Answer :

Abstract

A network is the backbone of a company to conduct their daily business and provide basic networking services to the users with the help of network infrastructures. The basic network topology is useful to connect all the devices which allow a user to connect to the organisation’s network. As the technology evolve, there are so many communication technologies which may have many significant impacts on a business. In this assessment report, we are going to demonstrate a wireless network with the related technology and networking devices. This wireless network will be equipped with several networking devices to provide QoS and various advantages to the network. 

Introduction

As we know, a network is the backbone of an IT organisation, there are so many technologies which improve the network efficiency in many ways. After the introduction of wireless technology in network communication there are so many momentous impacts can be seen in the network which positively impact its performance. Using a wireless technology in the network, an organisation can provide a way to their user to move freely and be connected to the company network within a range. In this assessment, we are going to analyse a wireless network for its hardware and software requirements and ensuring the quality of service will be met with different quality measures, that are discussed further.

Requirement analysis

In the recent days, there are so many wireless technologies are evolved which is used in various wireless communication networks. Based on the used technology to built a wireless network, we need to ensure several requirements of the network. These requirements are discussed here – 

• Confidentiality – it is used to provide security to a network. Confidentiality enables the administrator to build and use some protective measures in the wireless network. This protect the data that is being transmitted in the wireless network between the hosts. To maintain confidentiality in the network, we have to use some security measures such as WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc. These security standards will provide enough security to an organisation level network, can be seen at [1].
• Integrity – the integrity terms provide some standards to stay protected while communicating in a wireless network. There are many standards techniques that are used to maintain integrity of information in the network. The encryption techniques used in the wireless communication will help in this regard. Integrity can be achieved by using encryption via TKIP, CCMP or GCMP encryption techniques, can be seen at [2]. 
• Availability – this is also one of the important aspects when talking about a wireless network. Availability ensure network up time without a delay or packet loss. It ensures that the network is live and fully operational. It is measured in percentage and majorly used to monitor that the services are provided continuously to the end users connected via the wireless network. For a maximum available network, we have to use redundant systems and regularly perform network performance testing to ensure availability, can be seen at [3]. 
• Authentication – authentication enable the network so that only authorized users can access the resources and enter into or go out from the network. It allows a device to first authenticate before starting a communication to a device in the network. There are several types of authentication methods are present to be used in a wireless network such as WEP, WPA, etc. Some mutual authentication measures also there for smaller network. This is important in provide protection or security to a network, between users and from external or internal cyber-attacks. The measures used for authentication can be a security protocol, filters, cryptography, etc., can be seen at [4]
• Authorization – this measure is used to ensure that the network is verifying the identity of a user or device by authenticate it and it is authorized to access the network resources. When a user or device try accessing a network, they need to provide credentials. After checking those credentials, the security device will let them enter into the network. This can be achieved by access control, token-based services, etc., can be seen at [5].

Network architecture

Here is the recommended wireless network which is prepared based on the QoS requirements. 

This network design is based on the cisco’s hierarchical network structure. Where a core router is connected at the edge of the network. To implement security in the network, a firewall is configured before the core router. This will block or allow hosts based on the firewall rules and access control rules configured in it. After the core router, the distributed router is installed which connects several access layers switches. These access switches will further connect several wireless access points. The number of switches and WAPs will be depending up on the size of a wireless network and covered area needed. The wireless access points or WAP will than used to wirelessly connect the end user devices which can be a computer system, laptop, smartphone, tablet or any mobile device, can be seen at [6]. 

Security issues

Security of a wireless network is utmost important to protect the network and prevent unauthorize access to a network. These security threats can damage the network or system and steal confidential data from the network. Security has to be maintained on the wireless devices via encrypting it and using some security measure which secure the entire wireless communication in the network. There can be various security threats in the network which is related to DoS attack; where an attacker will attack on the system or network and make its services block or unavailable, rogue access; where a vulnerable point of access is determined by the attacker to attack on the system and capture of network traffic; by which the attacker or any user in the system will capture the network traffic and steal confidential information or data. While there are so many security techniques that can be used to protect a wireless network. To protect a network from these identified threat types, one can use some security solutions such as a firewall which protect the network from unauthorized access of users, intrusion detection system which detect and prevent a threat in the network, filtering of content where harmful detections will be blocked, encryption to secure the communication and authorization and authentication service. All these measures can be combinedly used to keep the network secured and only allow white labelled users in the network, can be seen at [7]. Besides this, some basic type of security techniques has to be used in the network such as encryption and firewall to provide basic security, at least, to the network. 

Testing

In the above prepared network, we use a firewall to protect the internal network from unauthorized users and various external threats. This firewall is configured with several firewall rules which states the allow or deny or block condition for a host or network segment. When the firewall is configured to block a host to go outside from the network the user will receive deny access error message or network unavailable error message. In this network, we can place some more firewalls according to the security requirement of the organisation, can be seen at [8]. 

Conclusion

In this report, we assess the network requirements of a wireless network based on several security aspects. These requirements will ensure quality of service in the network and provide protection and better performance of the network. Based on the retrieved requirements, a network design is prepared and several security issues are analysed. Some countermeasures are also assessed to overcome from that security issues. When both the security issues and countermeasures are identified, a proper testing is conducted, by deploying a firewall in the network which provide enough security to the network. Besides this we can implement access control, IPS/IDS, encryption, etc. which help protect a network.