The problem is that the remote machine is property of a customer and he doesn't want to use split-tunneling for security reasons ... so I must use a virtual machine ....
Main Topics
Browse All TopicsHi,
I use Cisco VPN client to connect to a remote system from my corporate LAN.
My PC has Windows XP SP2.
Cisco server blocks access to my LAN and internet so I uses a virtual machine only dedicated to the VPN so I can access to LAN and internet from my physical PC and VPN from the virtual machine.
Since I spend more time using the VPN, I'd like to invert the situation, have the VPN on the physical PC and LAN and internet on the virtual machine: I know this isn't possible, but my question is this: in case I add a second NIC, is it possible to use from physical PC one NIC decicated to the VPN and from the virtual machine the other NIC dedicated to LAN and internet access?
If so, is there any particular configuaration to set?
Thanks
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
The way in which a split tunnel can allow compromise..
Lets draw a small example
Corp Network ---VPN Concentrator ---- VPN CLient ----PC ----Evil Hacker
You can be compromised in some fashion by an internet based control mechanism. Then in turn you connect to the VPN. With split tunnelling enabled the Evil Hacker still has access to your machine but now also then has access to the VPN network
Without split tunneling as soon as the tunnel comes up then access for Evil Hacker drops and is then covered under the security mechanisms of the Corp Network.
Simplistic example
Prueconsulting,
This would be a specific attack where in attacker is in need of data from the other network. 70% of the attacks are just destructive where in you inject and then the job is relied on what you are injected. In such cases, whether you enable split tunneling or not it doesn't matter really. Take a Virus, Take a worm. Or even take a backdoor itself; In steps;
1. First attack the VPN Client.
2. Second get that into the Corp. Network through the connection.
3. Then he can get the data directly from Corp. Network (Doesn't have to wait for the data to come back to the VPN Client and then go back to him.
Also if you note that, we are not talking about a 'home user', the author is trying to connect to the remote Server from his 'Corporate Network'. Adequate Security Measures is a responsibility and I'm sure you'll agree we have to have 2 visions about a 'home user' and 'corp user'.
And finally absolute security cannot be achieved but we can be pursuing to do it.
Cheers,
Rajesh
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: rsivanandanPosted on 2006-06-08 at 09:07:41ID: 16862704
First of all, there is an easy way to solve this before going for virtual machines/NICs. To what do you connect using the Cisco VPN Client? PIX or a Concentrator?
On the other end, they should configure something called 'split-tunneling'. What this does is, only those traffic intended for vpn is encrypted and routed to your other end and all your local traffic flows as normal.
So I would suggest you to talk to the other end person to configure this and will make your life a lot easier. All it takes is to add an entry with an access-list as below;
access-list <ACL_Name> permit ip <Remote Network> <Remote Mask> <Your Network> <Your Mask>
vpngroup <VPNGROUP> split-tunnel <ACL_Name>
The above is for PIX firewall
Cheers,
Rajesh