Introduction

This topic contains the following sections:

About Secure Web Appliance

The Cisco Secure Web Appliance (SWA) intercepts and monitors Internet traffic and applies policies to help keep your internal network secure from malware, sensitive data loss, productivity loss, and other Internet-based threats. The Cisco Secure Web Appliance acts as a proxy server, intercepting web requests from users and scanning the requested web content for potential threats such as malware, viruses, and phishing attempts. It uses various security technologies such as URL filtering, antivirus scanning, reputation-based filtering, and advanced malware protection to ensure the security of web traffic. Overall, the Secure Web Appliance helps organizations secure their web traffic, enforce usage policies, and protect against web-based threats, contributing to a safer and more controlled web browsing environment for users.

What’s New in AsyncOS 16.0

Feature

Description

Single Sign-On using SAML

The Secure Web Appliance now supports Single Sign-On (SSO) using SAML. This enables users to log in to the appliance’s web interface with the same credentials they use for other SAML SSO-enabled services within their organization. By configuring the appliance as a SAML Service Provider (SP) and integrating with a SAML Identity Provider (IdP) such Microsoft ADFS, users can authenticate once and gain seamless access to all authorized services without repeated logins.

For more information, see SSO Using SAML.

New/Modified Screens: Network > SSO, System Administration > Users > External Authentication

Configuration Audit Logs

The Configuration Audit log is a monitoring tool designed to track and log all configuration changes made to the Secure Web Appliance throughout its lifecycle. Previously, there was no dedicated page to monitor these changes, making it difficult to track modifications.

For more information, see Configuration Audit Logs.

New/Modified Screens: Reporting > Configuration Audit

KyberKEM (Post-Quantum Cryptography)

KyberKEM is integrated into the Secure Web Appliance as a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) feature to secure communications against future quantum computing threats. Its primary purpose is to establish a shared secret between two communicating parties while remaining resistant to attackers within the transmission system.

Note

 

  • By default the feature is disbaled.

  • KyberKEM is only supported on TLS version 1.3.

  • CiscoSSL_PQC 3.3.3.8.3.39 based on OpenSSL 3.3.3 library is introduced for this feature.

New/Modified CLI: wsa > advancedproxyconfig > HTTPS

Generative AI Visibility and Control for ADC

Secure Web Appliance now provides enhanced visibility and granular control over Generative AI applications through the Applications Discovery and Control (ADC) engine. This update addresses the security risks associated with Shadow IT and potential data leakage by expanding the ADC database from 4 to over 1,200 Generative AI applications, including tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, and GitHub Copilot.

By integrating with Cisco’s Cloud App Security Intelligence (CASI), administrators can now accurately identify, monitor, and apply access policies to a wide range of AI-powered content creation, coding, and productivity tools.

Health Check APIs

AsyncOS 16.0 introduces REST APIs for performing health checks on key appliance services, network connectivity, and system resources. These APIs enable administrators to programmatically retrieve health information and troubleshoot connectivity and system-related issues.

The following health check APIs are available:

  • External DLP Health Check—Tests ICAP connectivity to configured External DLP servers and provides connection status and response-time information.

  • Network Interface Health Check— Tests IPv4 and IPv6 gateway reachability for configured network interfaces and provides packet-loss and round-trip-time information.

  • NTP Health Check—Reports the health of the NTP service, including process and readiness status, recent service start information, time adjustments, and error or warning messages.

  • DNS Lookup Health Check—Tests configured DNS servers by performing forward and reverse DNS lookups and reports DNS resolution and server responsiveness.

  • System Health Check—Provides appliance health and resource metrics, including RAM and disk utilization, proxy CPU usage, disk usage, RAID status, proxy bandwidth, and proxy connection information.

You can retrieve information for all applicable components or, where supported, query a specific server, network interface, or system metric. These APIs can be used for automated health monitoring and troubleshooting of the appliance. For more information, see AsyncOS API 16.0 for Cisco Secure Web Appliance–Getting Started Guide

The health check APIs are supported only with the REST API v3.0 endpoint.

