In This Section: |
Traditionally, firewalls use IP addresses to monitor traffic and are unaware of the user and computer identities behind those IP addresses. Identity Awareness removes this notion of anonymity since it maps users and computer identities. This lets you enforce access and audit data based on identity.
Identity Awareness is an easy to deploy and scalable solution. It is applicable for both Active Directory and non-Active Directory based networks as well as for employees and guest users. It is currently available on the Firewall blade and Application Control blade and will operate with other blades in the future.
Identity Awareness lets you easily configure network access and auditing based on network location and:
When Identity Awareness identifies a source or destination, it shows the IP address of the user or computer with a name. For example, this lets you create firewall rules with any of these properties. You can define a firewall rule for specific users when they send traffic from specific computers or a firewall rule for a specific user regardless of which computer they send traffic from.
In SmartDashboard, you use Access Role objects to define users, computers and network locations as one object.
Identity Awareness also lets you see user activity in SmartView Tracker and SmartEvent based on user and computer name and not just IP addresses.
Identity Awareness gets identities from these acquisition sources:
In Advanced Deployment, you can configure Identity Awareness Security Gateways to share the data that they acquire. Users that need to pass through many Security Gateways are only identified once.
These tables show how identity sources are different in terms of usage and deployment considerations. Depending on those considerations, you can configure Identity Awareness to use one identity source or a combination of identity sources.
Browser-Based Authentication - Captive Portal
Unidentified users log in with a user name and password in a Captive Portal. After authentication, the user clicks a link to go to the destination address.
Recommended Usage |
Deployment Considerations |
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AD Query Gets identity data seamlessly from Active Directory (AD).
Recommended Usage |
Deployment Considerations |
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Endpoint Identity Agent
A lightweight Endpoint Identity Agent authenticates users securely with Single Sign-On (SSO).
Recommended Usage |
Deployment Considerations |
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Terminal Servers Endpoint Identity Agent
Identifies multiple users who connect from one IP address. A terminal Server Endpoint Identity Agent is installed on the application server, which hosts the terminal/Citrix services.
Recommended Usage |
Deployment Considerations |
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Browser-Based Authentication - Transparent Kerberos Authentication
The Transparent Kerberos Authentication Single-Sign On (SSO) solution transparently authenticates users already logged into AD. This means that a user authenticates to the domain one time and has access to all authorized network resources without having to enter credentials again. If Transparent Kerberos Authentication fails, the user is redirected to the Captive Portal for manual authentication.
Note -The Endpoint Identity Agent download link and the Automatic Logout option are ignored when Transparent Kerberos Authentication SSO is successful. The user does not see the Captive Portal. |
Recommended Usage |
Deployment Considerations |
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RADIUS Accounting
You can configure a Security Gateway with Identity Awareness to use RADIUS Accounting to get user and computer identities directly from a RADIUS accounting client. Identity Awareness uses this information to apply access permissions to the connection.
RADIUS Accounting gets identity data from RADIUS Accounting Requests generated by the RADIUS accounting client. Identity Awareness uses the data from these requests to get user and device group information from the LDAP server. Firewall rules apply these permissions to users, computers and networks.
Recommended Usage |
Deployment Considerations |
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Remote Access
Users who get access using IPsec VPN Office Mode can authenticate seamlessly.
Recommended Usage |
Deployment Considerations |
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AD Query is an easy to deploy, clientless identity acquisition method. It is based on Active Directory integration and it is completely transparent to the user.
The AD Query option operates when:
The technology is based on querying the Active Directory Security Event Logs and extracting the user and computer mapping to the network address from them. It is based on Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), a standard Microsoft protocol. The Security Gateway communicates directly with the Active Directory domain controllers and does not require a separate server.
No installation is necessary on the clients or on the Active Directory server.
