Re: Laptop, wi-fi, VPN, no firewall -- what's safe?

On 5/25/06, David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Dan wrote:
> I am using a company-issued laptop that has Contivity VPN Client
installed.
> I had my first Wi-Fi experience last night (at a microbrewery watching
> Tigers baseball! Yeah!); the connection was "unsecured".  Was I
"vulnerable"
> while I was connnected through the VPN client?  It seems to me that the
VPN
> only protects the company network, but doesn't necessarily protect
anything
> on my laptop.

Correct ... the connection through the vpn to your company network is
secure ... but your laptop in general was not safe.  Without a firewall,
any public shares on the laptop were exposed to people who might want to
browse them.

The C: drive has a public share, but all folders in the root directory
except for \Windows has sharing turned off.  The \Windows folder has a share
named $ADM for "remote admin".  So that would appear that everything except
the Windows folder is safe from intrusion.  Hmmm.

Also, if you are running an unpatched OS, there may be

vulnerabilities hidden in services that you may not be aware are
actually running.

SP2 and all subsequent updates installed.

At bare minimum I would recommend getting the windows firewall turned

on.  It provides some basic protections from external attack.
<snip>
And, of course, make sure your anti-virus product is installed, active,
and current.

The network support gurus are looking into getting the Symantec firewall
installed.  Already have Symantec AV installed.  Updates and scans run on a
schedule.

Mike: I intentionally avoided checking email for just the reason you
suggested.

Thanks for the replies, gents.

- Dan