1) Research and explain how modern day host based anti-virus software works. How does this protect us against unknown threats? What can we do to better protect our host machines against unknown threats? In todays computing environment, is anti-virus software still necessary? Use these links below to help you get started:

VirusTotal - This tool that was acquired by Google takes a file, hash, or website and scans it against 40 or so of the leading AV vendors. How would using this site for identifing suspicious files be more advantageous than scanning the same file with a local AV client?

Is Antivirus a waste of money? - This article examines the usefulness of todays AV clients in the face of evolving malware sophistication.

2) As a security engineer, compare and contrast the pros and cons of deploying hetero vs homogenous networks. Which costs more? Which offers more protection? Why?

3)

According to the book, user Training is arguably one of the most important ways to harden your network. As the Chief Security Officer of a large company, list and describe three of the most important topics you would want your employees trained on. Then, briefly explain how you would administer and evaluate the training. Remember, most people do not have a technical background so keep it high level (e.g. how to identify social engineering attempts). Use the links below to help you get started:

Train your Employees - This site will give you some tippers on how to enhance computer security awareness for your employees.

Dell Secureworks - Dell offers a service for its customers that promises to promote security awareness training through education, internal testing, and evaluations. This link will send you to a description of the service.

4) Your friend lives in a large apartment complex and fears someone in the building has been accessing their wireless network to avoid paying service charges. They explain to you a large cable company installed the equipment and setup the wireless network using a predefined numeric pin. Upon further discovery, you are able to identify the encryption protocol as WEP. What wireless security enhancements would recommend to your friend? If your friend told you that they needed it as secure as possible so that they could work from home, what other security design elements could they implement. (e.g. signal strength, guard bands, frequency, access control)

5) In designing your perimeter security project, if there was a set budget of $10,000, how would it affect your plan? What would you focus on? Why? Lastly, research two real world examples where investing in perimeter security could have saved a company a lot of money.