Security profiles

Where security policies provide the instructions to the FortiGate unit for controlling what traffic is allowed through the device, the Security profiles provide the screening that filters the content coming and going on the network. Security profiles enable you to instruct the FortiGate unit about what to look for in the traffic that you don’t want, or want to monitor, as it passes through the device.

A security profile is a group of options and filters that you can apply to one or more firewall policies. Security profiles can be used by more than one security policy. You can configure sets of security profiles for the traffic types handled by a set of security policies that require identical protection levels and types, rather than repeatedly configuring those same security profile settings for each individual security policy.

For example, while traffic between trusted and untrusted networks might need strict antivirus protection, traffic between trusted internal addresses might need moderate antivirus protection. To provide the different levels of protection, you might configure two separate profiles: one for traffic between trusted networks, and one for traffic between trusted and untrusted networks.

Security profiles are available for various unwanted traffic and network threats. Each are configured separately and can be used in different groupings as needed. You configure security profiles in the Security Profiles menu and applied when creating a security policy by selecting the security profile type.

There is a separate handbook for the topic of the Security Profiles, but because the Security Profiles are applied through the Firewall policies it makes sense to have at least a basic idea of what the security profile do and how they integrate into the FortiGate’s firewall policies. The following is a listing and a brief description of what the security profiles offer by way of functionality and how they can be configured into the firewall policies.

 

AntiVirus

Antivirus is used as a catch all term to describe the technology for protection against the transmission of malicious computer code sometimes referred to as malware. As anyone who has listened to the media has heard that the Internet can be a dangerous place filled with malware of various flavours. Currently, the malware that is most common in the Internet, in descending order, is Trojan horses, viruses, worms, adware, back door exploits, spyware and other variations. In recent years, not only has the volume of malicious software become greater than would have been believed when it first appeared but the level of sophistication has risen as well.

The Antivirus Filter works by inspecting the traffic that is about to be transmitted through the FortiGate. To increase the efficiency of effort it only inspects the traffic being transmitted via the protocols that it has been configured to check. Before the data moves across the FortiGate firewall from one interface to another it is checked for attributes or signatures that have been known to be associated with malware. If malware is detected, it is removed.

 

Web Filtering

Malicious code is not the only thing to be wary of on the Internet. There is also the actual content. While the content will not damage or steal information from your computer there is still a number of reasons that would require protection from it.

In a setting where there are children or other sensitive people using the access provided by a connected computer there is a need to make sure that images or information that is not appropriate is not inadvertently displayed to them. Even if there is supervision, in the time it takes to recognize something that is inappropriate and then properly react can expose those we wish to protect. It is more efficient to make sure that the content cannot reach the screen in the first place.

In an organizational setting, there is still the expectation that organization will do what it can to prevent inappropriate content from getting onto the computer screens and thus provoking an Human Resources incident. There is also the potential loss of productivity that can take place if people have unfiltered access to the Internet. Some organizations prefer to limit the amount of distractions available to tempt their workers away from their duties.

The Web filter works primarily by looking at the destination location request for a HTTP(S) request made by the sending computer. If the URL is on a list that you have configured to list unwanted sites, the connection will be disallowed. If the site is part of a category of sites that you have configured to deny connections to the session will also be denied. You can also configure the content filter to check for specific key strings of data on the actual web site and if any of those strings of data appear the connection will not be allowed.

 

Application Control

Application Control is designed to allow you to determine what applications are operating on your network and to the also filter the use of these applications as required. Application control is also for outgoing traffic to prevent the use of applications that are against an organization’s policy from crossing the network gateway to other networks. An example of this would be the use of proxy servers to circumvent the restrictions put in place using the Web Filtering.

 

Intrusion Protection (IPS)

Intrusion Prevention System is almost self explanatory. In the same way that there is malware out on the Internet that the network needs to be protected from there are also people out there that take a more targeted approach to malicious cyber activity. No operating system is perfect and new vulnerabilities are being discovered all of the time. An intrusion prevention system is designed to look for activity or behavior that is consistent with attacks against your network. When attack like behavior is detected it can either be dropped or just monitored depending on the approach that you would like to take.

As new vulnerabilities are discovered they can be added to the IPS database so that the protection is current.

 

Email Filtering

Spam or unsolicited bulk email is said to account for approximately 90% of the email traffic on the Internet. Sorting through it is both time consuming and frustrating. By putting an email filter on policies that handle email traffic, the amount of spam that users have to deal with can be greatly reduced.

 

Data Leak Prevention (DLP)

Data Leak Prevention is used to prevent sensitive information from leaving your network. When people think of security in the cyber-world one of the most common images is that of a hacker penetrating your network and making off with your sensitive information, but the other way that you can lose sensitive data is if someone already on the inside of your network sends it out. This does not have to be an act of industrial espionage. It can just be a case of not knowing the policies of the organization or a lack of knowledge of security or laws concerning privacy.

For instance, a company may have a policy that they will not reveal anyone’s Social Security number, but an employee emails a number of documents to another company that included a lengthy document that has a Social Security number buried deep within it. There is not malicious intent but if the information got out there could be repercussions.

If an organization has any information in a digital format that it cannot afford for financial or legal reasons, to leave its network, it makes sense to have Data Leak Prevention in place as an additional layer of protection.

