VPN THREATS
“VPN THREATS”
HACKING ATTACKS-
A client machine may become a target of attack, or a staging point for an attack, from within the connecting network. An intruder could exploit bugs or mis-configuration in a client machine, or use other types of hacking tools to launch an attack. These can include VPN hijacking or man-in-the-middle attacks. VPN hijacking is the unauthorised take-over of an established VPN connection from a remote client, and impersonating that client on the connecting network. Man-in-the-middle attacks affect traffic being sent between communicating parties, and can include interception, insertion, deletion, and modification of messages, reflecting messages back at the sender, replaying old messages and redirecting messages.
USER AUTHENTICATION-
By default VPN does not provide / enforce strong user authentication. A VPN connection should only be established by an authenticated user. If the authentication is not strong enough to restrict unauthorized access, an unauthorized party could access the connected network and its resources. Most VPN implementations provide limited authentication methods. For example, PAP, used in PPTP, transports both user name and password in.
CLIENT SIDE RISKS-
The VPN client machines of, say, home users may be connected to the Internet via a standard broadband connection while at the same time holding a VPN connection to a private network, using split tunneling. This may pose a risk to the private network being connected to. A client machine may also be shared with other parties who are not fully aware of the security implications. In addition, a laptop used by a mobile user may be connected to the Internet, a wireless LAN at a hotel, airport or on other foreign networks. However, the security protection in most of these public connection points is inadequate for VPN access. If the VPN client machine is compromised, either before or during the connection, this poses a risk to the connecting network.
VIRUS / MALWARE INFECTIONS-
A connecting network can be compromised if the client side is infected with a virus. If a virus or spyware infects a client machine, there is chance that the password for the VPN connection might be leaked to an attacker. In the case of an intranet or extranet VPN connection, if one network is infected by a virus or worm, that virus / worm can be spread quickly to other networks if anti-virus
protection systems are ineffective.
”VPN transmits data by means of tunnelling. Before a packet is transmitted, it is encapsulated
(wrapped) in a new packet, with a new header. VPN can also provide a data integrity check. This
is typically performed using a message digest to ensure that the data has not been tampered with
during transmission.”
