FW: How secure is VPN access?

["Stephane Auger" <stephaneauger () pre2post com>]

 There are some quarantine services available now.  I don't know for all
Oses but I do know that MS provides this.  What happens is you create a
script that verfies a few things on the client connecting (Firewall?
AV?  Pattern file up to date?  Strong Password?  Etc...).  If everything
is OK on the client, he connects fully on the LAN.  If he's missing some
components, he'll either have access but be completely locked down to
the rest of the network, or his connection will be dropped.  It can even
redirect the client to a web site to install the software he's
missing....

  I know this is not a perfect solution, but I've seen it as being
pretty pratical and adds a layer of security.  Of course, so far I've
only used it on Win2k and Win2k3 domains, so I can't vouch for the same
solution on other platforms...


Stephane Auger


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cesar Diaz [mailto:cdiaz00 () gmail com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 8:39 AM
> 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