Hamachi Safe?

[Liminator]

I have a question about Hamachi, is it safe? I feel like opening up a "Home" network over the internet is just waiting for a hack or virus. I used to use it a long time ago but stopped because I thought the above.

 

[Aastii]

So long as you don't offer the password to anyone you don't trust, it is perfectly fine

 

[Vladimir1]

Yes, it's quite safe

 

[Abbey]

No, Hamachi isn't safe. It can be fine for a few weeks, But after that, you start to receive virus' which may stop you accessing the internet, as it did with me.
So i advise you not to download it, Or use it with any strangers, Only friends you can trust. They can see your IP and that, And find out where you live.
If your on a Mac, it might be different, I think Macs can't get some virus' and protects your pc. But still, don't download it.
If you do get a virus from it, Go to Safe Mode and delete it as soon as possible. Always scan it with a virus protection softwares before using it.

 

[xtropx]

Everything is a potential security risk. What you have to ask yourself is what your actual potential to be hacked or exploited is. What do you have sitting behind your router or firewall that would merit an attacker trying to get through? The common end home user has little to fear. A network administrator in a business environment may however have a legitimate concern about anything that opens up a port that can be exploited to the internal network.

The following considerations apply to Hamachi's use as a VPN application:

• Additional risk of disclosure of sensitive data which is stored or may be logged by the mediation server — minimal where data is not forwarded.
• The security risks due to vulnerable services on remote machines otherwise not accessible behind a NAT, common to all Virtual Private Networks.
• Hamachi is stated to use strong, industry-standard AES-256 Encryption to secure and authenticate the data and its security architecture is openhttps://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Hamachi_(software)#cite_note-2; the implementation, however, is closed source. An open source mediation server called Mojakohttps://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Hamachi_(software)#cite_note-3 has been released into the public domain, but it is still under heavy development and is not suitable for regular use at this time.
• As all peers sharing a tunnel have full "LAN-like" access to each others computers, security problems may arise if firewalls are not used, as with any insecure situation. The security features of the NAT router/firewall are bypassed; this is an issue with all VPNs.

Also:
VPN: The Pros and Cons - IT Security
Hamachi is good news for SOHOs, but not so good for the enterprise | TechRepublic
And for the technical wizards, the nuts and bolts:
https://secure.logmein.com/welcome/documentation/EN/pdf/common/LogMeIn_SecurityWhitepaper.pdf

 

[Indigo]

Abbey's case is an isolated one. Hamachi itself is safe as long as you practice safe computing habits. xtropx has some good ideas, so take those to mind as well.

I actually stopped using Hamachi and started using OpenVPN with my pfsense box because it was just so much easier to give people access to things and keep out the ones I didn't want on my network.

 

[xtropx]

@ og : Do you have any information you could share about that; Pfsense and OpenVPN? Links? I as well have a pfsene box at home which I have dabbled with, but am certain I have come nowhere close setting up many of its possible configuration options. I would be very much be interested in such a subject.

 

[Abbey]

It may depend on the computer/laptop you have, And virus protecting program's, which will instantly block it. But if you have a simple virus protector, It can harm your computer, and get through. Like, I didn't have a very good software to block virus', And it managed to stop me accessing the internet. So you need to make sure you scan the hamachi file before opening it straight away. That's the best thing to do.