Write A 3-5 Page APA Paper Performing Network Analysis ✓ Solved

Write a 3-5 page APA paper performing a network analysis for

Write a 3-5 page APA paper performing a network analysis for the mock company SSU Inc. Assume you are a consultant offering best practices. Your paper should include the following sections: Important LAN security considerations; Important security protocols; Methods for testing an infrastructure; High-level processes for handling incidents. Context: SSU Inc is a regional bank with roughly 9000 employees across four states. Each branch consists of a LAN with 8 computers, and each branch is connected to the headquarters via a WAN.

Paper For Above Instructions

Executive summary

SSU Inc., a regional bank with approximately 9,000 employees distributed across four states and multiple branch LANs (8 workstations per branch) connected to headquarters via WAN, requires a layered, risk-based network security approach. This paper provides consultant recommendations for LAN security considerations, security protocols, infrastructure testing methods, and high-level incident handling processes tailored to a distributed banking environment. Recommendations align with industry standards and best practices to protect confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) while enabling business continuity and regulatory compliance (NIST, 2020; ISO/IEC, 2013).

Important LAN security considerations

Network segmentation: Each branch LAN should be segmented to separate teller/employee workstations, guest Wi‑Fi, point-of-sale (POS) or ATM interfaces, IoT devices, and network management interfaces. Segmentation limits lateral movement and reduces blast radius during a breach (CIS, 2021). Implement VLANs with ACLs at branch switches and enforce firewall rules at branch edge devices.

Least privilege and access control: Enforce role-based access control (RBAC) and network access control (NAC) to ensure devices and users only have the minimum network access required. Use 802.1X for port-level access control to prevent unauthorized devices from joining branch LANs (Stallings, 2017).

Endpoint protection and hardening: Standardize workstation images with hardened configurations, centrally managed patching, host-based firewalls, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) agents. Banking workloads should run on hardened OS baselines with application whitelisting for critical systems (NIST, 2020).

Secure wireless: Use WPA3-Enterprise for branch Wi‑Fi with RADIUS authentication. Separate guest Wi‑Fi from corporate LANs and apply strict bandwidth and access restrictions. Disable legacy protocols and management via wireless where possible (OWASP, 2021).

Physical and supply-chain controls: Secure network gear in locked cabinets with restricted access and asset tracking. Validate firmware and hardware provenance and establish processes for secure firmware updates (ISO/IEC, 2013).

Monitoring and logging: Centralize logs (syslog, Windows Event, firewall, IDS/IPS) to a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) at headquarters for correlation and long-term retention. Ensure branch devices forward logs over secure channels and implement log integrity protections (NIST, 2020).

Important security protocols

Encryption-in-transit: Encrypt WAN links and inter-site communications using IPsec with strong ciphers (AES-GCM) or TLS 1.3 for application-level encryption. Ensure mutual authentication with certificates and key management policies (Schneier, 1996; NIST, 2020).

Authentication and identity: Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all remote administrative access and for privileged users. Integrate branch authentication with centralized identity providers using SAML or OAuth2 for web services; use Kerberos/Active Directory for internal authentication where appropriate (CIS, 2021).

Secure management protocols: Use SSH (with key-based auth) instead of Telnet, HTTPS for management consoles, SNMPv3 for monitoring, and disable insecure legacy protocols. Employ out-of-band management where possible (Stallings, 2017).

Network detection and prevention: Deploy IDS/IPS with signatures and anomaly detection tuned to banking-specific threats. Implement DNS security (DNSSEC where applicable) and use secure DNS resolvers with filtering to block known malicious domains (NIST, 2008).

Methods for testing an infrastructure

Vulnerability scanning and baseline assessments: Conduct regular authenticated vulnerability scans on branch devices, servers, and firewalls to identify missing patches, misconfigurations, and exposed services. Compare results to secure baselines and remediations tracked in a ticketing system (NIST, 2008).

