The Cisco Systems VPN Client enables computers to connect to a virtual private network. The client makes remote resources of another network available in a secure way as if the user was connected directly to that "private" network.
| Cisco Systems VPN Client | |
|---|---|
 Cisco VPN Client on Windows 7. | |
| Developer(s) | Cisco Systems |
| Stable release | |
| Preview release | 4.9.01.0230 for Mac
/ July 27, 2010 |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, Solaris UltraSPARC, Linux (Intel)[3] |
| Size |
|
| Available in | English |
| Type | VPN software |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2308/ |
In July 2011, Cisco announced the end of life of the product. No further product updates will be released after July 2012, and support will cease in 2014.[4]
Installation
The client is normally distributed with an executable installer and profile file(s), which contain all the necessary information to easily connect to a network.
Availability
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.
Compatibility
VPN Client 4.9.01.0230 beta added support for Mac OS X 10.6.[5] 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.[6]
VPN Client 5.0.07.0290 added support for 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.[7]
Security
The client uses profile files (.pcf) that store VPN passwords either hashed with type 7, or stored as cleartext. A vulnerability has been identified,[8] and those passwords can easily be decoded using software or online services.[9] 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).[8]
References
- ^ VPN Client release notes
- ^ Cisco VPN Client v4.x … Mac OS
- ^ "VPN Client Homepage".
- ^ [1]
- ^ Release Notes for VPN Client, Release 4.9.01.0230 Beta for Mac OS X
- ^ Release Notes for VPN Client, Release 4.9.00.0050 for Mac OS X, Revised: May 21, 2010, OL-11179-04
- ^ Release Notes for Cisco VPN Client, Release 5.0.07.0290
- ^ a b "Cisco Security Notice: Cisco IPsec VPN Implementation Group Password Usage Vulnerability".
- ^ "Cisco Systems VPN Client Group Password Decoder".