COIT20246 Assignment: Network Technologies and Data Security

This assignment solution explores various aspects of network storage and security, focusing on technologies and related threats. It includes summaries of resources on Network Attached Storage (NAS) and its benefits in corporate environments, the NTFS file system and its advantages over older systems, Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology for the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Australia, the Tor network for online anonymity, and cryptojacking as an emerging form of malware. Each summary details the resource's main points, its relevance, and its usefulness in understanding the specific technology or threat. Furthermore, it highlights a real-world example of an undersea cable cut and its impact on several countries, illustrating the importance of redundancy in network design. This assignment provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary network technologies and security challenges.

COIT 20246 ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION
Due date: Thursday Week 11 (2PM AEST)
Part: Written Assessment
Weighting: 30% of total assessment.
Submission: Electronic (see course website for details)
Please fill in the following details:
Student Name
Student Number
Tutor’s Name
Instructions
It will be necessary to use online resources to complete this assignment, please
ensure you cite and reference any such materials using the Harvard format.
DO NOT copy content directly from either the text or Internet resources: this
assignment is to be in your own words. You will lose marks if you do not use
your own words!
Please complete your assignment using this submission template file, inserting your
responses where indicated.
DO NOT delete the marking criteria page – changes are permitted to the
formatting of other pages including the headers and footers.
Tasks
There are ten (10) tasks, one for each week: the tasks are detailed below. There is
a table to complete for each task. Please fill in the information required.
Note: Each resource summary should be around 200-300 words.
Each summary should briefly explain:
- What the resource is about
- Why you selected it
- What are the main points or key information covered in the resource
- Why the resource was useful.
For more advice about how to complete the assignment, as well as examples and
information about selecting good resources, please see the assessment page on the
Moodle unit web site:
https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/assign/view.php?id=886270
1

Week 1
The text discusses examples of traditional mass storage such as magnetic disk and
solid-state drives. While these still underpin most mass storage, in corporate
environments, they are often accessed via Network Attached Storage (NAS) or
Storage Area Network (SAN) technologies. Find and summarise ONE resource that
describes EITHER NAS or SAN storage technologies. The resource, and your
summary must focus on either NAS or SAN, NOT BOTH.
Title and Reference:
Title - What is NAS? A Practical Guide
O'Sullivan, F. (2018) What is NAS? A Practical Guide. Available from
https://www.cloudwards.net/what-is-nas/ [Accessed 29/05/2019].
Summary:
This resource has been taken from online website as it clearly states the concept of
NAS (Network Attached Storage) in the corporate environment. It has been selected
as it clearly points out the benefits of NAS and how its work.
With the help of NAS, any organisation can store huge bundle of data and makes it
accessible from any place. It is called as a mini-server that creates small networks all
it's own and then access it from any other device an organisation own just like cloud
storage provider. Any organisation installing specialised software on respective
hardware can be gain advantage from shared, single point access with built-in
security. With the help of NAS, it communicates with other devices by using file-
based protocols in comparison with object storage. The major five functions of NAS
in includes – file sharing, network printing, data backup and recovery, media server
and multimedia file sharing. Other than this, its main benefit includes scale-out
capacity, performance, accessibility, fault tolerance and easy setup.
The resource was helpful as it is developed in 2018 and thus includes all
contemporary information in relation to NAS and its concerned concepts. This will
help the student to learn and gain insights into various NAS approaches suited to
present organisation needs.
Week 2
Operating systems use file managers to interact with mass storage devices.
However, the way in which data is stored and retrieved is dictated by the file system.
There are many types of file systems used by modern operating systems. Find and
summarise ONE resource that describes ONE such file system that is NOT FAT,
FAT32 or ExFAT. The resource, and your summary, must focus on A SINGLE file
system.
Title and Reference:
Title - What is NTFS and why is it useful?
Neagu, C. (2018) Simple questions: What is NTFS and why is it useful?. Available from
https://www.digitalcitizen.life/what-is-ntfs-why-useful [Accessed 29/05/2019].
Summary:
2

This resource has been taken from an online website as it clearly states the file
system i.e. NTFS, its history and pros. It has been chosen as it briefly describes this
operating file system and all its related benefits and disadvantages in a concise way.
NTFS stands to New Technology File System that was introduced by Microsoft in
1993. Introduction of NTFS solved all previous issues relating to old file system
including FAT32 and FAT such as working with the files less than 4GB and lesser
protection in case of power outage. NTFS 3.1 was introduced with Windows XP in
2001 including of many new functionalities. This file system is even using in Windows
10 i.e. Microsoft latest OS.
The benefits of NTFS can be seen with its reliability as it can remap bad sectors to
healthy ones. In addition, it also offers greater security as the user can set
permission on files and folders and then only selected groups can get them access.
NTFS also supports disk quotas to control the storage space exist on the partition.
Hence, due to these pros, users can find NTFS in most of the systems selling in the
market.
This resource was helpful as it brings out necessary insight in a summarised way
and easy language.
3

