Re: How secure is VPN access?

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Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 04:28:35 +0000
To: dave kleiman <dave@isecureu.com>

While Dave has brought up a good point - there is another side to it.

It depends on how well the company provided laptops are treated. I've
consulted for many organizations that hardly do a thing to ensure
company laptops have up-to-date AV/spyware solutions. The majority
have never seen Windows Update once.

In the case of a home PC, it's not to say that it's much better,
although frequently people will have a friend who can help on a home
PC. Some corporate laptops are pretty locked down so the same friend
couldn't install a security patch, leaving that laptop open to more
threats then a home PC.

Moral is - it's best to contain as much control as possible internally
while allowing as much control externally as needed for the employee
to do their job. No matter if you don't allow home PCs or not, having
remote access poses a risk. Properly controlling that risk
(internally) is your best bet, and if done properly, then it wouldn't
matter as much if the end user was signing in from the corporate
laptop or their home PC.

Just another side to think about. The actual answer would depend on
the situation, though in my experience I've found that most companies
do not allow users to sign in from Home PCs. (Reasons range from
ignorance to classified security guidelines.)

--
Peace. ~G
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 00:11:58 -0500, dave kleiman <dave@isecureu.com> wrote:
> Cesar,
> 
> Would allow a user to bring their home computer to the office, and just hand
> them an IP and allow them full network access?
> 
> Do your users have access to network resources through the VPN?
> 
> They can spread viruses, Trojans etc. to the network from the VPN.
> 
> No, you definitely should not let home computers access the VPN, you should
> have complete control of the systems that do access via VPN and keep them
> up-to-date, etc.
> 
> Citrix is a different story, as long as you restrict drive and port
> redirection, it can be a "better-controlled" situation.
> 
> 
> ______________________________________
> Dave Kleiman, CISSP, CISM, CIFI, MCSE
> www.SecurityBreachResponse.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cesar Diaz [mailto:cdiaz00@gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 11:39
> To: security-basics@securityfocus.com
> Subject: How secure is VPN access?
> 
> List,
> 
> After years of having VPN access for our remote users without a single know
> security incident, my boss and I have to justify to her boss why VPN is
> secure.
> 
> The CIO wants us to only allow users to access the network from company
> laptops, not from their own home computers.  We currently will allow users
> to install the VPN client software on their home computers to connect
> remotely, or they can use Citrix through SSL access to get to network
> resources.  His concern is that if a users home PC is compromised, that
> compromise can spread to our network.
> 
> Is this a legitimate concern?  Can anyone point me in the direction of some
> documentation backing either argument?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help.
> 
> C
> 
>

• Previous message: Handy, Mark (IT): "RE: Failed admin logins"
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