Item |
Description |
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Security Gateway |
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Active Directory domain controller |
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1 |
The Security Gateway gets security event logs from the Active Directory domain controllers. |
2 |
A user logs in to a computer with Active Directory credentials. |
3 |
The Active Directory domain controller sends the security event log to the Security Gateway. The Security Gateway gets the user and IP information (user name@domain, computer name and source IP address). |
4 |
The user connects to the Internet. |
5 |
The Security Gateway confirms the user identification and lets him access the Internet based on the policy. |
Browser-Based Authentication gets identities and authenticates users with one of these acquisition methods:
Captive Portal is a simple method that authenticates users with a web interface. When users try to access a protected resource, they enter authentication information in a form that shows in their browser.
Transparent Kerberos Authentication authenticates users by getting authentication data from the browser without any user input. If authentication is successful, the user goes directly to the specified destination. If authentication fails, the user must enter credentials in the Captive Portal.
The Captive Portal shows when a user tries to access a web resource and all of these conditions apply:
The Captive Portal also shows when Transparent Kerberos Authentication is enabled, but authentication fails.
From the Captive Portal, users can:
Item |
Description |
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Security Gateway with Identity Awareness |
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Active Directory domain controller |
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1 |
A user wants to access the Internal Data Center. |
2 |
Identity Awareness does not recognize him and redirects the browser to the Captive Portal. |
3 |
The user enters regular office credentials. The credentials can be AD or other Check Point supported authentication methods, such as LDAP, Check Point internal credentials, or RADIUS. |
4 |
The credentials go to the Security Gateway, which finds them in the AD server. |
5 |
The user can access the requested URL. |
Flow of events for Browser-Based Authentication with Transparent Kerberos Authentication:
There are different Identity Agents:
Using Endpoint Identity Agents gives you:
You can install these Endpoint Identity Agent types:
Users can download and install Endpoint Identity Agents from the Captive Portal, or you can distribute MSI or DMG files to computers with distribution software or a download link.
This shows how a user downloads the Endpoint Identity Agent from the Captive Portal:
Item |
Description |
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Security Gateway with Identity Awareness |
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Active Directory domain controller |
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1 |
A user logs in to a computer with credentials, to access the Internal Data Center. |
2 |
The Security Gateway with Identity Awareness does not recognize the user and redirects to the Captive Portal. |
3 |
The user sees the Portal page, with a link to download the Endpoint Identity Agent. |
4 |
The user downloads the Endpoint Identity Agent from the Captive Portal and installs it. |
5 |
The Endpoint Identity Agent client connects to the Security Gateway. If SSO with Kerberos is configured, the user is automatically connected. |
6 |
The user is authenticated and the Security Gateway sends the connection to its destination according to the Firewall Rule Base. |
Identity Awareness Software Blade is commonly enabled on a perimeter Security Gateway. It is frequently used in conjunction with Application Control Software Blade.
To protect internal data centers, Identity Awareness Software Blade can be enabled on an internal Security Gateway located in front of internal servers, such as data centers. This can be done in addition to the perimeter Security Gateway, but does not require a perimeter Security Gateway.
Identity Awareness can be deployed in Bridge mode or Route mode.
For redundancy, you can deploy a cluster of Identity Awareness Security Gateways in High Availability or Load Sharing modes.
If you deploy several Identity Awareness Security Gateways in your environment and configure them to share identity information. Common scenarios include:
You can have one or more Identity Awareness Gateways acquire identities and share them with the other Identity Awareness Gateways.
You can also share identities between Identity Awareness Gateways that are managed in different Multi-Domain Servers.
This section shows the default ports used by Identity Awareness features:
Feature |
Port |
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LDAP |
389 |
LDAP over SSL |
636 |
AD Query |
135 |
Global Catalog |
3268 |
Global Catalog over SSL |
3269 |
Gateway to AD |
135, 389 |
AD to gateway |
135 |
Enforcement gateway |
389 |
Identity Sharing gateway to Enforcement gateway |
15105, 28581 |
Browser-based Authentication |
443 |
Identity Agents/Terminal Server Agents |
443 |
Radius Accounting |
1813 |
It is possible to configure these features to different ports. For more information about Identity Awareness ports, see sk98561 and sk52421.
