CND (312-38) Network Defense Simulation

Network Scenario

You are managing the network for a federal agency in California that recently hired 30 new employees. With dozens of new devices being plugged into the agency's edge switches, you are configuring strict Network Access Control (NAC) and port security policies to prevent unauthorized hardware from accessing the LAN.

To ensure your newly hired junior IT staff understand how the network authenticates physical hardware before routing IP traffic, you review the fundamental function of hardware components that connect workstations to the network switches.

Traffic & Logs

Question

Bryson is the IT manager and sole IT employee working for a federal agency in California. The agency was just given a grant and was able to hire on 30 more employees for a new extended project. Because of this, Bryson has hired on two more IT employees to train up and work. Both of his new hires are straight out of college and do not have any practical IT experience. Bryson has spent the last two weeks teaching the new employees the basics of computers, networking, troubleshooting techniques etc. To see how these two new hires are doing, he asks them at what layer of the OSI model do Network Interface Cards (NIC) work on. What should the new employees answer?

Hint: Think about the actual hardware component that you plug a cable into. This layer deals with bits, electrical signals, and the physical connection to the medium.

Expert Analysis