With networking and cryptography behind you, this module is about defending the network itself. You'll start with firewalls: packet filtering, stateful inspection, next-generation and web application firewalls, and what each one can and cannot see. Then you'll look at VPNs and how encrypted tunnels protect traffic crossing untrusted networks.
Next come detection and design. You'll compare an intrusion detection system (IDS) that raises alerts with an intrusion prevention system (IPS) that blocks traffic, then learn how network segmentation, VLANs and a DMZ limit how far an attacker can move. The module finishes with wireless security, from the weaknesses of WEP to what WPA2 and WPA3 protect.
Once you can defend the network, you'll be ready for the next module, Web Application Security, where you look at the attacks that get past it.
A tour of firewall technologies: packet filtering, stateful inspection, circuit-level gateways, proxy, next-generation, host-based, cloud and web application firewalls.
How a VPN builds an encrypted tunnel between devices, how public and private keys authenticate peers in WireGuard, and the security considerations to keep in mind.
What intrusion detection and intrusion prevention systems are, how they differ, and where they sit in a modern security architecture.
Dividing a network into trusted, untrusted and DMZ zones, how VLANs separate traffic, and why jump servers and segmentation limit an attacker's movement.
Why WEP is broken, how WPA and WPA2 improved things, how weak passwords can still be cracked, and what WPA3 changes.