Week 3
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is currently being rolled out across Australia
and there is a mix of technologies that are being used to deliver Internet services (for
example, FTTN, FTTC, FTTP, HFC, fixed wireless and satellite). Find and
summarise ONE resource that describes ONE of these delivery technologies. The
resource and your summary must focus on A SINGLE technology.
Title and Reference:
Title - NBN Fibre to the Premises
Choros, A. (2018) NBN Fibre to the Premises: Everything you need to knowAvailable from
https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/Guides/nbn-fttp-everything-you-need-to-know
[Accessed 29/05/2019].
Summary:
This resource has been taken from an online website because it clearly describes
basis functionalities of FTTP technology and its related benefits.
FTTP stands for Fibre to the Premises and it is a connectivity technology that is
constructed on fibre optic cable being in place all the way from the local telephone
exchange to the corporate location. In comparison with copper based broadband, it is
up to 40 times faster. To get this service, users need an Ethernet router that helps in
managing the connection and ensure effective communication delivery.
The major benefits of this technology are that new product and services can be
activated remotely and its performance can also be monitored. It is also easier to
maintain and less vulnerable to severe weather conditions as it will not impact
majorly on the transmission of data or information. Moreover, this new technology
comes up with high-speed bandwidth in addition with extensive range of services to
both organisations and homeowners and this will provide a broader experience to the
user in terms of service satisfaction.
This resource was helpful as it clearly explains this new technology and its related
benefits to both organisation and homeowners. This will help student to make it
different from other technology effectively.
Week 4
The Internet is made up of many interconnected servers and networks. Users are
increasingly aware and concerned that their Internet communications can be
intercepted and monitored. Tor is one technology that allows users to obscure or
hide online their online activities. Find and summarise ONE resource that describes
what Tor is and how it works. The resource and your summary must focus purely on
Tor.
Title and Reference:
Title - What Is Tor?
Scharr, J. (2013) What Is Tor? Answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Available from
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/what-is-tor-faq,news-17754.html [Accessed 29/05/2019].
4

Summary:
This resource has been taken from online website and it has been selected because
of its precise description of TOR technology and the process of its working.
Tor is known as an internet networking protocol by which any user can anonymously
visit the websites and make it challenging for the third part of software application to
snoop the user search history, posts on social media, webmail or any other web
activity. In addition, they even not able to track the IP address and thus provide sole
access to the users. Navy and independent researchers built Tor in 2002, however,
now it is supported under Tor project where its protocol is open-source.
The working of the Tor starts with thousands of volunteers servers distributed
throughout the globe. When user connects with the Tor network, the data gets
bundled into encrypted packets and Tor trips away part of the packet header, unlike
normal internet connections. In addition, Tor also encrypts rest of addressing
information and it then routed with several of these servers known as relays.
This resource was helpful as it clearly states about Tor technology, its protocol and
the working mechanism. It will help the student in doing differentiation between
anonymity and security.
5

Week 5
An emerging form of malware is crypto jacking (also known as malicious crypto
mining). Find and summarise ONE resource that describes what crypto jacking is
and how it works. The resource and your summary should focus purely on crypto
jacking and NO OTHER form(s) of malware.
Title and Reference:
Title - What is cryptojacking? How to prevent, detect, and recover from it
Nadeau, M. (2018) What is cryptojacking? How to prevent, detect, and recover from it. Available from
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3253572/what-is-cryptojacking-how-to-prevent-detect-and-
recover-from-it.html [Accessed 29/05/2019].
Summary:
This resource has been taken from an online website and it is selected due to in-
depth analysis including the defensive strategies.
Cryptojacking is related to unauthorised use of desktop, mobile phone, tablet or any
other electronic device used by cybercriminals to mine for cryptocurrency. Crypto
mining is in its infancy and there is a lot of room for growth and evolution. It is
emerging today as it is with hacker with more money for lesser risk and these
hackers found crypto jacking as an inexpensive and more better substitute to
ransomware.
There are two ways of working of crypto jacking where one is related to trick victim
into loading crypto mining code by scripting links into their emails and the other way
is to insert a script on an advertisement or internet site and then the script will
automatically execute when the ads popups. However, hackers use both methods to
maximise their return.
However, it can be prevented by using strong internet security software, installing ad
blocks plugins and extensions on the browsers as that provides an extra layer to the
protection.
This resource was helpful as it explains the threat in more explicit ways including
respective defensive strategies while adopting various sorts of preventive measures.
Week 6
Redundancy is a critical aspect of network design, implemented in order to cope link
or equipment failure. One frequent cause of failure is damage to fibre optic cables
that connect countries and/or continents. Find and summarise ONE resource that
describes ONE example of such a cable being cut or damaged. The resource, and
your summary, should describe the impacts of A SINGLE EXAMPLE of a link failure.
Note that the failure must relate to a link that connects countries and/or continents.
Title and Reference:
Title - Ten countries affected by outages after submarine cable system is damaged
Baynes, C. (2018) Entire country taken offline for two days after undersea internet cable cut. Available
from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mauritiana-internet-cut-underwater-cable-
offline-days-west-africa-a8298551.html [Accessed 29/05/2019].
6

