Seminar on Virtual Labs for Cybersecurity

Seminar on Virtual Labs for Cybersecurity

Friday, February 9, 2024

Overview

This seminar will cover two virtual lab libraries available for NETLAB+ systems: 1) “Cybersecurity Tools and Applications,” and 2) “P4 Programmable Data Plane Switches.” The “Cybersecurity Tools and Applications” library covers the main concepts needed by learners who may want to be introduced to cybersecurity and/or want to obtain the Security+ certificate. Topics are reinforced with virtual labs that can be deployed in a NETLAB+ system. Examples of labs include Remote Access Trojan (RAT) using Reverse TCP Meterpreter, Social Engineering Attacks, Credentials Harvesting and Remote Access through Phishing Emails, SQL Injection Attack on a Web Application, Cross-site Scripting (XSS) Attack on a Web Application, Asymmetric Encryption (RSA, Digital Signatures, Diffie-Hellman), Configuring a Stateful Packet Filter using iptables, Intrusion Detection and Prevention using Suricata, and more.

The “P4 Programmable Switches” library covers how to write cybersecurity applications targeting programmable data plane switches, thus running at terabits per second (Tbps) rates. These switches have recently emerged and run applications at line rate. Moreover, applications can be reconfigured in the field without additional hardware upgrades, facilitating the deployment of new defenses against unforeseen attacks and vulnerabilities. Examples of labs include Detecting DDoS in the Data Plane, Parsing DNS Packets in P4 Switches and Blocking DNS attacks, Tracking Flows in Real Time, and more.     

Outcomes

By the end of this seminar, attendees will:

Cybersecurity Labs:

• Perform vulnerability scanning and penetration testing
• Create and deploy a malicious payload on a victim's machine
• Maintain persistent access by installing a backdoor
• Perform web-based attacks including SQL injection and XSS
• Understand symmetric and asymmetric cryptography algorithms
• Implement stateful packet filtering and deploy an intrusion detection system

P4 Security Labs:

• Implement a stateful packet filter for the ICMP and TCP protocols
• Implement a mitigation program for the DNS amplification attack
• Identify and block heavy hitters
• Mitigate flood attack
• Mitigate slow DDoS attacks (SlowLoris)

Intended Audience

The seminar is targeted to students interested in P4 programmable data plane switches and cybersecurity. The content is suitable for introductory to advanced levels and for practitioners in general. The content is available in the Academic Cloud.
 

Award Information

This activity is supported by:

• NSF award 2118311. Link to official webpage: NSF-2118311
• ONR award N00014-23-1-2245

Pre-requisites

Connectivity to the Internet and a browser to access the online virtual platform. Attendees will be provided with an account to access USC’s NETLAB system: https://netlab.cec.sc.edu/

Agenda

Friday, February 9

Resources