Book Image

Mastering Python for Networking and Security - Second Edition

By : José Ortega
Book Image

Mastering Python for Networking and Security - Second Edition

By: José Ortega

Overview of this book

It’s now more apparent than ever that security is a critical aspect of IT infrastructure, and that devastating data breaches can occur from simple network line hacks. As shown in this book, combining the latest version of Python with an increased focus on network security can help you to level up your defenses against cyber attacks and cyber threats. Python is being used for increasingly advanced tasks, with the latest update introducing new libraries and packages featured in the Python 3.7.4 recommended version. Moreover, most scripts are compatible with the latest versions of Python and can also be executed in a virtual environment. This book will guide you through using these updated packages to build a secure network with the help of Python scripting. You’ll cover a range of topics, from building a network to the procedures you need to follow to secure it. Starting by exploring different packages and libraries, you’ll learn about various ways to build a network and connect with the Tor network through Python scripting. You will also learn how to assess a network's vulnerabilities using Python security scripting. Later, you’ll learn how to achieve endpoint protection by leveraging Python packages, along with writing forensic scripts. By the end of this Python book, you’ll be able to use Python to build secure apps using cryptography and steganography techniques.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Section 1: The Python Environment and System Programming Tools
4
Section 2: Network Scripting and Extracting Information from the Tor Network with Python
8
Section 3: Server Scripting and Port Scanning with Python
12
Section 4: Server Vulnerabilities and Security in Python Modules
16
Section 5: Python Forensics

Introducing sockets in Python

Sockets are the main components that allow us to exploit the capabilities of the operating system to interact with the network. You may regard sockets as a point-to-point channel of communication between a client and a server.

Network sockets are a simple way of establishing contact between processes on the same machines or on different ones. The socket concept is very similar to the use of file descriptors for UNIX operating systems. Commands such as read() and write() for working with files have similar behavior to dealing with sockets.

A socket address for a network consists of an IP address and port number. A socket's aim is to communicate processes over the network.

Network sockets in Python

Communication between different entities in a network is based on the classic socket concept developed by Python. A socket is specified by the machine's IP address, the port it is listening to, and the protocol it uses.

Creating a socket...