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    A few general questions about pfsense…

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    • T
      TheHermit
      last edited by

      I was curious if pfsense was as secure as people make out. I'm not specifically looking for advice regarding a technical issue but just how secure is the custom installation of the firewall. Or even a installation with a bridged modem from an ISP Box.

      Does pfsense have any known NSA or custom back doors and how do I know I can trust it at least too protect me from prying eyes. I guess if someone wants too be in bad enough they will what is a general rule I have all ways followed but is it as really as secure as some people make out?

      How secure is running a VPN from a client terminal threw and out of pfsense and not from pfsense itself directly.

      I was just looking too get some general info and not have a specific question in mind.

      Thanks.

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      • chpalmerC
        chpalmer
        last edited by

        ;D
        https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Comparison_to_Commercial_Alternatives
        Pay attention to the part about open source..  Its judged by is peers and by its competition..

        Triggering snowflakes one by one..
        Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
          last edited by

          "Does pfsense have any known NSA or custom back doors"

          Come on Really??  Lets say pfsense was working with the NSA.. And gave them back door access to every deployment on the planet.. If "known" why would anyone be using it?

          So your question is flawed out of the gate..

          So what your asking??  Is how likely is it that there are on purpose back doors built into it?  Well how likely is it that there are those in Cisco or Palo Alto or Fortinet or Fortigate or Juniper, the list goes on and on..  Their code is not open and available for peer review - so wouldn't it be more likely they have it.. They also have bigger deployments and bigger player customers currently.

          Pfsense when it comes down too it a customized distro of freebsd… So are there back doors in that?  What about OpenBSD, or NetBSD - how about MS or Windows?  People run their firewalls on VMs so are their back doors in esxi/vsphere or KVM or or ZEN or Hyper-V??

          Lets not forget the hardware - many people love to run pfsense on china boxes.. Which could have "back doors" there that would defeat any software running on them, etc.

          "How secure is running a VPN from a client"

          So you think what running a vpn client and vpn through pfsense will hide your traffic from the NSA backdoor?

          Maybe you should just not be on the internet, not use a phone, should live in a cabin in the woods off the grid if your this worried ;)

          edit:  Off the Grid in the back woods somewhere would falls right inline with your nick as well ;)  Would be a Win Win..

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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          • GrimsonG
            Grimson Banned
            last edited by

            Well, pfSense forwards all your data to the Spanish Inquisition, so you better mail your evening prayers or they might show up unexpected.  :o

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            • T
              TheHermit
              last edited by

              @johnpoz:

              "Does pfsense have any known NSA or custom back doors"

              Come on Really??  Lets say pfsense was working with the NSA.. And gave them back door access to every deployment on the planet.. If "known" why would anyone be using it?

              So your question is flawed out of the gate..

              So what your asking??  Is how likely is it that there are on purpose back doors built into it?  Well how likely is it that there are those in Cisco or Palo Alto or Fortinet or Fortigate or Juniper, the list goes on and on..  Their code is not open and available for peer review - so wouldn't it be more likely they have it.. They also have bigger deployments and bigger player customers currently.

              Pfsense when it comes down too it a customized distro of freebsd… So are there back doors in that?  What about OpenBSD, or NetBSD - how about MS or Windows?  People run their firewalls on VMs so are their back doors in esxi/vsphere or KVM or or ZEN or Hyper-V??

              Lets not forget the hardware - many people love to run pfsense on china boxes.. Which could have "back doors" there that would defeat any software running on them, etc.

              "How secure is running a VPN from a client"

              So you think what running a vpn client and vpn through pfsense will hide your traffic from the NSA backdoor?

              Maybe you should just not be on the internet, not use a phone, should live in a cabin in the woods off the grid if your this worried ;)

              edit:  Off the Grid in the back woods somewhere would falls right inline with your nick as well ;)  Would be a Win Win..

              Man, you really seemed too be offended by this line of topic and thread. I'm certainly not trying too offend anyone so if I have I apologize but in general what I was getting at was basically is it secure. I certainly did not mean too upset or get under your skin.

              I was watching some you tube videos and some of the gyes who were pen testers were basically saying its like the wild wild west out their especially with the like likes of Kali Linux. I don't particularly have anything too be paranoid about lets say in regards too being broken in too. I don't keep stuff like photos or videos on my PC or any sensitive personal information to be honest. I just enjoy doing a lot of research and find a lot of stuff interesting with all ways looking for something new too learn.

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              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                last edited by

                Yes stupidity offends me ;)

                If you would like to actually talk security I am all up for it - but what does offend me is tinfoil hat conspiracy nonsense..

                Some guys on youtube ;)  Yah Yah - great resource for security nutjobery… Conspiracy Clowns as well...

                Kali is a pentest distro.. It comes with tools for pentesting.. Can be used good or bad.. who's to say the NSA doesn't have backdoor in that... Be a good place to spy don't you think ;)

                If you actually have some security questions related to pfsense or anything for that matter happy to discuss..

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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