Design and Implementation of a Network Security Model within a Local Area Network
Aderonke J. Ikuomola, Kehinde S. Owoputi, Stephen O. Johnson-Rokosu · Auerbach Publications eBooks · 2023
With advances in networking and the internet, threats to information and damage to network infrastructure have been on the increase due to vulnerabilities arising from misconfiguration of hardware/software, poor network design, technology flaws and carelessness on the part of end users. This study designed a network security model for a local area network with a view to protecting or securing information assets and networks in an organization or business entity. The proposed system comprises a switch, router, network server, network printer and networking cables, and supports the use of a virtual local area network (VLAN), access control list (ACL) and port security. The system was implemented using Cisco Packet Tracer and was tested with a network security model within a simulated environment using Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH) Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), which comprises the Faculty of Science (VLAN 100), Faculty of Engineering (VLAN 200) and Faculty of Agriculture (VLAN 300). When the network connectivity was tested using ping command, domain name and the internet protocol (IP) address of the devices, the devices connected to the VLANs were found to be communicating with other devices. The result also shows that when an unauthorized user tried to connect to a switch port which had port security commands already configured on it, the switch automatically shut down the authorized user system and the port was colored red because the media access control (MAC) address of the unknown PC had not been included on the switch port MAC address table. The performance of the system shows that it provides an easy way of partitioning resources within the network, and that the techniques implemented in the network model contribute to a significant improvement in network security.