Enable Cisco Umbrella with iCloud Private Relay

Introduction

This document describes a configuration to enable Umbrella functionality on iCloud Private Relay.

About iCloud Private Relay

iCloud Private Relay is a service provided by Apple as part of a subscription iCloud product. This enables an Apple device to protect its DNS and web traffic against tracking. This service is optional for Apple devices and requires a subscription to be active.

iCloud Private Relay and Cisco Umbrella

iCloud Private Relay overrides Umbrella functionality when activated. In order to maintain coverage on enterprise networks, a canary domain can be configured on network as per the instructions on this Apple support page.

MDM on macOS and Supervised iOS

To disable iCloud Private relay, push this payload with a value of false.

allowCloudPrivateRelay

All other devices

To prevent iCloud Private Relay from activating on a network, set the domains to respond with a NXDOMAIN or NODATA response:

mask.icloud.com
mask-h2.icloud.com

Once set, iCloud Private Relay users are informed that "Private Relay is turned off for 'network name'", and are not permitted to utilize iCloud Private Relay on this network.

iCloud Private Relay and Cisco Umbrella with the Cisco Security Connector App

Unlike devices without Umbrella installed who receive network level coverage, all DNS requests continue to be logged to Umbrella; however, the canary domain is required to ensure that DNS blocks are not proxied by iCloud Private Relay and overridden.