Using the Appliance Web Interface

Web Interface Browser Requirements

Following are the requirements for accessing the web interface:

  • Cookies and JavaScript must be supported and enabled by your browser.

  • The browser must be able to render HTML pages that contain Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

  • The Cisco Secure Web Appliance follows the Target Environments set by YUI: http://yuilibrary.com/yui/environments/

  • Your session automatically times out after 30 minutes of inactivity.

  • Some buttons and links in the web interface cause additional windows to open. Therefore, you may need to configure the browser’s pop-up blocking settings in order to use the web interface.


Note
Use only one browser window or tab at a time to edit the appliance configuration. Also, do not edit the appliance using the web interface and the CLI at the same time. Editing the appliance from multiple places concurrently results in unexpected behavior and is not supported.

To access the GUI, your browser must support and be enabled to accept JavaScript and cookies, and it must be able to render HTML pages containing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Table 1. Supported Browsers and Releases

Browser

Windows 10

MacOS 10.6

Safari

—

7.0 and later

Google Chrome

Latest stable version

Latest stable version

Microsoft Internet Explorer

11.0

—

Mozilla Firefox

Latest stable version

Latest stable version

Microsoft Edge

Latest stable version

Latest stable version

Browsers are supported only for operating systems officially supported by the browser.

You may need to configure your browser’s pop-up blocking settings in order to use the GUI, because some buttons or links in the interface will cause additional windows to open.

You can access the legacy web interface of the appliance on any of the supported browsers.

The supported resolution for the new web interface of the appliance (AsyncOS 11.8 and later) is between 1280x800 and 1680x1050. The best viewed resolution for all supported browsers is 1440x900.


Note

Cisco does not recommend viewing the new web interface of the appliance on higher resolutions.

Enabling Access to the Web Interface on Virtual Appliances

By default, the HTTP and HTTPS interfaces are not enabled on virtual appliances. To enable these protocols, you must use the command-line interface.

Procedure

Step 1

Access the command-line interface. See Accessing the Command Line Interface.

Step 2

Run the interfaceconfig command.

Press Enter at a prompt to accept the default value.

Look for the prompts for HTTP and HTTPS and enable the protocol(s) that you will use.

Look for the prompts for AsyncOS API (Monitoring) for HTTP and HTTPS and enable the protocol(s) that you will use.

Accessing the Appliance Web Interface

If you are using a virtual appliance, see Enabling Access to the Web Interface on Virtual Appliances.

Procedure

Step 1

Open a browser and enter the IP address (or hostname) of the Secure Web Appliance. If the appliance has not been previously configured, use the default settings:

https://192.168.42.42:8443

-or-

http://192.168.42.42:8080

where 192.168.42.42 is the default IP address, and 8080 is the default admin port setting for HTTP, and 8443 is default admin port for HTTPS.

Otherwise, if the appliance is currently configured, use the IP address (or host name) of the M1 port.

Note

 

You must use a port number when connecting to the appliance (by default, port 8080). Failing to specify a port number when accessing the web interface results in a default port 80, Proxy Unlicensed error page.

Step 2

[New Web Interface Only] Login to the legacy web interface and click Secure Web Appliance is getting a new look. Try it!! link to access the new web interface. When you click this link, it opens a new tab in your web browser and goes to https://wsa_appliance.com:<trailblazer-https-port>/ng-login, where wsa_appliance.com is the appliance host name and <trailblazer-https-port> is the trailblazer HTTPS port configured on the appliance.

Note

 

  • You must login to the legacy web interface of the appliance.

  • Ensure that your DNS server can resolve the interface hostname of the appliance that you specified.

  • By default, the new web interface needs TCP ports 6080, 6443 and 4431 to be operational. Ensure that these ports are not blocked in the enterprise firewall.

