Comparison overview of an active fingerprinting application of the second and the third layer of TCP/IP stack

Abstract

Nowadays, computer networks have become as popular as telephone networks fifteen years ago and by the year they are playing ever more important functions in human life. Not only they have created huge opportunities in many areas of life, facilitating communications or obtaining information, but also have provided online entertainment as well. The invention, originally developed for military purposes in one of the darkest periods of human civilization, has become the greatest discovery of the twentieth century, connecting millions of people around the world into one big community. Whatever the differences in size or devices used, a computer network can be defined as a combination of terminal devices, transmission medium, intermediate communication devices and network software (network area). Currently, anyone can build their own network or join the largest of them - the Internet - via a local Internet provider. Unfortunately, the Internet is not only a virtually unlimited source of information, entertainment, communication, and work. Alongside its positive aspects and conveniences it poses numerous risks to uninformed users. This publication aims to cast light on the aspects of the method of sampling operating systems security of network computers, i.e. active fingerprinting of the data link layer and Internet TCP/IP stack layer.