Cyber Operations: Building, Defending, and Attacking Modern Computer Networks

Learn to set up, defend, and attack computer networks. This book focuses on networks and real attacks, offers extensive coverage of offensive and defensive techniques, and is supported by a rich collection of exercises and resources.

You’ll learn how to configure your network from the ground up, starting by setting up your virtual test environment with basics like DNS and active directory, through common network services, and ending with complex web applications involving web servers and backend databases.

Key defensive techniques are integrated throughout the exposition. You will develop situational awareness of your network and will build a complete defensive infrastructure—including log servers, network firewalls, web application firewalls, and intrusion detection systems.

Of course, you cannot truly understand how to defend a network if you do not know how to attack it, so you will attack your test systems in a variety of ways beginning with elementary attacks against browsers through privilege escalation to a domain administrator, or attacks against simple network servers through the compromise of a defended e-commerce site.

The author, who has coached his university’s cyber defense team three times to the finals of the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, provides a practical, hands-on approach to cyber security.

What you’ll learn

• How to securely set up a complete network, from its infrastructure through web applications
• How to integrate defensive technologies such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems into your network
• How to attack your network with tools like Kali Linux, Metasploit, and Burp Suite
• How to gain situational awareness on your network to detect and prevent such attacks

Who this book is for

This book is for beginning and intermediate professionals in cyber security who want to learn more about building, defending, and attacking computer networks. It is also suitable for use as a textbook and supplementary text for hands-on courses in cyber operations at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. System Setup
Chapter 2. Basic Offense
Chapter 3. Operational Awareness
Chapter 4. DNS & BIND
Chapter 5. Enumerating the Network
Chapter 6. Active Directory
Chapter 7. Attacking the Domain
Chapter 8. Logging
Chapter 9. Network Services
Chapter 10. Malware
Chapter 11. Apache and ModSecurity
Chapter 12. IIS and ModSecurity
Chapter 13. Web Attacks
Chapter 14. Firewalls
Chapter 15. MySQL
Chapter 16. Snort
Chapter 17. PHP
Chapter 18. Web Applications