Title:

Implementation of Security Designs on Local Area Networks

Objective:

The purpose of this project is to improve the security within a local area 
network (LAN). My goal is to learn what the protocol used for communications 
between computers in a LAN is, and utilize a number of approaches to improve 
security, such as a hashing algorithm for data encryption and integrity 
verification, and user monitoring.

Justification:

As there is an increasing need for protection against hackers, I think it's 
important to improve the security of local networks from outsiders. There is a 
lot of private information that institutions store in their network, and it is 
necessary to keep it safe. This may even apply to our own school's network. In 
addition to hackers, there is also a possibility of intruders within the system.
The implementation of a better security design can help avoid security leaks 
both internally and externally.

Description:

First, I intend to study the various packets sent by clients and servers for 
communication and their purposes. The next step is researching into ways to 
make securer networks. Particularly, I can look into existing algorithms such 
as the wired equivalent privacy (WEP) algorithm, which is the standard security
algorithm used in 802.11 wireless networks. Finally, I plan to incorporate 
these techniques into a local area network by programming (possibly in java).

Limitations:

There is an obvious time limitation on this project that affects the extent to 
which I can develop it. Because of this constraint, I am trying to learn how 
to implement existing security designs, not research new ones. Also, I'm not 
sure how I can test out my project. Even if I carry out the security design, I 
haven't researched into hacking, so it'll be difficult to prove its 
effectiveness.