Is317

When gathering information about a university’s network infrastructure the first step is determining it IP address range. This can be done by using programs such as Nmap which scans all the devices on a system and creates maps and tables to show what devices are on a given network and network information about them. Nmap is also useful in fingerprinting a network.

The next step in the information gathering process is look at the DNS server to acquire the host names and IP addresses of all the devices on the network. Following that you would want to gather information about each device, determining whether it is a server or workstation or a printer for example. If possible you would want to find out what type of software is installed on all devices on the network.

Social engineering plays an important role in any business or educational environment in that attackers often use social engineering techniques in an attempt to gain access to sensitive information. All users on the university’s network should receive training in how to guard against social engineering. In the process of gathering information about the network I would employ social engineering techniques against random users to test to see if they are following established training methods and look for any individuals who are not.

The challenges you would face in any attempt to gather information about a network is that it is very easy to end up with missing data and therefore have an incomplete picture of the network. This can be for many reasons such as a workstation or sever that has faulty equipment and is down for repairs, or a user with a laptop who is travelling or at home who is not hooked up to the network