Networks for Programmers

In the words of John Gage, “The network is the computer”. At the heart of everything we do is a complex system of infrastructure from which we are often abstracted. For general application development this abstraction provides the convenience of simplifying our efforts. With a growing number of mobil applications with intermittent connectivity and higher latency, and with increased hostility on the network from a security standpoint, there is great value in pulling back the curtain and understanding the details of this computer.

This session will start with the underlying understanding of networking at a low level. At this level we will discuss, IP, MAC, ARP, DNS and DHCP. As we walk up an abstraction level, we discuss sockets, NAT, gateways and firewalls along with the use of TCP and UDP. Spending some time at this layer can make network developers more productive, as we look at tools which help us answer the question, “who owns this port?“, “where is this packet going?” and “What is my latency and why?“.

The session will end with a little fun looking at wifi, where will we sniff, snort, crack:) From a security stand point we will look at the challenges of wifi and how it has become the weakest component on the net.

This session is extremely fast-pace. The attendees will come away with a more enhanced understanding of the this thing we call the internet. It will include through discussion or demonstration tools such as tcproute, tcpdump, nemesis, nmap, tcpmon and wireshark.