MCD4700 { Introduction to Computer Systems, Networks and Security
Assignment 2 { Trimester 2, 2018
Written By: Phillip Abramson Haidar AL-Khalidi
Submission guidelines
This is an individual assignment, group work is not permitted (except for parts of task 1.1 as stated
below).
Deadline: September 6, 2018, 11:55pm
Submission format: Word (doc, docx) (one le containing both parts 1 and 2), uploaded electronically
via Moodle.
Late submission:
By submitting a Special Consideration Form. at: Click Here or visit this link: https://goo.gl/xtk6n2
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.
In-class interviews: See instructions for Task 2 for details.
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. If there is any evidence
of copying (including from online sources without proper attribution), collaboration, pasting from websites
or textbooks Zero marks may be awarded for the whole assignment, the unit or you may be suspended or
excluded from your course.
Monash Colleges policies on plagiarism, collusion, and cheating available at: Click Here or see this link:
https://goo.gl/bs1ndF
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.
1
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 o ce space, of parts of the Monash campus, or inside a
shopping centre. If you dont own a suitable device that you could use for this activity, please try to borrow
one from a friend, or contact us to gure out an alternative.
This activity has two sub-tasks:
1.1 Survey
Create a map of the place you want to survey. A simple oorplan will be su cient, it doesnt have to be
perfectly to scale. Your survey should cover an area of at least 90 square meters (e.g. 9x10 meters, or
6x15, or two storeys of 9x5 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 sni ng tool (see below) at at least eight di erent 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, signal to noise ratio (SNR), 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 oorplan, that visualise the information you have gathered. Do not use
automatically generated \heatmaps" as produced by professional versions of the apps men-
tioned above. Simple maps that show the values of the di erent characteristics in di erent locations are
su cient. You can submit one or two maps, showing di erent 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 di erent access points competing on the same channels? Are they con gured to use overlapping channels?
(5 marks)
1.2.2 Interference from Walls, Doors etc.:
How do di erent materials a ect signal strength and noise? Can you notice a di erence in attenuation for
di erent APs? (5 marks)
1.2.3 Coverage:
Do the access points su ciently cover the desired area? Could the placement or con guration be improved?
(5 marks)
Page 2
1.2.4 Any Other Aspect of Your Own Choice. Here are a few suggestions:
measure the attenuation caused by your own body
measure the download and upload speeds in di erent locations
determine the overlap that has been implemented to enable roaming
describe how you interpolated the locations of access points from the signal strengths
Describe your ndings 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)
Tools: You can use e.g. Acrylic Wi (https://www.acrylicwi .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 Wi Analyzer can also be used. On iOS, WiFi scanning apps do not
provide enough detail, so iPhones wont 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 nally write a report on the ndings.
https://www:wired:com/story/cambridge-analytica-private-facebook-messages/
https://www:zdnet:com/article/unsecured-server-exposes-fedex-customer-records/
https://krebsonsecurity:com/2018/04/when-identity-thieves-hack-your-accountant/
https://krebsonsecurity:com/2018/04/panerabread-com-leaks-millions-of-customer-records/
https://www:darkreading:com/perimeter/attackers-exploit-cisco-switch-issue-as-vendor-
warns-of-yet-another-critical-flaw/d/d-id/1331490
https://www:wired:com/story/this-radio-hacker-could-hijack-emergency-sirens-to-play-any-
sound/
https://www:cnet:com/news/hack-a-vr-system-lead-a-player-astray-yes-say-researchers/
https://www:securityweek:com/hackers-start-exploiting-drupalgeddon2-vulnerability
https://www:csoonline:com/article/3268758/data-protection/your-cache-is-exposed:html
1. Chose one of the 9 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 a ected (max 50 words). The identi cation 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 nd 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 scienti c 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)
Page 3
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)
Page 4
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 rst 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 rst 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 gures and tables
References and in text citations
Overall structure, presentation and formatting
Grammar punctuation and spelling
(10 marks)
File to be submitted:
One le 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 gures.