Introduction

This topic contains the following sections:

About Web Security Appliance

What’s New in AsyncOS 12.5

Table 1. What's New in AsyncOS 12.5

Feature

Description

Web Proxy IP Spoofing

You can now configure Web Proxy IP Spoofing by creating an IP spoofing profile and adding it to the routing policies. When IP spoofing profile is used in a routing policy, the web proxy changes the source IP address to custom IP address defined in the IP spoofing profile. See Web Proxy IP Spoofing.

You can now enable or disable client IP spoofing for native FTP requests in FTP proxy settings. See Enabling and Configuring the FTP Proxy.

System Status Dashboard in the New Web Interface

In the new web interface, the appliance has a new page (Monitoring > System Status) to display the current status and configuration of the appliance. See System Status Page on the New Web Interface.

REST API for Network, Log Subscriptions, and Other Configurations

You can now retrieve configuration information, and perform any changes (such as modify existing information, add a new information, or delete an entry) in the configuration data of the appliance using REST APIs.

See the AsyncOS API 12.5 for Cisco Web Security Appliances - Getting Started Guide.

Support for YouTube Categorization

You can now create a custom URL category for YouTube and set policies on the YouTube custom category for secure access control. See YouTube Categorization.

Cisco Success Network on Web Security Appliance.

The Cisco Success Network (CSN) feature enables Cisco to collect telemetry of feature usage information of the appliance. These details are used by Cisco to identify the device information, list of free and licensed features and their activation statuses.

Note

 

By default, the Cisco Success Network feature is enabled on the appliance. If required, you can disable the feature through the web user interface (System Administration > Cisco Success Network) or by using the CLI command csidconfig.

See Improving User Experience of Cisco Web Security Appliance using Cisco Success Network.

Support for High Performance – Phase 2

The Cisco AsyncOS 12.5 release provides Web Security Appliance with High Performance (HP) for for platforms S680, S690, and S695/F. This increases the traffic handling performance of the existing high end appliances.

You can now upgrade to 12.5 version and avail the High Performance mode on the models (S680, S690, S695, S680F, S690F, and S695F), even if you have enabled the following features on your appliance:

  • Web Traffic Tap

  • Volume and Time Quotas

  • Overall Bandwidth Limits

In the previous release, you had to disable the above mentioned features in order to avail the High Performance mode.

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 Web Security 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 2. 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 Web Security 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 Web Security 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.

  • 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 Web Security 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 Web Security 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 Web Security 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 Web Security 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.