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Monday, 27 April 2009

Routing Protocol Authentication

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What is Routing Protocol? 

A routing protocol is a protocol that specifies how routers communicate with each other, disseminating information that enables them to select routes between any two nodes on a computer network, the choice of the route being done by routing algorithms. Each router has a prior knowledge only of networks attached to it directly. A routing protocol shares this information first among immediate neighbors, and then throughout the network. This way, routers gain knowledge of the topology of the network.

The term routing protocol may refer specifically to one operating at layer three of the OSI model, which similarly disseminates topology information between routers.
Many routing protocols used in the public Internet are defined in documents called RFCs.
There are two major types of routing protocols, some with variants: link-state routing protocols and (path vector protocols) distance-vector routing protocols.

The specific characteristics of routing protocols include:
-the manner in which they either prevent routing loops from forming or break them up if they do

-the manner in which they select preferred routes, using information about hop costs

-the time they take to converge

-how well they scale up

-many other factors

Routing protocol authentication?

Routing protocol authentication prevents the introduction of false or unauthorized routing messages from unapproved sources. With authentication configured, the router will authenticate the source of each routing protocol packet that it receives from its neighbors. Routers exchange an authentication key or a password that is configured on each router. The key or password must match between neighbors.

There are two types of routing protocol authentication: plain text authentication and Message Digest 5 (MD5) authentication

1.Plain text authentication is generally not recommended because the authentication key is sent across the network in clear text, making plain text authentication susceptible to eavesdropping attempts. 

2.MD5 authentication creates a hash value from the key; the hash value instead of the actual password is exchanged between neighbors, preventing the password from being read because the hash, not the password, is transmitted across the network.

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Wednesday, 15 April 2009

Securing your network with SNMP

This blog is created for network security review, study and understanding about network related issues only! The blog is mainly focus on Network Security Notes about Network, Network Security, Network Technology, Network Labs review related Cisco and Microsoft technology ,Network Threats, Types of Network Threats, Network Alerts, Enterprise Security Policy and Audits, Security Policy and Audits,Logical Security, Physical and Logical Security, Physical Security,Cisco Products Review, Microsoft Products review, Cisco Routers, Routers Security, Console Access, Telnet Access, Network Attack, Network Attack report, Network management, Anti-virus, Network Security with Anti-virus, and All About Network Security... Thanks for your visit!

After my previous post about Physical and Logical security, today I want to show you about securing the network with SNMP.


What is SNMP?


SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, is a component of the Internet Protocol Suite as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It is used in network management systems to monitor network-attached devices for conditions that warrant administrative attention. SNMP is alsow known as an application−layer protocol that helps to facilitate the exchange of management information between network devices. SNMP helps network administrators to manage network performance, and troubleshoot network problems, and plan for network growth.

3 basic components of SNMP:

An SNMP-managed network consists of three key components:

1. Managed devices: A managed device is a network node that contains an SNMP agent and that resides on a managed network. Managed devices collect and store management information and make this information available to NMSs using SNMP. Managed devices, sometimes called network elements, can be any type of device including, but not limited to, routers, access servers, switches, bridges, hubs, IP telephones, computer hosts, and printers.

2. Agents: An agent is a network-management software module that resides in a managed device. An agent has local knowledge of management information and translates that information into a form compatible with SNMP.

3. Network-management stations (NMSs): An NMS executes applications that monitor and control managed devices.NMSs provide the bulk of the processing and memory resources required for network management. One or more NMSs may exist on any managed network.

An SNMP managed device has various access levels:

+Read−only: Allows read access of the Management Information Base (MIB) on the managed device.

+Read/write: Allows read and write access of the Management Information Base on the managed device.

+Write−only: Allows write access of the Management Information Base on the managed
device.

Cisco IOS software supports 3 versions of SNMP: SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3.

SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c

These two versions use a community based form of security. The group of managers eables to access the agent is defined by an access list and password.

How about SNMPv2c?

SNMPv2c support includes a bulk retrieval echanism and more detailed error message reporting to management stations. The bulk retrieval mechanism supports the retrieval of large quantities of information, minimizing the number of polls required. The SNMPv2c improved error handling support includes a larger number of error codes that distinguish different kinds of error conditions. Error return codes in SNMPv2c report the error type.

How is SNMPv3?

SNMPv3 provides for both security models and security levels. A security model is an authentication strategy that is set up for a user and the group in which the user resides. A security level is the permitted level of security within a security model. A combination of a security model and a security level will determine which security mechanism is employed when an SNMP packet is handled.

==>You can read more about SNMP at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/internetworking/technology/handbook/SNMP.html



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