Lab 4: Infiltration Investigation
Investigate simulated phishing, vulnerability and supply-chain scenarios using prepared evidence.
The brief
Investigate a set of simulated infiltration scenarios, namely phishing, vulnerability exploitation, removable media, network and supply-chain, using the prepared evidence provided, and compare the vectors involved.
Getting malware into a target environment is a distinct problem from getting it to execute once there. This lab examines initial access from the investigator’s side: a set of prepared, simulated scenarios covering phishing, exploited vulnerabilities, removable media, network vectors and supply-chain compromise, each with its own evidence trail to work through.
No infiltration is performed by the student; the scenarios and their evidence are supplied in full, so the work consists of identification and comparison: which vector was used, what evidence points to it, and how the vectors differ in what they require from an attacker and what they leave behind.
What you submit
- A short investigation report per scenario, using the prepared evidence
- A comparison naming the infiltration vector each scenario relies on
Due: 24 August 2027 ·Weight: 2% of the course grade
How it is marked
Assessed on whether the investigation correctly identifies and compares the infiltration vector at work in each prepared scenario.
Key dates
- Submission due: 24 August 2027
The spec
The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.
- submitted by the deadline, in the format named below
- each scenario's infiltration vector is identified and compared to the others, not treated in isolation
- reports on each of the prepared scenarios, namely phishing, vulnerability exploitation, removable media, network and supply-chain, using only the evidence given
- grounds each identified vector in a specific piece of that supplied evidence
- the comparison names what each vector needs from an attacker and what it leaves behind, not only which vector was used