Cisco Systems VPN Client is a software application for connecting to
virtual private networks based on
Internet Key Exchange version 1.
On July 29, 2011, Cisco announced the end of life of the product. No further product updates were released after July 30, 2012, and support ceased on July 29, 2014. The Support page with documentation links was taken down on July 30, 2016, replaced with an Obsolete Status Notification.
Availability and compatibility
The software is not free but is often installed on university and business computers in accordance with a site-license. As with most corporate licenses, administrators are allowed to freely distribute the software to users within their network.
The open-sourc
vpnc clientcan connect to most VPNs supported by the official client.
VPN Client 4.9.01.0230 beta added support for Mac OS X 10.6. Stable version 4.9.01.0180 appears to lack that support; 4.9.00.0050 explicitly did ''not'' support versions of Mac OS X later than 10.5.
VPN Client 5.0.07.0290 added support for 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Security
The client uses
profile configuration file A .pcf file can be profile configuration file or a configuration file for setting the client parameters in a virtual private network. The file is in INI file format and contains information about a VPN connection which is necessary for the client ...
s (.pcf) that store VPN passwords either
hashed with
type 7
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* T ...
, or stored as
plaintext
In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted.
Overview
With the advent of com ...
. A vulnerability has been identified,
and those passwords can easily be decoded using software or online services.
To work around these issues, network administrators are advised to use the Mutual Group Authentication feature, or use unique passwords (that aren't related to other important network passwords).
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See also
* Cisco ASA In computer networking, Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, or simply Cisco ASA, is Cisco's line of network security devices introduced in May 2005. It succeeded three existing lines of popular Cisco products:
* Cisco PIX, which prov ...
, the product line that replaced Cisco VPN Concentrator on the server side
References
{{VPN
Computer network security
Tunneling protocols
VPN Client