  • The default port for accessing new web interface is 4431. This can be customized using trailerblazerconfig CLI command. For more information on the trailblazerconfig CLI command, see Secure Web Appliance CLI Commands.

  • The new web interface also needs AsyncOS API (Monitoring) ports for HTTP and HTTPS. By default these ports are 6080 and 6443. The AsyncOS API (Monitoring) ports can also be customized in the interfaceconfig CLI command. For more information on the interfaceconfig CLI command, see Secure Web Appliance CLI Commands.

    Note

     

    The ports are enabled by default, but once these ports are disabled, they will be enabled again after the upgrade.

  • If you change these default ports, then ensure that the customized ports for the new web interface too must not be blocked in the enterprise firewall.

Step 3

When the appliance login screen appears, enter your user name and passphrase to access the appliance.

By default, the appliance ships with the following user name and passphrase:

  • User name: admin

  • Passphrase: ironport

If this is the first time you have logged in with the default admin user name, you will be prompted to immediately change the passphrase.

Step 4

To view a listing of recent appliance access attempts, both successes and failures, for your user name, click the recent-activity icon (i or ! for success or failure respectively) in front of the “Logged in as” entry in the upper right corner of the application window.

Committing Changes in the Web Interface

Procedure

Step 1

Click Commit Changes.

Step 2

Enter comments in the Comment field if you choose.

Step 3

Click Commit Changes.

Note

 

You can make multiple configuration changes before you commit all of them.

Clearing Changes in the Web Interface

Procedure

Step 1

Click Commit Changes.

Step 2

Click Abandon Changes.

Supported Languages

AsyncOS can display its GUI and CLI in any of the following languages:

  • German

  • English

  • Spanish

  • French

  • Italian

  • Japanese

  • Korean

  • Portuguese

  • Russian

  • Chinese

  • Taiwanese

The Cisco SensorBase Network

The Cisco SensorBase Network is a threat management database that tracks millions of domains around the world and maintains a global watch list for Internet traffic. SensorBase provides Cisco with an assessment of reliability for known Internet domains. The Cisco Secure Web Appliance uses the SensorBase data feeds to improve the accuracy of Web Reputation Scores.

SensorBase Benefits and Privacy

Participating in the Cisco SensorBase Network means that Cisco collects data and shares that information with the SensorBase threat management database. This data includes information about request attributes and how the appliance handles requests.

Cisco recognizes the importance of maintaining your privacy, and does not collect or use personal or confidential information such as usernames and passphrases. Additionally, the file names and URL attributes that follow the hostname are obfuscated to ensure confidentiality. When it comes to decrypted HTTPS transactions, the SensorBase Network only receives the IP address, web reputation score, and URL category of the server name in the certificate.

If you agree to participate in the SensorBase Network, data sent from your appliance is transferred securely using HTTPS. Sharing data improves Cisco’s ability to react to web-based threats and protect your corporate environment from malicious activity.

Enabling Participation in The Cisco SensorBase Network


Note
Standard SensorBase Network Participation is enabled by default during system setup.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Security Services > SensorBase.

Step 2

Verify that SensorBase Network Participation is enabled.

When it is disabled, none of the data that the appliance collects is sent back to the SensorBase Network servers.

Step 3

In the Participation Level section, choose one of the following levels:

  • Limited. Basic participation summarizes server name information and sends MD5-hashed path segments to the SensorBase Network servers.

  • Standard. Enhanced participation sends the entire URL with unobfuscated path segments to the SensorBase Network servers. This option assists in providing a more robust database, and continually improves the integrity of Web Reputation Scores.

Step 4

In the AnyConnect Network Participation field, choose whether or not to include information collected from clients that connect to the Cisco Secure Web Appliance using Cisco AnyConnect Client.

AnyConnect Clients send their web traffic to the appliance using the Secure Mobility feature.

Step 5

In the Excluded Domains and IP Addresses field, optionally enter any domains or IP addresses to exclude from traffic sent to the SensorBase servers.

Step 6

Submit and commit your changes.