This section describes scenarios in which you can use Identity Awareness to let users access network resources.
The first few scenarios describe different situations of acquiring identities in a Firewall Rule Base environment. The last scenario describes the use of Identity Awareness in an Application Control environment.
Organizations that use Microsoft Active Directory can use AD Query to acquire identities.
When you set the AD Query option to get identities, you are configuring clientless employee access for all Active Directory users. To enforce access options, create rules in the Firewall Rule that contain Access Role objects. An Access Role object defines users, computers and network locations as one object.
Active Directory users that log in and are authenticated will have seamless access to resources based on Firewall rules.
John Adams is an HR partner in the ACME organization. ACME IT wants to limit access to HR servers to designated IP addresses to minimize malware infection and unauthorized access risks. Thus, the Security Gateway policy permits access only from John's desktop which is assigned a static IP address 10.0.0.19.
He received a laptop and wants to access the HR Web Server from anywhere in the organization. The IT department gave the laptop a static IP address, but that limits him to operating it only from his desk. The current Rule Base contains a rule that lets John Adams access the HR Web Server from his laptop with a static IP (10.0.0.19).
Name |
Source |
Destination |
VPN |
Service |
Action |
Track |
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Jadams to HR Server |
Jadams_PC |
HR_Web_Server |
Any Traffic |
Any |
accept |
Log |
He wants to move around the organization and continue to have access to the HR Web Server.
To make this scenario work, the IT administrator does these steps:
The SmartView Tracker log shows that the system recognizes James Wilson as the user behind IP 10.0.0.19. This log entry shows that the system maps the source IP to the user James Wilson from CORP.ACME.COM. This uses the identity acquired from AD Query.
Note - AD Query maps the users based on AD activity. This can take some time and depends on user activity. If James Wilson is not identified (the IT administrator does not see the log), he should lock and unlock the computer. |
To let James Wilson access the HR Web Server from any computer, change the rule in the Rule Base. Create an access role for James Wilson, from any network and any computer. In the rule, change the source object to be the access role object (for example, HR_Partner).
Name |
Source |
Destination |
VPN |
Services & Applications |
Action |
Track |
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HR Partner Access |
HR_Partner |
HR_Web_Server |
Any |
Any |
accept |
None |
Install the policy. You can remove the static IP from the laptop of James Wilson and give it a dynamic IP. The Security Gateway James Wilson, defined in the HR_Partner access role, access the HR Web server from his laptop with a dynamic IP.
Browser-Based Authentication lets you acquire identities from unidentified users such as:
If unidentified users try to connect to resources in the network that are restricted to identified users, they are automatically sent to the Captive Portal. If Transparent Kerberos Authentication is configured, the browser will attempt to identify users that are logged into the domain using SSO before it shows the Captive Portal.
The CEO of ACME recently bought her own personal iPad. She wants to access the internal Finance Web server from her iPad. Because the iPad is not a member of the Active Directory domain, she cannot identify seamlessly with AD Query. However, she can enter her AD credentials in the Captive Portal and then get the same access as on her office computer. Her access to resources is based on rules in the Firewall Rule Base.
To make this scenario work, the IT administrator must:
The Action Properties window opens.
The Access Role is added to the rule.
Name |
Source |
Destination |
VPN |
Service |
Action |
Track |
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CEO Access |
Jennifer_McHanry |
Finance_Server |
Any Traffic |
http |
accept (display captive portal) |
Log |
Jennifer McHanry does these steps:
The Captive Portal opens because she is not identified and therefore cannot access the Finance Server.
A Welcome to the network window opens.
The SmartView Tracker log shows how the system recognizes Jennifer McHanry from her iPad. This log entry shows that the system maps the source "Jennifer_McHanry" to the user name. This uses the identity acquired from Captive Portal.
