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

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.  Also, if you are running an unpatched OS, there may be
vulnerabilities hidden in services that you may not be aware are
actually running.

> There is no firewall running on this laptop and the "setup" has Windows
> Firewall turned off and unable to be turned on (greyed out).  The network
> guys said that the firewall is on the network.  I asked about the scenario I
> presented above and I think they are looking at installing the Symnatec
> firewall they half-expected would be installed already.

At bare minimum I would recommend getting the windows firewall turned
on.  It provides some basic protections from external attack.

If possible, get a 3rd party firewall product installed that can alert
you to possible problems that may already be on your system.

Personally, I recommend ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com) ... it
provides solid protection from external attack and will alert you if
unexpected outbound internet activity occurs.

Although I don't have a lot of familiarity with other firewall products,
I suspect they all have similar capabilities.

And, of course, make sure your anti-virus product is installed, active,
and current.

david