Most SSL VPNs are Wildly Insecure

[CrazyCanuck]

My VPN provider uses RSA 1024 and also uses sha1.
"The bad news doesn’t end there: 74% of certificates have an insecure SHA-1 signature, despite the fact that the majority of web browsers plan to depreciate and stop accepting SHA-1 signed certificates, as the algorithm’s weaknesses can potentially allow an SSL certificate to be forged, impersonating a server and intercepting critical data.

About 41% of SSL VPNs use insecure 1024 key length for their RSA certificates, which are used for authentication and encryption key exchange. RSA key length below 2048 is considered insecure, allowing various attacks.

10% of SSL VPN servers that rely on OpenSSL are still vulnerable to Heartbleed. And, only 3% are compliant with PCI DSS requirements, and none is compliant with NIST guidelines, which are considered a minimum required level of security."

http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/most-ssl-vpns-are-wildly-insecure/

 

[yorgi]

Once again a lot of Blah Blah and no facts. They are saying 75% of who? why not give out names?
Why just make accusations and no facts.
I hate sites that do that, you have some goofball that writes whatever he wants and doesn't include a shred of evidence. I will say it again. AES or Blowfish has never been cracked. This article is total crap.

 

[CrazyCanuck]

Sorry I'm pretty paranoid. To be fair sha1 hasn't been fully cracked yet but they are getting close and as the cost goes down it will be easier to crack to sha1.

http://it.slashdot.org/story/15/10/...llision-attack-on-the-sha-1-hashing-algorithm

 

[yorgi]

Sorry I'm pretty paranoid. To be fair sha1 hasn't been fully cracked yet but they are getting close and as the cost goes down it will be easier to crack to sha1.

http://it.slashdot.org/story/15/10/...llision-attack-on-the-sha-1-hashing-algorithm

Well if and when it does get cracked then we will have to worry about it
But for now lets not go overboard by reading what crappy sites have to say
Even with the second URL you posted. It says Microsoft and Google want to ban sha-1certificates,

I think its propaganda because these are big giants that want to control everything we do so the usual, put fear in us.
No different then what the NSA does

 

[CrazyCanuck]

Well if and when it does get cracked then we will have to worry about it
But for now lets not go overboard by reading what crappy sites have to say
Even with the second URL you posted. It says Microsoft and Google want to ban sha-1certificates,

I think its propaganda because these are big giants that want to control everything we do so the usual, put fear in us.
No different then what the NSA does

Well according to them it's possible with cluster computers or using amazon cloud. To be fair it's not fully cracked it's getting closer, what they don't mention is how close.

 

[yorgi]

Well according to them it's possible with cluster computers or using amazon cloud. To be fair it's not fully cracked it's getting closer, what they don't mention is how close.

Lets cross that bridge when we get there

 

[cone_head]

From what I understand SSL3 is still secured but Microsoft, DOD and Semantic want to move to TLS before SSL3 is considered hacked and unsecured. For folks that take payment cards the recommended minimum is TLS1.2 and the date for PCI compliance is drawing close.

As for certificates, SHA128 is considered unsecured and it is recommended that SHA256 or higher be used. If your require certificates to be locally stored keep in mind that older equipment / OS’es using P7B/PKCS format may require a complete certificate chain to work, Root, Intermediary and site and may not be able to use SHA256 or higher. Newer systems can get away with only using the root level and then dynamically completing the server level encryption. I have not tested to see if the root 128 will be compatible with anything above 256 but I would assume it would.

If you are using Windows XP or Server 2003 or lower its time to upgrade. XP and 2003 both have patched that will allow SHA256 and if you update to the highest version of IE the OS will allow you should also be able to use TLS1.2. YMMV with other OS’es.