Guests frequently come to the ACME company. While they visit, the CEO wants to let them access the Internet on their own laptops.
Amy, the IT administrator configures the Captive Portal to let unregistered guests log in to the portal to get network access. She makes a rule in the Firewall Rule Base to let unauthenticated guests access the Internet only.
When guests browse to the Internet, the Captive Portal opens. Guests enter their name, company, email address, and phone number in the portal. They then agree to the terms and conditions written in a network access agreement. Afterwards they are given access to the Internet for a specified period of time.
To make this scenario work, the IT administrator must:
From the perspective of a guest at ACME, she does these steps:
The Captive Portal opens because she is not identified and therefore cannot access the Internet.
A Welcome to the network window opens.
The ACME organization wants to make sure that only the Finance department can access the Finance Web server. The current Rule Base uses static IP addresses to define access for the Finance department.
Amy, the IT administrator wants to leverage the use of Endpoint Identity Agents so:
Amy wants Finance users to download the Endpoint Identity Agent from the Captive Portal. She needs to configure:
After configuration and policy install, users that browse to the Finance Web server will get the Captive Portal and can download the Endpoint Identity Agent.
A Finance department user does this:
The Captive Portal opens because the user is not identified and cannot access the server. A link to download the Endpoint Identity Agent is shown.
The user automatically connects to the Security Gateway. A window opens asking the user to trust the server.
Note - The trust window opens because the user connects to the Identity Awareness Gateway, with the File name based server discovery option. There are other server discovery methods, which do not require user trust confirmation.
The user can successfully browse to the internet for a specified time.
To make this scenario work, the IT administrator must:
Note - This configures Endpoint Identity Agent for all users. Alternatively, you can set Endpoint Identity Agent download for a specific group.
The Access Role is added to the rule.
Other options that can be configured for Endpoint Identity Agents:
The SmartView Tracker log shows how the system recognizes a guest.
This log entry shows that the system maps the source IP address with the user identity. In this case, the identity is "guest" because that is how the user is identified in the Captive Portal.
The ACME organization defined a new policy that only allows users to access the internet through Terminal Servers. The ACME organization wants to make sure that only the Sales department will be able to access Facebook. The current Rule Base uses static IP addresses to define access for Facebook, but now all connections are initiated from Terminal Server IP addresses.
Amy, the IT administrator wants to leverage the use of the Terminal Servers solution so that:
To enable the Terminal Servers solution, Amy must:
You can use the Identity Awareness and Application Control and URL Filtering together to add user awareness, computer awareness, and application awareness to the Check Point Security Gateway. They work together in these procedures:
The ACME organization wants to use Identity Awareness to monitor outbound application traffic and learn what their employees are doing. To do this, the IT administrator must enable Application Control and Identity Awareness. The SmartView Tracker and SmartEvent logs will then show identity information for the traffic.
Next, the IT department can add rules to block specific applications or track them differently in the Application Control policy to make it even more effective. See the R77 Application Control and URL Filtering Administration Guide.
To make this scenario work, the IT administrator:
This adds a default rule to the Application Control Rule Base that allows traffic from known applications, with the tracking set to Log.
Logs related to application traffic in SmartView Tracker and SmartEvent show data for identified users.
The SmartView Tracker log entry shows that the system maps the source IP address with the user identity. It also shows Application Control data.
You can use the SmartDashboard toolbar to do these actions:
Icon |
Description |
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Open the SmartDashboard menu. When instructed to select menu options, click this button to show the menu. For example, if you are instructed to select Manage > Users and Administrators, click this button to open the Manage menu and then select the Users and Administrators option. |
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Save current policy and all system objects. |
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Open a policy package, which is a collection of Policies saved together with the same name. |
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Refresh policy from the Security Management Server. |
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Open the Database Revision Control window. |
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Change global properties. |
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Verify Rule Base consistency. |
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Install the policy on Security Gateways or VSX Gateways. |
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Open SmartConsole. |