Summary:
This resource has been taken from online website and it has been selected because
it states recent example of power failure and its impact on various countries.
An undersea cable was damaged makes entire country i.e. Mauritania left offline for
two days and also impacts nine other West African nations with outages. From
France to South Africa, the cable was spread under 17,000 kilometres range
providing internet services to 22 nations mainly on west coast of Africa. On 30th
March 2018, this outage was reported when the cable was founded broken near
Mauritanian capital and it was seemed to be snapped by a trawler. Other than
Mauritania, the significant disruption was also experienced by Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and the Gambia. Last year, UK armed forces head advised
of this vulnerability of undersea communiqué cable which he said may be targeted by
invaders such as Russia.
The variations in severity and duration may be linked to other global internet
connections based on satellite or terrestrial cable and it may resulting in changing
level of reliance considering mechanism of ACE cable.
This resource was helpful as it explicitly states about the incident related to failure of
cable that connects various countries and how this halt impacts these nations.
7

Week 7
Since the 1990s, Enterprise Systems (also known as Enterprise Resource Planning
systems) have become critical to the operation modern organisations. Over this
time, ES/ERPs have evolved and continue to change in response to new demands
and emerging technologies. Find and summarise ONE resource that discusses
emerging or future trends for ES/ERPs. The resource should be recent (published
since the beginning of 2017) and it and your summary should clearly identify how
ES/ERPs are, or are about to, change.
Title and Reference:
Title - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Trends
Rist, O. (2018) 5 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Trends to Watch in 2019. Available from
https://in.pcmag.com/netsuite/112678/5-enterprise-resource-planning-erp-trends-to-watch-in-2019
[Accessed 29/05/2019].
Summary:
This resource has been taken from online website and it has been selected because
it explores various contemporary trends related to ERP.
ERP stand to Enterprise resource planning and is a suite of applications that
managers core business processes like HR, sales, marketing, accounting and so on.
Over the last decade, the market of ERP has evolved with vendors with proving
various wide solutions with extensive functionalities integrated into business
solutions and needs. Prominent emerging trends in ERP marker includes user-
friendly ERP systems, mobility attribute making it accessible anywhere, cloud-based
solutions and IoT to get real-time solutions.
From future perspectives, it may face competition from disruptors such as SaaS, big
data, AI and data visualization that fundamentally threaten and change the way ERP
systems are used and built. Moreover, many organisations are going towards
integrate solution of this platform and solutions. Injecting digital marketing and social
media will also be a trend as future ERP systems must be incorporate data
gatherings in relation to direct marketing across various social media channels to
stay competitive. Hence, this provides a larger scope in implementation of ERP
solutions to the organisation.
This resource was helpful as it states both current (emerging) and future trends of
ERP system.
Week 8
Databases, mass data storage and interrogation technologies underpin virtually all
Information Systems and applications. However, the same tools also make it easier
for data breaches to occur in government departments or private
companies/organisations. In simple terms, a data breach is where private
information is illegally obtained or disclosed. Find and summarise ONE resource that
describes ONE example of a data breach that has occurred since the beginning of
2017. The resource, and your summary, should focus purely on A SINGLE
EXAMPLE of a data breach.
Title and Reference:
8

Title – Marriott Data Breach
Whittaker, Z. (2018) Marriott says 500 million Starwood guest records stolen in massive data breach.
Available from https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/30/starwood-hotels-says-500-million-guest-records-
stolen-in-massive-data-breach/ [Accessed 29/05/2019].
Summary:
This resource has been taken from an online website and it has been selected
because states out the incident of data breach of one of the largest hospitality
company i.e. Marriott.
Six months back, Starwood Hotels has confirmed that 500 million customer data from
hotel guest database has been whipped in a data breach and on September 10, this
breach was noticed. The Hotel group also founded that an unapproved group has
imitated and encoded data and looking headed for deleting them permanently.
However, the company obtain that information after decrypting on November 19 and
confirm that the content was from the database of Marriot guest reservation.
It includes some around 327 million records contained the names of the guest’s,
mobile number, address, date of birth, gender, email address, passport number,
Starwood’s rewards information, arrival and departure data, date of reservation date
and various alike information.
Marriot owned Starwood is one of the largest hotel chains and this data breach
shows that ever big companies are not secure from these technologies and
breaches. With this data breach, Marriot may face significant penalties as it falls
under European-wide GDPR rules.
This resource was helpful as it states one of the biggest company data breach
resulting in loss of various personal information of the guests.
9

