C172 Network and Security Foundations sample papers, task by task

Reviewed by Cyrus Oakenfeld, MS Network and Security Foundations Western Governors University Free custom samples in 24–48h

C172 pairs how a network is built with what goes wrong on it, and written work here has to connect the two. These samples show a control tied to the specific threat it stops, not a list of security words.

How this shelf works

Send the exact assignment or rubric from your course of study and a custom sample written to it lands in 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. C172 is WGU’s Network and Security Foundations course. It centers on how networks are put together, addressed and connected, and how the common attacks against them are recognized and blunted. Searches like "c172 task 2 assignment example", "C172 sample paper", and "C172 task samples" land on this page.

What C172 is really about

C172 is the wide survey that everything later in IT security leans on. Topologies and the devices that build them, the layered models that explain who is responsible for what, addressing and subnetting, wired against wireless, protocols doing their small jobs. Then the second half turns the same picture over and asks what an attacker sees: interception on a shared medium, spoofed identity, denial of service, weak authentication at the edge. Confidentiality, integrity and availability give you the vocabulary for what is at stake. Taken alone each half is straightforward. Held together, they are the reason a technician can explain a design instead of only wiring it.

Be clear on how this course is cleared. In most versions C172 ends in a proctored objective assessment, a supervised exam, and this library stays entirely away from exams; written performance assessment work is the only thing it produces. That still leaves plenty, because the material reappears as written deliverables across the security path, and some program versions attach a written task to the course itself. When they do, an evaluator reads the submission aspect by aspect and sends back any aspect still short with a line naming the gap. Fixing one aspect and resubmitting is the normal way through, not a black mark.

What C172’s tasks ask for

Written work on this material has two familiar shapes. One describes a network for a stated organization: how many sites, how many hosts, what the addressing scheme is, which devices sit where and why the layout suits the traffic it will carry. The other examines the same organization for exposure and recommends what to do about it. The second shape is where care is needed. A recommendation is only complete when it names the weakness, names the control, and connects them in a sentence a manager could repeat. Firewall rules, segmentation, encryption in transit and stronger authentication are answers to different questions, and the rubric aspect wants to see you know which question you answered.

Why C172 tasks come back for revision

The security half loses aspects to the shopping list. A submission recommends a firewall, an intrusion detection system, antivirus and a policy, and never states what any of them is defending against in this particular network. Naming a control is not analysis; the threat has to be on the page, along with the asset it reaches and what happens if it succeeds. Evaluators read for that pairing and score it as one thing. The design half loses aspects a similar way. You drew a star layout and picked a subnet size, and no line explains what made those fit the host count, the growth expected or the traffic between sites.

C172 grading scale at WGU: how the work is graded, from WGU Assignments
How WGU grades C172, visualized by WGU Assignments.

The C172 drawers

Task 1

C172 Task 1 example

Often a network description for one organization, with addressing and device placement explained. On request, free, 24-48h.

Request it free →
Task 2

C172 Task 2 example

Typically a threat and mitigation write-up where each control answers a named weakness. On request, free, 24-48h.

Request it free →
Different?

Your course of study shows something else?

Western Governors University revises courses; task counts and deliverables shift between terms. Send what your classroom shows and the desk matches it exactly.

Send it over →

Using a C172 sample the right way

Work through a sample with a highlighter on the joins: threat to control, requirement to device, host count to address plan. Those joins are the scored substance, and everything else is packaging. Then build yours around the organization in your own prompt, because a design copied from another scenario will contradict its own numbers within a page. Nothing here is meant to be handed in as it stands; it is a worked model to write against. Send us the task instructions and rubric aspects exactly as you received them and the first custom sample is free, delivered in 24-48h.

How these samples are written

The discipline behind every task here: aspects are the outline, each gets its section, artifacts match their narratives, and OA courses get prep-note treatment instead, because the sit is always yours. Send your portal's rubric with a request and the sample matches it, revisions included.

C172 questions, answered

How do I tie a control to a threat instead of just listing it?

Write it as one chain. This asset, this weakness, this attacker action, this control, this reduction. Segmenting the guest wireless from the internal network stops a compromised visitor device from reaching the file server. That sentence carries the threat, the control and the effect together, and an aspect asking for justified mitigation can score it as written.

Does my network design need justification if the diagram is correct?

Yes, and the diagram cannot supply it. A drawing shows what you chose; the aspect asks why that choice serves this organization. One paragraph covering host counts, growth, traffic between sites and the constraint you were given turns a picture into a design. Without it, a correct diagram and a lucky guess look identical on the page.

How many threats should a foundations write-up cover?

Fewer, treated properly. Three threats traced from entry to impact with a matched control beat ten named in a row. Choose the ones that actually fit the scenario you were handed, say why each one is plausible there, and leave the encyclopedia entries out. Depth is what the aspects reward at every level of this program.