Cybersecurity Fundamentals & Network Security MOC
🗺️ Navigation Hub — Subject 1: Foundation of Cyber Security (MCA Sem III)
🎯 About This Subject
The foundational subject that covers cybersecurity principles, networking from a security perspective, network defence mechanisms, traffic analysis tools, and Security Operations Center (SOC) basics. No prior cybersecurity knowledge required.
Pre-requisites: Basic computer literacy, internet familiarity, MCA Sem I & II completed
📚 Core Concepts
Unit I — Cybersecurity Foundations
- What is Cybersecurity — Definition, scope, CIA Triad, attack types
- CIA Triad — Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability deep dive
Unit II — Networking for Security
- Networking Fundamentals — Devices, topologies, communication types, OSI & TCP/IP models
- OSI Model & TCP-IP Security — Security attack mapping per OSI layer, IPv4/IPv6, DNS, ports
Unit III — Network Defence
- Network Defence Mechanisms — Unit III hub (overview + links to all deep dives)
Deep dives — how each mechanism actually works:
- Firewalls — Stateful connection table, DPI/NGFW, rule order, egress filtering
- IDS & IPS — Detection pipeline, SPAN vs inline, signature vs anomaly, tuning
- DMZ & Network Segmentation — DMZ designs, VLANs/802.1Q, lateral movement, micro-segmentation
- VPN — IPsec IKE phases, ESP vs AH, tunnel vs transport, split tunnelling
- Proxy Servers — Forward vs reverse, transparent vs explicit, TLS interception
- Zero Trust Architecture — NIST PE/PA/PEP model, continuous verification, ZTNA vs VPN
- Wireless Security — WPA2 4-way handshake, WPA3 SAE, evil twin, deauth, KRACK
Unit IV — Traffic Analysis Tools
- Network Traffic Analysis — Wireshark, Nmap, Splunk SIEM basics
Unit V — SOC Operations
- SOC Operations & Incident Lifecycle — SOC tiers, log analysis, NIST IR phases
⚡ Quick References
- Wireshark Commands Cheatsheet ⚡
- Nmap Commands Cheatsheet ⚡
- Splunk SPL Cheatsheet ⚡
- Common Ports & Protocols Reference ⚡
- Windows Event IDs Reference ⚡
- OWASP Top 10 : 2025 ⚡
🔬 Lab Practicals
- Practical 1 – Wireshark: Capturing and Filtering Live Traffic
- Practical 2 – Nmap: Network Scanning and Service Enumeration
- Practical 3 – Analysing a Malicious PCAP File
- Practical 4 – Firewall Rule Analysis and Network Topology Design
- Practical 5 – Splunk: Log Ingestion and SOC Alert Triage
- Practical 6 – Identifying Suspicious Network Traffic Patterns
- Capstone – SOC Monitoring Mini-Project
🔧 Tools Used
- Wireshark — Packet capture and analysis
- Nmap — Network scanning and enumeration
- Splunk — SIEM platform for log analysis
- Snort — Signature-based IDS/IPS (Unit III)
- Suricata — Multi-threaded IDS/IPS/NSM (Unit III)
- Shodan — Internet-wide device search / passive recon (OSINT)
- netstat & ss — Local socket/connection inspection (Practical 6)
- VirusTotal — Multi-engine IoC reputation lookup (Practical 6)
📖 Reference Books
- “CompTIA Security+ Study Guide” — Mike Chapple & David Seidl, Sybex
- “Security Operations Center” — Joseph Muniz et al.
- “Network Security Essentials” — William Stallings, Pearson
- “The Practice of Network Security Monitoring” — Richard Bejtlich, No Starch Press
- Splunk Documentation — https://docs.splunk.com
- Wireshark User Guide — https://www.wireshark.org/docs/
🌐 Web Resources
- TryHackMe Pre-Security Path — https://tryhackme.com/path/outline/presecurity
- Cisco Networking Academy — https://skillsforall.com
- Google Cybersecurity Certificate — Coursera
- Cybrary SOC Analyst course — https://www.cybrary.it
✅ Coverage Check
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🔗 Related MOCs
- 00-Cyber Security MOC — Main Cyber Security hub
- EHPT MOC — Ethical Hacking & Penetration Testing
- DFIR MOC — Digital Forensics & Incident Response