Week 9
Agile development is an iterative and incremental approach to delivering systems - it
is particularly useful where the requirements are unclear or evolving. Scrum is a
framework for undertaking agile development. Find and summarise ONE resource
that describes Scrum. The resource, and your summary, should focus purely on
Scrum and discuss some of its key features and attributes.
Title and Reference:
Title – Agile Development and Scrum
Nilsson, R. (2019) Agile Development Explained By an Actual Agile Developer. Available from
https://www.perforce.com/resources/hns/agile-development-explained-agile-developer [Accessed
29/05/2019].
Summary:
This resource has been taken from an online website because it clearly states the
concept of Agile Development and Scrum in association with their relationship.
The agile approach comes up with several benefits that are not possible in the
traditional waterfall development approach. For instance, it delivers high value
features within short delivery cycles.
Scrum is one of the leading Agile development technique used by various big
enterprises as it alters the way individual confront difficult projects outside software
development to the wider domain of work. Initially, it was developed for software
development projects, however, its possibilities are endless. Scrum is one of widely
recognised Agile framework and embraces upon many numbers of values such as
commitment, focus, openness, courage and respect from the team perspectives.
There are several steps in the flow of Scrum such as product backlog, spring
planning, backlog refinement, daily scrum, sprint review meeting and sprint
retrospective meetings. Agile is the software development methodology and Scrum is
one of many approaches to implement Agile. It is matched up with those sorts of
projects that are needed to be managed in rapid changing environment.
This resource was helpful as it clearly defines the association between Agile
development and Scrum.
Week 10
The textbook discusses activities associated with project management. However, it
could be argued that project governance is equally important, especially in very large
projects. Find and summarise ONE resource that describes what project governance
is and what activities it entails. The resource, and your summary, should focus purely
on project governance.
Title and Reference:
Title – Project management and Governance
Linman, D. (2011) Project Governance Roles and Responsibilities. Available from
https://mymanagementguide.com/project-governance-roles-and-responsibilities/ [Accessed
29/05/2019].
10

Summary:
This resource has been taken from an online website because it clearly states the
concept of Project Governance and all the activities it entails.
Project governance is known to be a framework that offers rules and regulations,
decision making models, criteria, and processes allow project manager to effectively
manage the project. It is also set of inside practices comprises of planning,
organising, monitoring and controlling the activities of project in order to accomplish
necessary requirements of project.
The role of project governance is to offer a decision-making framework that is robust
and logical to govern enterprise capital investments. Through this way, an enterprise
will have an organized approach to bear both its routine activities as well as its
business change project activities.
There are various key activities of project governance such as evaluation of project
proposals, enabling resourcing of projects, defining the desired business outcomes,
controlling the scope and performance attributes, monitoring the progress of project,
and developing the organisation project delivery capability. All this helps in the
completion of project effectively.
This resource was helpful as it provides various insights into project governance and
its related activities. This will help the student in future to undertake project
governance performance measures effectively.
11

MARKING SHEET - DO NOT DELETE
Criteria
0 No Response
<=1 Poor resource selection; resource is too broad or lacks relevance to the
task; summary fails to explain what the resource was about; the relevance
and/or usefulness of the resource has not been explained.
<=2 Good resource selection; resource is relevant to the task; summary is
adequate but may require either more detail or is too long; the relevance
and/or usefulness of the resource has been explained to some extent, but
needs additional information.
<=3 Excellent resource selection; resource is highly relevant to the task (the
resource is probably highly specialised); summary is detailed yet concise;
the relevance and usefulness of the resource selection has been clearly
explained.
Key
Deductions
-3
-2
-1
Reference/URL provided does not link to resource (and resource cannot
be located or determined from details provided) OR
Reference/URL provided does not relate to the summary (i.e. summary is
not of resource content/contains content not contained in the resource) OR
Multiple resources used for a single task
Resource is generic AND/OR covers multiple technologies/examples
rather than focuses on a single technology/example
Resource not referenced correctly/not in Harvard format
Week Marks Awarded
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TOTAL
Comments:
12