I have a WiFi Home Network, and I often VPN in to work. My laptop has
WiFi support, so could I use the WiFi to VPN in to work? How much of a
security threat would that be? I'm told that the whole point of VPN is
to protect the data in an unsecured medium (e.g: Internet), so can I do
this without compromising my security? How much greater a threat is
this, compared to using an Ethernet cable?
Anonymous wrote:
> I have a WiFi Home Network, and I often VPN in to work. My laptop has
> WiFi support, so could I use the WiFi to VPN in to work? How much of a
> security threat would that be? I'm told that the whole point of VPN is
> to protect the data in an unsecured medium (e.g: Internet), so can I do
> this without compromising my security? How much greater a threat is
> this, compared to using an Ethernet cable?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Anonymous
Once you are in the VPN tunnel all communications are routed through the
VPN tunnel. Security risk to work assets is relatively nil so long as
the device you are using is clean and free of exploits such as keyloggers.
This says nothing to the protection of the local wireless node
connection. The local node can be easily exploited or used by anyone
who is familiar with wifi tools. Your system, while connected through
the vpn tunnel (at least vpns I am familiar with) can not communicate
outside the tunnel as long as the vpn is active, so the active VPN
system should be relatively immune to attack from outside the tunnel.
But the communications via the VPN should be relatively secure.
On Wed, 02 Nov 2005 19:27:58 -0500, Anonymous <no.email@bad.domain>
wrote:
>I have a WiFi Home Network, and I often VPN in to work. My laptop has
>WiFi support, so could I use the WiFi to VPN in to work? How much of a
>security threat would that be? I'm told that the whole point of VPN is
>to protect the data in an unsecured medium (e.g: Internet), so can I do
>this without compromising my security? How much greater a threat is
>this, compared to using an Ethernet cable?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Anonymous
Your Home WiFi most likely has a medium-grade encryption feature (If
you have it turned on). VPN also uses encryption (it's the whole
point of Virtual Private Networking), possibly even with a higher
grade-harder to crack encryption method.
With any wireless system, you run the risk of having a neighbor or
someone parked outside your house intercepting your packets. Whether
they can do anything about decrypting those packets is debatable. My
own personal opinion is that it is possible but not very likely. On
the other hand, if the person with the laptop in the car is an NSA,
CIA or FBI technician, maybe they can. Of course, if they want it
that badly, they can probably tap your cable connection as well.
During WWII the Germans were encrypting their wireless naval and land
army communication with a system called Enigma. They were absolutely
convinced that it could not be cracked under any circumstances. Even
after the Axis lost the war, they couldn't bring themselves to think
that their war traffic was compromised. The fact is that the British
broke the codes (aided by the Poles and the French), and kept it
secret for many years.
Conservative practice would be not to use WiFi wireless for secured
computer networking unless the convenience and economic factors
dictate that there is no other way. There are dozens of news stories
about guys driving around the country finding UNSECURED WiFi
connections coming from regular businesses and individuals. Can you
imagine a company broadcasting all their e-mail secrets and financial
information in the clear?
A hard wire Internet Connection probably lets most System
Administrators sleep better at night, again, though, with the
understanding that there is no absolute protection.
On Wed, 02 Nov 2005 19:27:58 -0500, Anonymous <no.email@bad.domain>
wrote:
>I have a WiFi Home Network, and I often VPN in to work. My laptop has
>WiFi support, so could I use the WiFi to VPN in to work? How much of a
>security threat would that be? I'm told that the whole point of VPN is
>to protect the data in an unsecured medium (e.g: Internet), so can I do
>this without compromising my security? How much greater a threat is
>this, compared to using an Ethernet cable?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Anonymous
Your Home WiFi most likely has a medium-grade encryption feature (If
you have it turned on). VPN also uses encryption (it's the whole
point of Virtual Private Networking), possibly even with a higher
grade-harder to crack encryption method.
With any wireless system, you run the risk of having a neighbor or
someone parked outside your house intercepting your packets. Whether
they can do anything about decrypting those packets is debatable. My
own personal opinion is that it is possible but not very likely. On
the other hand, if the person with the laptop in the car is an NSA,
CIA or FBI technician, maybe they can. Of course, if they want it
that badly, they can probably tap your cable connection as well.
During WWII the Germans were encrypting their wireless naval and land
army communication with a system called Enigma. They were absolutely
convinced that it could not be cracked under any circumstances. Even
after the Axis lost the war, they couldn't bring themselves to think
that their war traffic was compromised. The fact is that the British
broke the codes (aided by the Poles and the French), and kept it
secret for many years.
Conservative practice would be not to use WiFi wireless for secured
computer networking unless the convenience and economic factors
dictate that there is no other way. There are dozens of news stories
about guys driving around the country finding UNSECURED WiFi
connections coming from regular businesses and individuals. Can you
imagine a company broadcasting all their e-mail secrets and financial
information in the clear?
A hard wire Internet Connection probably lets most System
Administrators sleep better at night, again, though, with the
understanding that there is no absolute protection.
VPN over WiFi: How Much of a Security Risk? 
Linear Mode
