Network Attacks in Cybersecurity is a comprehensive, beginner-friendly guide to understanding how modern network attacks work and how to defend against them. Written for students, IT professionals, and anyone entering the cybersecurity field, this book covers network architecture, IP addressing, TCP/UDP protocols, ARP, DHCP, VLANs, and routing from the ground up.
The book goes beyond theory with hands-on attack demonstrations using industry tools like Wireshark, Ettercap, and Yersinia. Readers will learn step-by-step how DHCP spoofing, DHCP starvation, and ARP poisoning attacks are performed in controlled lab environments - and more importantly, how to detect and prevent them using DHCP Snooping, Port Security, Dynamic ARP Inspection, and VLAN segmentation.
Each chapter includes real-world scenarios, Wireshark packet analysis walkthroughs, Cisco switch configuration examples, and practical exercises. No prior cybersecurity experience is required - only basic computer knowledge.
Topics covered:
- Network topology, OSI and TCP/IP models
- IP addressing, subnetting, CIDR, and NAT
- TCP three-way handshake and UDP protocols
- Hubs vs switches, MAC address tables
- ARP protocol and ARP cache management
- Routing, OSPF, BGP, and default gateways
- DHCP DORA process and lease management
- DHCP Spoofing with Ettercap (full demonstration)
- DHCP Starvation with Yersinia (full demonstration)
- Defense: DHCP Snooping, Port Security, Rate Limiting, DAI
- VLANs, trunk ports, inter-VLAN routing, Proxy ARP
- Cisco IOS configuration examples throughout