Penetration testing: Perform annual external and internal penetration tests that simulate realistic attacker paths, including lateral movement scenarios across branch LANs to HQ. Engage third-party testers to identify business-logic and chained exploitation vulnerabilities (CIS, 2021).

Red teaming and tabletop exercises: Conduct red team engagements and cross-functional tabletop incident response exercises to validate detection, containment, and communication procedures under realistic conditions (SANS, 2019).

Configuration and compliance audits: Use automated configuration management tools to audit switch, router, and firewall configurations against defined secure templates. Validate encryption, authentication settings, and logging configurations (ISO/IEC, 2013).

Network traffic analysis and anomaly detection: Monitor baseline traffic patterns per branch and apply behavioral analytics to detect deviations that may indicate data exfiltration or lateral movement (Verizon, 2022).

High-level processes for handling incidents

Preparation: Maintain an Incident Response (IR) plan that defines roles (IT, IR team, legal, communications), escalation paths, and contact lists. Pre-authorize isolation actions for branch-level containment to reduce decision latency during an incident (SANS, 2019).

Identification and detection: Use SIEM alerts, IDS/IPS, EDR telemetry, and user reports to identify incidents. Classify incidents by severity and potential impact on customers and regulatory obligations (NIST, 2020).

Containment, eradication, and recovery: Execute predetermined containment playbooks (e.g., isolate affected VLANs, block malicious IPs, disable compromised accounts). Eradicate malware, remediate vulnerabilities, rebuild compromised systems from known-good images, and verify integrity before reconnecting to the WAN (ENISA, 2010).

Communication and legal coordination: Notify senior management, legal, and regulators per jurisdictional requirements. Prepare customer-facing communications if customer data exposure is suspected; coordinate with external partners and forensic teams (Verizon, 2022).

Post-incident review and continuous improvement: Conduct root-cause analysis to capture lessons learned and update controls, detection rules, and playbooks. Feed findings back into vulnerability management, staff training, and architecture changes to prevent recurrence (NIST, 2020).

Operational recommendations and prioritized roadmap

Short term (0–3 months): Implement centralized logging to SIEM, enable MFA for remote access, patch critical systems, and enforce network segmentation at branch level.

Medium term (3–9 months): Deploy NAC and EDR at all branches, roll out secure wireless (WPA3-Enterprise), establish automated configuration audits, and conduct a vulnerability remediation campaign.

Long term (9–18 months): Conduct red team exercises, implement IPsec WAN protection for sensitive traffic, adopt zero trust principles across branch-to-HQ communications, and mature incident response with tabletop exercises and playbook automation (CIS, 2021; NIST, 2020).

Conclusion

For SSU Inc., combining strong LAN hardening, encrypted WAN communications, continuous testing, and a practiced incident response capability will meaningfully reduce risk and improve resilience. Recommendations above map directly to industry standards and are prioritized to deliver tangible risk reduction quickly while enabling strategic security improvements over time (ISO/IEC, 2013; SANS, 2019).

References

  • Center for Internet Security. (2021). CIS Controls v8. Center for Internet Security. https://www.cisecurity.org/
  • ENISA. (2010). Good Practice Guide for Incident Management. European Union Agency for Cybersecurity. https://www.enisa.europa.eu/
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2008). Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment (NIST SP 800-115). NIST. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2020). Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations (NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5). NIST. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/
  • ISO/IEC. (2013). ISO/IEC 27001:2013 — Information security management systems — Requirements. International Organization for Standardization. https://www.iso.org/isoiec-27001-information-security.html
  • OWASP. (2021). OWASP Top Ten 2021. Open Web Application Security Project. https://owasp.org/
  • SANS Institute. (2019). Incident Handler's Handbook. SANS. https://www.sans.org/
  • Schneier, B. (1996). Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C (2nd ed.). Wiley.
  • Stallings, W. (2017). Network Security Essentials: Applications and Standards (6th ed.). Pearson.
  • Verizon. (2022). Data Breach Investigations Report. Verizon. https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/

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