SANS GSEC

Overview/Description
To introduce basic networking concepts and devices

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
175 to 350 minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

Networking Concepts

• discuss the broad goals and content of the SANS GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC).
• differentiate between local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs).
• identify the basic topologies in a network.
• describe network components and their application.
• explain the role of bridges, switches, and routers in a network.
• explain the OSI reference model.
• discuss the OSI and TCP/IP reference models and how they relate to each other.
• describe layer 3 protocols.
• explain the fundamentals of IP addressing.

Overview/Description
To introduce the student to the TCP\IP stack, routing and host perimeter defence

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
230 to 460 Minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

TCP/IP, Routing and Host Security

• describe the functions of the transport layer of the OSI model.
• explain how connection-oriented services are established.
• describe the functionality of Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), the ping command, and the traceroute command.
• describe how different port scanners operate.
• perform a port scan using Nmap and SuperScan.
• explain what a routing protocol is.
• explain how routers create routing tables.
• explain the router bootup and log in to the router CLI.
• explain the requirement for access lists.
• describe how access lists filter by protocols and packet details.
• describe host vulnerabilities and applications to protect against them.
• configure a personal firewall.

Overview/Description
To describe fundamentals of security for defending your network

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
185 to 370 Minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

Network Security Overview

• explain the underlying concepts and principles of security management.
• describe the fundamentals of Defense in Depth.
• describe some real-life information security defense failures.
• define security policy and identify issue-specific security policy documents.
• design a security policy document.
• discuss the responsibilities of users and correct user response to security incidents.
• describe how passwords are stored and explain why they are vulnerable to attack.
• explain why a strong password policy is important and what can be done to protect password files on UNIX and Windows systems.
• use the password cracking utility LC4 and employ it to audit passwords from a number of locations.

Overview/Description
To introduce incident handling and web security issues for networks

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
180 to 370 Minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

Information Warfare and Web Security

• discuss how to respond to and manage computer-related security incidents.
• describe threats to information security and network infrastructure.
• explain how different types of denial-of-service attacks affect a network.
• detail threats that arise specifically from hackers.
• set up and monitor a Telnet session using a protocol analyzer.
• provide an overview of the various threats to web security.
• describe how web sites and web applications can be attacked and defended.
• describe how to design and maintain a secure web site.
• run a Black Widow scan to probe a web site for vulnerabilities.

Overview/Description
To introduce networking vulnerabilities and vulnerability scanning

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
155 to 310 Minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

Internet Security Technologies, Network Vulnerabilities

• describe the basic operation of firewalls and proxy servers.
• list the components of NAT and explain when NAT should be implemented.
• describe Mitnick attacks and outline steps that can be taken to prevent them.
• discuss footprinting and network discovery tools.
• discuss the threat of social engineering.
• explain how system scanners work.
• describe some vulnerability scanning tools and outline how they operate.
• describe how Gnutella and peer-to-peer networks work and outline the security issues that arise from their use.

Overview/Description
To identify features of host and network-based intrusion detection mechanisms and introduce risk analysis and management

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
220 to 440 Minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

Intrusion Detection and Risk Management

• discuss the principles of detecting network intruders.
• describe the characteristics and features of intrusion detection systems.
• describe the different types of intrusion detection mechanisms.
• discuss the deployment of intrusion detection systems.
• recognize the functionality and deployment issues of intrusion detection.
• describe how to distract network intruders and limit the damage they can cause.
• set up a decoy account and monitor both failed and successful login attempts.
• discuss risk management and its requirements with reference to security issues.
• describe the processes involved in implementing information risk management.
• describe the importance of risk assessment and auditing to network security.
• identify the risks to valuable information.

Overview/Description
To discuss techniques for encrypting information

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
195 to 390 Minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

Introducing Encryption and Cryptography

• outline the history of encryption and the reasons why encryption is important.
• outline the principles of symmetric encryption.
• explain what a block cipher is and identify the algorithms that use them.
• discuss the fundamentals of asymmetric encryption.
• explain the functionality of hashes and message functions in protecting the integrity of encrypted data.
• describe the processes involved in symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
• outline the different methods of managing encryption keys.
• discuss some practical applications of encryption.
• implement a secure encryption scheme on a computer.
• exchange encrypted e-mails.

Overview/Description
To introduce public key encryption infrastructure and steganographic techniques

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
135 to 270 Minutes

Objectives: Objectives:

PKI and Steganography

• explain the use of certificates for trusted secure public-key implementation.
• discuss the X.509 standard for public-key certificates.
• describe public-key infrastructure and Secure Electronic Transactions (SETs).
• describe revocation and nonrepudiation of public-key certificates.
• outline certificate practices, policies, and paths.
• detail what steganography is and how it works.
• hide and recover data using steganographic tools.

Overview/Description
To detail VPN, wireless, and virus security issues

Target Audience
Any individual with technical security responsibilities, including system/network administrators and security officers/administrators; managers or technical staff who wish to demonstrate a technical understanding of a broad range of security-related issues and technologies

Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of networking internetworking concepts and associated hardware

Expected Duration
155 to 310 Minutes

Objectives:

Secure Communications

• explain the technologies used to implement VPNs for secure WAN communications.
• detail the features of a VPN solution for secure remote connectivity.
• implement a VPN solution for secure remote access.
• outline the RADIUS authentication mechanism.
• outline the TACACS+ authentication mechanism and compare it to the RADIUS authentication mechanism.
• describe different virus types and how they operate.
• outline steps to protect against viruses.
• configure antivirus software such as AVG 6.0.