Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of a vulnerability report. This is an important type of report in the information security industry, and will be the culmination of your work in IT 320. This is your opportunity to bring all that you have learned together to analyze a network, evaluate vulnerabilities and risks, and recommend mitigation strategies.
A vulnerability report typically includes the following:
- A security assessment of a computer network
- Identification of vulnerabilities, supported with evidence
- An interpretive analysis of risks, including benchmarking or ranking risk using levels or similar metrics
- Recommended mitigation steps or solutions
Vulnerability reports are written for a diverse audience within an organization. Therefore, they include an executive summary for managers and decision-makers as well as technical data for analysis by other IT professionals. Organizations may require vulnerability reports to meet compliance requirements or may have internal policies that call for a vulnerability assessment and completion of a report on a fixed schedule.
Vulnerability reports are often researched and produced by information security experts from outside the organization. As you will see in the assignment prompt below, you will play the role of an information security consultant as you complete this final project.
Prompt
ABC Manufacturing has hired you as a security consultant to identify security vulnerabilities, provide recommendations, and implement approved changes. Management at ABC has provided you with access to their server networking environment. When the network was set up, the network technician was unfamiliar with the firewall appliance and may have opened up more ports than necessary. Only web services (HTTP and HTTPs) and map service (SMTP) should be allowed from outside of the network.
Specifically, you must address the critical elements listed below. Most of the critical elements align with a particular course outcome (shown in brackets).
- Executive Summary: Provide background information and the high-level findings of your report to establish a detailed context based on your assessment of the network, the evidence you collected (your Milestone One work), and the mitigation strategy, recommendations, and solutions (your Milestone Two work) you addressed.
- What is the purpose of the vulnerability report? How should it be used and interpreted by the enterprise? [IT-320-02]
- What was your methodology for identifying security vulnerabilities? This is where you should briefly describe the tools and techniques that you used to find the vulnerabilities. [IT-320-01]
- Overall, what was your determination about the enterprise’s current security posture. [IT-320-01]
- Firewall: Determine threats to the firewall. For example, are there any ports that are open unnecessarily or unused? Support your response with evidence. [IT-320-01]
- Virtual Machine (host): Determine threats to the virtual machine (host). For example, are there any ports that are open unnecessarily or unused? Support your response with evidence. [IT-320-01]
- Determine if there is malicious software protection in place using the tools provided to you. Support your response with evidence. [IT-320-01]:
- What kinds of antivirus software, malware protection, or other security software is in place?
- What are the risks associated with the gaps in malicious software prevention?
- What are the risks associated with leaving the malicious software prevention strategies as they are now?
- Intrusion Detection: What security threats are you finding in the output as you analyze the network traffic? Support your response with evidence from your Wireshark and NetworkMiner tools. [IT-320-01]
- What are the vulnerabilities specific to the network traffic? Explain what kind of security threats the vulnerabilities pose. [IT-320-04]
- What are the vulnerabilities specific to the anti-malware systems (especially centrally managed solutions with aggregated reporting)? Explain what kind of security threats the vulnerabilities pose. For example, what do the Windows security settings tell you? [IT-320-04]
- What are the vulnerabilities specific to the operating systems and workstations? Explain what kind of security threats the vulnerabilities pose.
- For example, what did you find when you used the OpenVAS tool? [IT-320-04]
- What are the vulnerabilities specific to the network hardware (firewall)? Explain what kind of security threats the vulnerabilities pose. [IT-320-04]
- Identify key aspects of the network that should be examined to address the network security posture ensuring the following key criteria have been included: [IT-320-03]
- At least one issue associated with the firewall
- At last one issue associated with one or more client machines
- At least one issue associated with one or more server machines
- Indicate the impact of the vulnerability. [IT-320-03]
- Indicate the likelihood of the vulnerability. [IT-320-03]
- What mitigation strategies do you recommend be implemented for addressing all of the issues uncovered in your network assessment above? Support your response with evidence from your lab work and coursework. [IT-320-02]
- Prioritize the recommended strategies for the company. Use the matrix in the Supporting Information section to assess the priority. [IT-320-02]
- Explain the rationale of the prioritization you have chosen for each solution. [IT-320-02]
- Execute your proposed strategy specific to at least one of the issues you have uncovered with firewalls and support your response with evidence. [IT-320-03]
- Harden the server(s) using at least one method and support your response with evidence. [IT-320-03]
II.Network Assessment – Gathering Evidence of the Vulnerabilities:
In this part of your project, you will assess the security posture of this network to find what security vulnerabilities currently exist using the appropriate scanning tools and techniques looking at both the pfSense firewall and the Windows Server firewall for the Windows Server host (192.168.1.10). Please see the Final Project navigation pane in the InfoSec environment for a diagram of the systems, users IDs, and passwords you will need to use in that environment. Be sure your responses and supporting evidence address the following questions:
III.Vulnerability Assessment – Interpreting Evidence of Vulnerabilities:
In this part of your project, you will interpret evidence gathered from the network assessment you conducted in Section I to discuss what security vulnerabilities currently exist. In particular, look closely at the scan you performed on the firewall and your Nmap and Zenmap results. Interpret the output from these tools. Be sure your responses and supporting evidence address the following questions:
IV.Network Security Posture Recommendations:
In this area, you will identify what aspects of the network should be examined to address the network security posture. Use your knowledge from research, readings, and activities in the course to help you. For Parts e and f, it may be helpful to organize your information in a table format for organizational purposes. A sample is provided for you in the Supporting Information section.
