Securing RDP access to Windows Server 2008 R2: is Network Level Authentication enough?

Posted by jamesfm on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by jamesfm
Published on 2011-11-22T16:43:31Z Indexed on 2011/11/22 17:58 UTC
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security

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windows-server-2008-r2

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rdp

I am a dev with little admin expertise, administering a single dedicated web server remotely.

A recent independent security audit of our site recommended that "RDP is not exposed to the Internet and that a robust management solution such as a VPN is considered for remote access. When used, RDP should be configured for Server Authentication to ensure that clients cannot be subjected to man-in-the-middle attacks."

Having read around a bit, it seems like Network Level Authentication is a Good Thing so I have enabled the "Allow connections only from Remote Desktop with NLA" option on the server today.

Is this acion enough to mitigate the risk of a Man-in-the-Middle attack? Or are there other essential steps I should be taking? If VPN is essential, how do I go about it?

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