Discussion board responses

Respond to 4 classmates posts.
100 words each.

Please, do not repeat what they already have said. This is a first person conversation (I, you, we, my your)

Post 1. By Casey

A firewall, whether digital or physical, is an essential asset for a company to secure their network. One company that offers a firewall software is Bitdefender with the GravityZone business security. This firewall would cost the company $259, which is not a lot even for the small company. With the Bitdefender GravityZone business security. you get firewall protection, ransomware protection, and microphone protection on up to 100 devices (servers count as 30 devices). It also incorporates other securities such as anti-phishing and anti-theft to the network. Bitdefender GravityZone business security can not only be used with Windows servers but also Android, MacOS, and iOS. This brings a lot of versatility for the firewall.

ZoneAlarm is a free firewall software that brings a lot to the table. The ZoneAlarm firewall features a two-way firewall which can be used to observe traffic coming in and going out of your network. It also makes your network invisible to potential threats and protects against spyware from capturing data from the network. An obvious pro to ZoneAlarm is that it is free, however ZoneAlarm offers a pro version with extra features, leaving the free version less secure.
While both firewalls would be great for the company, I believe that the better choice would be the Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security. Given its versatility, being able to cover different OS’s and even mobile devices, I think the company can budget in the $259.

https://www.bitdefender.com/business/smb-products/business-security.html

https://www.techradar.com/best/firewall

Post 2. By Kira

According to norton.com, a firewall is a security device hardware or software that helps to protect your networks by filtering the traffic coming in and blocking any unwanted traffic or unauthorized users to access the private data on your network. Depending on how much protection your network needs depends on which firewall would be best your company.

From the research I did, I found that there are many great options when it comes to which firewall will give you what you need. When looking for one for your company, you should ask how much protection do you need?

The #1 firewall I found was Fortinet. This was the most high performance firewall I found, and is always on high alert for threats. This firewall has antivirus programs, antispyware, VPN wireless security control, and security information management. To install this firewall, you simply go to their website, create an account if you do not have one, and download the latest version which is 6.0 as of now.

The second best firewall software I found was SonicWall. This one was mostly recommended for small businesses to mid-size companies. This firewall is a great solution for quick VPN configuration and tunnels for branches and networks. This one is especially good because it’s a firewall with routing capabilities. From the reviews of this one, it’s very capable of handling a lot of traffic on a network.

Considering both of these are amazing firewalls, and are great for small businesses, I would have to say SonicWall would be my choice. This firewall protects your network from perimeter to endpoint.

https://kb.fortinet.com/kb/documentLink.do?externalID=FD46352

https://www.forcepoint.com/cyber-edu/firewall

Post 3. By Havic

I chose to use John the Ripper as my tool to crack a password from a Zip file l created on my computer. This method was simple since it is readily available on my system. First l created a password protected Zip file, I used a very simple password because I wasn’t sure how long it was gonna take if I had chosen a more complicated one. Then I created a hash file of the protected zip file, this launched my file into a hash file which l then cracked using ‘john’. John the Ripper comes preinstalled in Kali Linux but one can install in any other Linux by using a command line #sudo apt-get install john or using their website to install in Windows. This process took a few just a few minutes, but l believe it can take hours if the password is more complex.

What l found interesting was the wordlists of common passwords that JtR comes with. They can also be of different languages and best of all you can customize your own wordlist and this can be from a different file.

Post 4. By Manav

Because Hashcat is still fresh on my mind after using it for the homework, I think I will just talk about that. I just to point out that the version Professor Jazdziewski has put in classroom is about 3 versions behind. It’s not a bad thing or a vulnerability, I ended up installing it from the website https://hashcat.net/hashcat/ and got the 6.1 version.

I found installing the program a little bit difficult, but when it worked it happened pretty quickly. (This is of course if you have a pre-defined list and it will 100% match). If you don’t know the hash that’s when things get a little bit tricky, but if you know it, then its a walk in the park. It takes a little while to get familiar with the program and get used to the different modes (for hash cracking) and attacks (standard or brute force). I’m not going to say what attacks I ran as that would be essentially saying what the homework was about, but it worked smoothly once I knew the command. I think I spent more time actually installing and understanding the commands than actually doing the homework assignment. Obviously, there are better tools out there but I think it get’s the job done. The password wasn’t very complex and there are already databases filled with SHA-1,2,3, MD5, and other hashing algorithms. There was tons of other decrypting methods available on hashcat.