Re: [Nolug] Fwd: Re[6]: [Hou-freebsd] Semi-relevant VMWare question

From: Joey Kelly <joey_at_joeykelly.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:28:23 -0500
Message-ID: <1c0063340704111328x6cb74fd2sc70f8235bd2839ac@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry for the top-posting.

I agree that if you're surfing with *BSD inside VMware running on a
Windows host, the Windows host is still vulnerable (the TCP/IP stack,
your windows NIC drivers, the OS itself, and who knows what else can
be compromised). However, if you open a VPN session back to a secure
host (say a Linux box on your LAN at home), and direct all surfing
traffic through the tunnel, I would think that your Windows host would
probably be safe from attack via your actual surfing.

However, the Windows host is still connecting to the access point,
which is in my mind the likeliest attack vector in the described
setup. A fake AP (remember the stories about trojan APs in various
airports over the Christmas holidays? I remember seeing one of them in
Atlanta Hartsfield), some fool sniffing traffic out in the parking
lot, worms spread from the infected laptop 2 tables away, etc.... you
get the picture. Sure, your bank transactions via *BSD and VMware,
tunneled back to your Linux box at home, may be secure, but your
Windows laptop is still subject to attack.

--Joey

On 4/11/07, Dustin Puryear <dustin@puryear-it.com> wrote:
> I thought this was an interesting thread..

<mass snippage>

-- 
Joey Kelly
< Minister of the Gospel | Linux Consultant >
http://joeykelly.net
(sent via gmail.com, no GPG signature)
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