iv.At least one issue associated with a Windows host
V.Implementation Solutions:
In this area, you will add a brief written summary following your charts that demonstrates you actually implemented the solutions you recommended in your lab environment. Your written responses should include evidence in the form of a screenshot or screen capture that demonstrates you have executed your proposed recommendations.
Supporting Information
Matrix (for Section IV, Parts e and f)
|
Likelihood |
(5) |
Medium (3) |
High (4) |
High (4) |
Very High (5) |
Very High (5) |
|
(4) |
Medium (3) |
Medium (3) |
Medium (3) |
High (4) |
Very High (5) |
|
|
(3) |
Low (2) |
Medium (3) |
Medium (3) |
Medium (3) |
High (4) |
|
|
(2) |
Very Low (1) |
Low (2) |
Medium (3) |
Medium (3) |
Medium (3) |
|
|
(1) |
Very Low (1) |
Very Low (1) |
Low (2) |
Low (2) |
Medium (3) |
|
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
(5) |
||
|
Impa |
||||||
|
Figure 3: Risk Rating Matrix. Reprinted from“Cyber Security Assessment SampleReport,� by Honeywell International Inc., retrieved from https://www.honeywellprocess.com/library/marketing/notes/honeywell-iits-cyber-assesssment- sample- report.pdf Copyright 2012 by Honeywell International Inc. |
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Table Sample (for Section IV, Parts e and f)
|
Description of Vulnerability |
Impact (1–5) |
Likelihood (1–5) |
Priority (1–5) |
Recommendations |
|
Example: Switches do not have spanning tree feature enabled. This feature prevents communication loops from crashing the network. |
2 |
3 |
3 |
Example:Enable spanning tree feature. |
|
Table 6: CSVA Findings. Reprinted from “CyberSecurity Assessment SampleReport,� by Honeywell International Inc., retrieved from https://www.honeywellprocess.com/library/marketing/notes/honeywell-iits-cyber-assesssment-sample- report.pdf Copyright 2012 by Honeywell International Inc. |
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Matrix Key
Very High (5) – The results of this finding can cause total loss of the generating asset to support reliable operation, and are almost certain to result in human death or serious injury and to significantly violate, harm, or impede the organization’s mission, reputation, or interest.
High (4) – The results of this finding can cause impairment of the generating asset to support reliable operation of the bulk electric system. They may also result in human death or serious injury, and may significantly violate, harm, or impede the organization’s mission, reputation, or interest.
Medium (3) – The results of this finding can cause partial or short-term (<7 days) impairment of generating asset to support reliable operation of the bulk electric system. They may result in human injury and may violate, harm, or impede the organization’s mission, reputation, or interest.
Low (2) – The results of this finding can cause short-term impairment (<24 days) of the generating asset to support reliable operation of the bulk electric system and may noticeably affect the organization’s mission, reputation, or interest.
Very Low (1) – The results of this finding will NOT cause impairment of the generating asset to support reliable operation of the bulk electric system and are unlikely to noticeably affect the organization’s mission, reputation, or interest.
Figure 3: Risk Rating Matrix. Adapted from “Cyber Security Assessment Sample Report,� by Honeywell International Inc., retrieved from https://www.honeywellprocess.com/library/marketing/notes/honeywell-iits-cyber-assesssment-sample-report.pdf Copyright 2012 by Honeywell International Inc.
Final Project Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: The written portion of your submission should be 5 to 6 pages in length (in addition to small screenshots, the title page, and references). Use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to APA style.