How secure is Hamachi

[buttwhacker]

I have been browsing around for a cheap solution to creating a VPN without all the crazy hardware which costs a lotta money, so I found this hamachi.cc thru' a friend who uses it for gaming.
My question is how safe it is to use this as a cheap but secure solution??
Any suggestions welcome....... tks.

 

[Zap]

Wiki

Although Hamachi uses strong, industry-standard algorithms to encrypt data, the implementation remains closed source and therefore cannot be fully audited by absolutely anyone who feels like it for potential security problems or backdoors.

It sounds as if it is secure and safe from outside risks, but there is a chance that the company itself can get into your connection or copy your data. Some of this finger pointing seems a snub because Hamachi isn't open source, but then the point is made that we put our trust in a lot of software that isn't open source and which has the potential to steal our data. Windows update? It's communicating with Microsoft servers. How do we know that it isn't uploading our address book? Your anti-virus updating? Is it uploading your Quicken files while downloading the latest virus definitions? Well, we just have to take their word for it.

It is interesting software nevertheless. I've used it before to play LAN games and it works reasonably well. It transmit broadcast traffic which not all VPN solutions do, and can even push IPX traffic.

 

[JackMDS]

The hardware cost is about $100.

My philosophy is. If you can Not effort $100, what ever security you seek Hamachi would be Good.

I.e. It is hard to believe that some one runs a bank and need to use Hamacci to save.

 

[buttwhacker]

well Zap thank you for what i wanted to hear.......
JackMDS: I am going to use it for staying home and fixing some of my friends computers using RDC, so not all of them are going to be getting hardware for their once in a while fixes, I just wanted to know if this was secure as all parties will have windows folder sharing turned on I did not want them to compromise their privacy....
Out of curiosity what hardware would cost me $100 on all ends to configure a VPN?
Is there a quick guide that I can refer to?

 

[skyking]

http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/ultraVNC with the encryption plugins gets my vote.

 

[JackMDS]

Router that can serve as an End Point can end up part of the configuration, there are some for less than $100.

The security doubts of Hamachi do not involve so much the connection security per-se, but the general concept.

ZAP summarized well.

You can read more here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamachi

Personaly I use the most, the solution that is mentioned in Skyking post above.

Free Remote Control/File transfer/Chat program. http://www.ezlan.net/vnc.html

 

[nweaver]

you don't need a VPN to use RDC...or UltraVNC

 

[jamessb9]

I currently use Hamachi, but I'd like to switch to OpenVPN. Is OpenVPN safe? The Wiki is really hard to follow...

 

[n0cmonkey]

With just about any throw away machine you can setup an open source VPN in 4 minutes.

 

[cmetz]

buttwhacker, the folks who produce Hamachi failed the trust model test. I would not use it.

OpenVPN is a much better choice. IPsec is the best choice.

 

[Tegeril]

Originally posted by: cmetz
buttwhacker, the folks who produce Hamachi failed the trust model test. I would not use it.

OpenVPN is a much better choice. IPsec is the best choice.

Trust model test? What?

 

[RebateMonger]

I'm still not sure what to think of Himachi. I'd like to play with it. But I have this nagging doubt that keeps me from it.

If you look at Steve Gibson's site (http://grc.com), he's in love with it. If nothing else, you can get a good overview of how it works in one or two .MP3 discussions on Steve's site. (And, yes, I KNOW that not everyone is thrilled by Steve Gibson....). Last I heard, Steve had committed to Himachi for his own use in a big way. I don't know if he continues to do that.