A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between devices and a remote network, making its configuration and flaws important to privacy and access control.
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Background for this topic.
VPN (virtual private network) creates an encrypted tunnel between a device and a VPN gateway, or between networks, across an untrusted network such as the internet. It is commonly used for remote access and site-to-site connectivity. Encryption protects traffic in transit between the tunnel endpoints, but it does not secure a compromised device, protect data after it reaches the destination, or automatically make the VPN provider trustworthy; logging and traffic visibility depend on its configuration and operator.
VPN gateways are high-value entry points: vulnerabilities in internet-facing appliances, weak protocols or configurations, and stolen credentials can enable unauthorized access to internal systems. Organizations should patch and securely configure gateways, require phishing-resistant or otherwise strong multi-factor authentication where practical, restrict access and segment remote sessions, and monitor authentication and connection logs. During an incident, VPN account and gateway records can help identify access, while compromised gateways may require credential resets and network-wide review.
An automated campaign is targeting multiple VPN platforms, with credential-based attacks being observed on Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect and Cisco SSL VPN. [...]
Audio streaming platform SoundCloud has confirmed that outages and VPN connection issues over the past few days were caused by a security breach in which threat actors stole a database containing user information. [...]
Users accessing the SoundCloud audio streaming platform through a virtual private network (VPN) connection are denied access to the service and see a 403 'forbidden' error. [...]
Microsoft says that recent Windows 11 security updates are causing VPN networking failures for enterprise users running Windows Subsystem for Linux. [...]