Security is at the front line of most networks, and most companies apply an exclusive security policy enclosing many of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers, from application layer all the way down to Internet Protocol (IP) security. On the other hand, an area that is often not protected with high level of security is the second layer of OSI model and this can compromise the entire network to a diversity of attacks.This report presents an experimental performance analysis within the real environment. It focuses on understanding and preventing the Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) also known as Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Poisoning on the Cisco Catalyst 3560 series switches with Cisco IOS Software. The Linux Command Line (CLI) tools and Ettercap tool were used to launch the Layer 2 attacks that you might come up against. Mitigation methods to stop this attack are evaluated and concluded. Finally we will answer if Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is enough to protect the users’ data against MITM in the network.A HP laptop and two DELL PCs were utilized for these tests and acted as the attacker, the Server and the victim. Victim PC runs Windows 7, attacker’s Laptop and server run Linux.Finally, three different case studies were analyzed and compared with each other and different solutions that might help to solve or detect the issue of MITM attack are concluded.

<p>The company Västra Mälardalens Kommunalförbund, VMKF, wishes to revise and optimize their present data and IP-telephony network as of today consists of the three municipalities Köping, Arboga and Kungsör. As a municipal corporation, they seek consultation regarding internal as well as external review and investigation of the main structure of the network, its functionality and safety. By today’s increasing demands of Internet accessibility, availability of services and security far more extends the requirement of a complete network design. The foundation of networking rests on the balance between each of these necessities. Therefore, it is of grave importance to optimize a network design, use of hardware and to minimize the administrative overhead. In particular, when the municipality is short of resources and time means money. By letting an impartial investigation of the network act as a starting point it was established that several improvement could be applied. Among these a reconstructed and improved network topology that includes subjects as routing, switching, safety and security, quality of service and technical administrative overhead and the implementation of a real time monitoring of network bandwidth consumption.</p> / <p>Företaget Västra Mälardalens Kommunalförbund, VMKF, har önskemål om att granska och optimera deras befintliga data- och IP-telefoninätverk som i dagsläget spänner över de tre kommunerna Köping, Arboga och Kungsör. Som ett kommunalägt företag önskar de konsultation rörande intern såväl som extern granskning och optimering av huvuddelen av nätverkets funktionalitet samt säkerhet. I och med dagens ökade Internetanvändning och funktionalitetsbehov ställs allt högre krav på tillgänglighet, säkerhet och användarvänlighet. Nätverksteknik bygger mycket på balansen mellan dessa tre punkter. Därför gäller det att optimera nätverkets design, hårdvaruanvändning och att minimera administrativa laster. Detta i synnerhet då kommunens resurser är knappa och då tid i dagens samhälle innebär pengar. Genom att låta en granskning över nätverket som det ser ut i dag ligga till grund konstaterades att flertalet förbättringsmöjligheter kunde genomföras. Bland dessa återfinns en omstrukturerad nätverksdesign som innefattar routing, switching, säkerhet, QoS och teknisk administration samt implementeringen av en realtidsövervakning av bandbreddsanvändning.</p>

The company Västra Mälardalens Kommunalförbund, VMKF, wishes to revise and optimize their present data and IP-telephony network as of today consists of the three municipalities Köping, Arboga and Kungsör. As a municipal corporation, they seek consultation regarding internal as well as external review and investigation of the main structure of the network, its functionality and safety. By today’s increasing demands of Internet accessibility, availability of services and security far more extends the requirement of a complete network design. The foundation of networking rests on the balance between each of these necessities. Therefore, it is of grave importance to optimize a network design, use of hardware and to minimize the administrative overhead. In particular, when the municipality is short of resources and time means money. By letting an impartial investigation of the network act as a starting point it was established that several improvement could be applied. Among these a reconstructed and improved network topology that includes subjects as routing, switching, safety and security, quality of service and technical administrative overhead and the implementation of a real time monitoring of network bandwidth consumption. / Företaget Västra Mälardalens Kommunalförbund, VMKF, har önskemål om att granska och optimera deras befintliga data- och IP-telefoninätverk som i dagsläget spänner över de tre kommunerna Köping, Arboga och Kungsör. Som ett kommunalägt företag önskar de konsultation rörande intern såväl som extern granskning och optimering av huvuddelen av nätverkets funktionalitet samt säkerhet. I och med dagens ökade Internetanvändning och funktionalitetsbehov ställs allt högre krav på tillgänglighet, säkerhet och användarvänlighet. Nätverksteknik bygger mycket på balansen mellan dessa tre punkter. Därför gäller det att optimera nätverkets design, hårdvaruanvändning och att minimera administrativa laster. Detta i synnerhet då kommunens resurser är knappa och då tid i dagens samhälle innebär pengar. Genom att låta en granskning över nätverket som det ser ut i dag ligga till grund konstaterades att flertalet förbättringsmöjligheter kunde genomföras. Bland dessa återfinns en omstrukturerad nätverksdesign som innefattar routing, switching, säkerhet, QoS och teknisk administration samt implementeringen av en realtidsövervakning av bandbreddsanvändning.

This thesis deals with the introduction to the security mechanism.The procedure explains the basic concepts, principles of cryptography and security of modern protocols and basic principles that are used for information transmission network. The work also describes the most common types of attacks targeting the eavesdropping of communication. The result is a design of the eavesdropping and the implementation of an attack on the secure communication of the SSL protocol..The attacker uses a false certificate and attacks based on poisoning the ARP and DNS tables for this purpose. The thesis discusses the principles of the SSL protocol and methodology of attacks on the ARP and DNS tables.