security
Assessment Type Group Assignment
Assessment Title Security Hands-On Projects
Purpose of the
assessment (with ULO Mapping) The purpose of this assignment is to exercise, analyse and to assess
information security risks for business applications and recommend appropriate security mechanisms.
Students will be able to:
1. Understand the challenges and impact of factors that relate to Information Systems security management
2. Demonstrate an understanding of security frameworks, models and standards and their application to
different business scenarios,
3. Communicate effectively, information systems’ security concepts and controls to both technical and nontechnical stakeholders
4. Analyse and to assess information security risks for business applications and recommend appropriate
security mechanisms.
5. Work autonomously as well as within group to develop a solution to a business scenario.
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6. Understand the ICT profession and the expectations of ICT professionals in information security roles.
Weight 40% of the total assessments
Total Marks 35% report + 5% Video Demonstration
Word limit 2500 – 3000 words
Due Date End of Week 11
Submission
Guidelines • All work must be submitted on Blackboard 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 Harvard or IEEE referencing style.
Assignment Requirements:
You are required to follow the instructions in each project and provide screen shots for the outcomes in
addition to the answers to any provided questions.
PROJECT 1: Case Study
Peter Hayes, CFO of Sequential Label and Supply, was working late. He opened an e-mail from the manager
of the accounting department. The e-mail had an attachment—probably a spreadsheet or a report of some
kind—and from the file icon he could tell it was encrypted. He saved the file to his computer’s hard drive and
then double-clicked the icon to open it.
His computer operating system recognized that the file was encrypted and started the decryption program,
which prompted Peter for his passphrase. Peter’s mind went blank. He couldn’t remember the passphrase.
“Oh, good grief!” he said to himself, reaching for his phone.
“Charlie, good, you’re still here. I’m having trouble with a file in my e-mail program. My computer is
prompting me for my passphrase, and I think I forgot it.”
“Uh-oh,” said Charlie.
“What do you mean ‘Uh-oh’?”
“I mean you’re S.O.L.” Charlie replied. “Simply outta luck.”
“Out of luck?” said Peter. “Why? Can’t you do something? I have quite a few files that are encrypted with
this PGP program. I need my files.”
Charlie let him finish, then said, “Peter, remember how I told you it was important to remember your
passphrase?” Charlie heard a sigh on the other end of the line, but decided to ignore it. “And do you
remember I said that PGP is only free for individuals and that you weren’t to use it for company files since
we didn’t buy a license for the company? I only set that program up on your personal laptop for your home email—for when your sister wanted to send you some financial records. When did you start using it on SLS
systems for company business?”
“Well,” Peter answered, “the manager of my accounting department had some financials that were going to
be ready a few weeks ago while I was traveling. I sort of told him that you set me up on this PGP crypto thing
and he googled it and set up his own account. Then, I swapped public keys with him before I left, and he sent
the files to me securely by e-mail while I was in Dubai. It worked out great. So, the next week I encrypted
quite a few files. Now I can’t get to any of them because I can’t seem to remember my passphrase.” There
was a long pause, and then he asked, “Can you hack it for me?”
Charlie chuckled and then said, “Sure, Peter, no problem. Send me the files and I’ll put the biggest server we
have to work on it. Since we set you up in PGP with 256-bit AES, I should be able to apply a little brute force
and crack the key to get the plaintext in a hundred trillion years or so.”
Charlie was getting ready to head home when the phone rang. Caller ID showed it was Peter.
“Hi, Peter,” Charlie said into the receiver. “Want me to start the file cracker on your spreadsheet?”
“No, thanks,” Peter answered, taking the joke well. “I remembered my passphrase. But I want to get your
advice on what we need to do to make the use of encryption more effective and to get it properly licensed for
the whole company. I see the value in using it for certain kinds of information, but I’m worried about
forgetting a passphrase again, or even worse, that someone else forgets a passphrase or leaves the company.
How would we get their files back?”
“We need to use a feature called key recovery, which is usually part of PKI software,” said Charlie. “Actually,
if we invest in PKI software, we could solve that problem as well as several others.”
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“OK,” said Peter. “Can you see me tomorrow at 10 o’clock to talk about this PKI solution and how we can
make better use of encryption?”
Questions:
1. Was Charlie exaggerating when he gave Peter an estimate for the time required to crack the encryption key
using a brute force attack?
2. Are there any tools that someone like Peter could use safely, other than a PKI-based system that
implements key recovery, to avoid losing his passphrase?
Suppose Charlie had installed key logger software on all company computer systems and had made a copy of
Peter’s encryption key. Suppose that Charlie had this done without policy authority and without anyone’s
knowledge, including Peter’s.
3. Would the use of such a tool be an ethical violation on Charlie’s part? Is it illegal?
4. Suppose that Charlie had implemented the key logger with the knowledge and approval of senior company
executives, and that every employee had signed a release that acknowledged the company can record all
information entered on company systems. Two days after Peter’s call, Charlie calls back to give Peter his key:
“We got lucky and cracked it early.” Charlie says this to preserve Peter’s illusion of privacy. Is such a “little
white lie” an ethical action on Charlie’s part?
PROJECT 2: Web Search Exercises
1. Go to a popular online e-commerce site like Amazon.com. Place several items in your shopping cart, and
then go to check out. When you reach the screen that asks for your credit card number, right-click on the Web
browser and select “Properties.” What can you find out about the cryptosystems and protocols in use to
protect this transaction?
2. Repeat Exercise 1 on a different Web site. Does this site use the same or different protocols? Describe
them.
3. Perform a Web search for “Symantec Desktop Email Encryption (powered by PGP Technology).”
Download and install the trial version. Using the tool and your favorite e-mail program, send a PGP-signed email to your instructor. What looks different in this e-mail compared with your other e-mails?
4. Perform a Web search for “Announcing the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).” Read this document,
which is a FIPS 197 standard. Write a short overview of the development and implementation of this
cryptosystem.
5. Search the Web for “steganographic tools.” What do you find? Download and install a trial version of one
of the tools. Embed a short text file within an image. In a sideby-side comparison, can you tell the difference
between the original image and the image with the embedded file?
PROJECT 3: Defense in Depth Network Design
In this project you will design a new network infrastructure for a five-hundred-employee education &
training firm. The design of the network should incorporate several elements that demonstrate a defense in
depth architecture.
TASK:
The design of the network should incorporate protection against the following threats:
1. Malicious software
2. Phishing
3. Spam
4. Non-company-owned devices on the internal network (“bring your own device,” or BYOD)
5. Rogue access points
For each type of threat, indicate the controls or features in the architecture that reduce or eliminate the threat.
PROJECT 4: Research Biometric Access Controls
As a consultant with the Risk Analysis Consulting Co., you have been asked to research biometric access
controls for a chemical company, Colorful Plastics. A number of security incidents in the past year has
prompted Colorful Plastics to consider using biometrics for its building access control system.
TASK:
Using online research, identify several biometric access control products that could be used. Consider
systems that are based on fingerprint, iris scan, and hand print. Recommend two finalists that Colorful
Plastics should consider testing on-site.
GROUP DEMONSTRATION (5%)
• Each group is required to develop 8-10-minute-long video recorded demonstration using any software they
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feel convenient.
• All group members are required to speak during the demonstration.
• Each member will demonstrate the tasks that he/she been assigned and completed throughout the project
Group Members Participation
You will be assessed individually on group contribution. Every member must fill in the Group Members
Participation (available on Bb). In addition, all the group members have to agree on the contribution hours for
every member.
Submission Guidelines
Create a business report with:
Cover page
• Document Title
• Author(s) information
Table of contents
• You have to use Microsoft Word build-in function to create a Table of Contents.
Executive Summary
• What this assignment is about and what you want to achieve (should be about 100 words, ES is differed to
compare with Introduction).
Introduction
• You are required to list the major responsibilities which you should take on to help in solving the business’
problem. What is your basic plan? Where do you start from? What do you want to achieve?
• The purpose of your work
• The structure of your report
The assignment submission should take the form of a report that thoroughly details the challenges. All
information sources must be appropriately acknowledged and a full bibliography is required.
PLEASE NOTE
Your submission document should be a single word or pdf document containing your report.
All submissions are to be submitted through the safeAssign facility in Blackboard. Submission boxes linked
to SafeAssign will be set up in the Units Blackboard Shell. Assignments not submitted through these
submission links will not be considered.
Submissions must be made by the due date and time (which will be in the session detailed above) and
determined by your unit coordinator. Submissions made after the due date and time will be penalized per day
late (including weekend days) according to Holmes Institute policies.
The SafeAssign similarity score will be used in determining the level, if any, of plagiarism. SafeAssign will
check conference web-sites, Journal articles, the Web and your own class members submissions for
plagiarism. You can see your SafeAssign similarity score (or match) when you submit your assignment to the
appropriate drop-box. If this is a concern you will have a chance to change your assignment and resubmit.
However, resubmission is only allowed prior to the submission due date and time. After the due date and time
have elapsed your assignment will be graded as late. Submitted assignments that indicate a high level of
plagiarism will be penalized according to the Holmes Academic Misconduct policy, there will be no
exceptions. Thus, plan early and submit early to take advantage of the resubmission feature. You can make
multiple submissions, but please remember we only see the last submission, and the date and time you
submitted will be taken from that submission.
Academic Integrity
Holmes Institute is committed to ensuring and upholding Academic Integrity, as Academic Integrity is
integral to maintaining academic quality and the reputation of Holmes’ graduates.
Accordingly, all assessment tasks need to comply with academic integrity guidelines. Table 1 identifies the
six categories of Academic Integrity breaches. If you have any questions about Academic Integrity issues
related to your assessment tasks, please consult your lecturer or tutor for relevant referencing guidelines and
support resources. Many of these resources can also be found through the Study Sills link on Blackboard.
Academic Integrity breaches are a serious offence punishable by penalties that may range from deduction of
marks, failure of the assessment task or unit involved, suspension of course enrolment, or cancellation of
course enrolment.
Table 1: Six categories of Academic Integrity breaches
Plagiarism Reproducing the work of someone else without attribution. When a student submits their own
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work on multiple occasions this is known as self-plagiarism.
Collusion Working with one or more other individuals to complete an assignment, in a way that is not
authorised.
Copying Reproducing and submitting the work of another student, with or without their knowledge. If a
student fails to take reasonable precautions to prevent their own original work from being copied, this may
also be considered an offence.
Impersonation Falsely presenting oneself, or engaging someone else to present as oneself, in an in-person
examination.
Contract cheating Contracting a third party to complete an assessment task, generally in exchange for money
or other manner of payment.
Data fabrication
falsification and Manipulating or inventing data with the intent of supporting false conclusions, including
manipulating images.
Source: INQAAHE, 2020