 

VoIP

Voice over IP is essentially the protocols for transmitting voice or other multimedia communications over Internet Protocol networks such as the Internet. The Security Profiles VoIP options apply the SIP Application Level Gateway (ALG) to support SIP through the FortiGate unit. The SIP ALG can also be used to protect networks from SIP-based attacks.

 

ICAP

Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) off loads HTTP traffic to another location for specialized processing. The purpose of this module when triggered is to send the incoming HTTP traffic over to a remote server to be processed thus taking some of the strain off of the resources of the FortiGate unit. The reasons for the specialized process could be anything from more sophisticated Antivirus to manipulation of the HTTP headers and URLs.

 

EndPoint Control

EndPoint Control makes sure that certain standards are kept. When a computer on the Internet becomes connected to the FortiGate unit by VPN that computer is now part of the same network and therefore needs to be subject to the same levels of protection, not only to protect the computer but the network. In the EndPoint Control section you can set the minimum standards for things like AntiVirus software and VPN software.

 

Proxy Option Components

Any time a security profile that requires the use of a proxy is enabled the Proxy Options field will be displayed. Certain inspections defined in security profiles require that the traffic be held in proxy while the inspection is carried out and so the Proxy Options are there to define the parameters of how the traffic will be processed and to what level the traffic will be processed. In the same way that there can be multiple security profiles of a single type there can also be a number of unique Proxy Option profiles so that as the requirements for a policy differ from one policy to the next you can also configure a different Proxy Option profile for each individual policy or you can use one profile repeatedly.

The Proxy Options refer to the handling of the following protocols:

• HTTP l  SMTP l  POP3 l  IMAP
• FTP
• NNTP
• MAPI
• DNS
• IM

 

The configuration for each of these protocols is handled separately.

It should also be noted that these configurations apply to only the Security Profiles Proxy-based processes and not the Flow-based processes.

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Security policies

One of the foundations upon which a firewall works is the use of policies. These are what bring the other firewall objects and components together into an elegant mechanism for the governing of the traffic going through the network.

 

This Chapter includes information on the following topics:

• Firewall policies
• Security profiles
• SSL/SSH Inspection
• Identity Based Policies
• Device Identity Policies
• VPN Policies
• Interface Policies
• One-Arm IDS
• Local-In Policies l  Security Policy 0 l  Deny Policies
• Accept Policies
• IPv6 Policies
• Fixed Port
• Endpoint Security
• Traffic Logging
• Quality of Service
• Policy Monitor

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Identity Based Policies

Identity based policies are ones in which there is the additional component of either an account identity or device identity. The inclusion of one or both of these components adds an extra dimension of complexity to working with these policies in the context of the other policies so while the extra security and granularity of control are beneficial, extra care must be taken when configuring the policies themselves and how they are positioned in the policy sequence. The actual configuration of these identities are explained in detail in the Authentication Handbook.

Identity-based security policies are usually configured for IPsec or SSL VPN traffic since this type of traffic usually requires authentication from network users.

 

Identity–based policy positioning

In non-identity based policies, if non of the 6 mandatory policy parameters matches the header of the traffic packets the parameters are compared against the next policy in sequence. Because those parameters are mandatory there is always a value to test against and whether or not the policy applies is certain. The fact that the identity parameters are not required makes knowing whether or not the correct policy will be applied less obvious.

Originally, the identity aspect of a policy was an entire sub-policy checking sequence within each policy, including its own 0 policy at the end of the sequence. If all of the other parameters match the policy would then compare the traffic’s identity with the list of identity groups in the policy starting at the beginning of the sequence and going through them until an identity was found that matched and then the rules for that identity group would be applied. If the traffic’s identity did not match any of those listed in the policy it go to the last identity in the policy would be everyone and the Action would be deny.

The identity aspects of policies have now been incorporated in a single flat configuration that makes them a fundimental part of the policy rather than something that is added to the policy. This is simplier and allows for more complex combinations of address identification, user authentication and device determination that were not possible with previous policy configurations. Both user groups and device groups can be part of the same policy. Because the identity aspects are optional, more flexibility in creating policies that use authentication is possible.

 

Identity fall through rules

The fall through rules for policies in 5.2 have changed so that they are more in keeping with the practices of other vendors. This makes it easier for users used to other firewalls to configure the policies and it also makes it simplier to convert the policies of other firewalls to be used on a FortiGate firewall.

Previously, if traffic reached an identity policy and the user or device was not a member of one of the groups specified it would fall through to the implicit deny all policy. This meant that any traffic that reached that policy would have to be authenticated and a member of one of the listed groups. If the 6 required parameters matched, the traffic would not be getting past this policy.

The approach is now to treat the the identity parameters, if they exist, the same as the other parameters, in that if they do not match any listed in the policy, the traffic drops down to the next policy.

Example:

There are three policies where all the parameters are the same except:

• Policy # 1 – Source User Group A is assigned profile A
• Policy # 2 – Source User Group B s assigned profile B
• Policy # 3 – Source User(s) and Source Device Type are empty

 

Traffic that matches all of the required parameters will be processed as follows:

• Traffic authenticated as being from User Group A will be processed by Policy # 1. l  Traffic authenticated as being from User Group B will be processed by Policy # 2. l  Traffic with no authenticated users will be processed by Policy # 3.
• Traffic authenticated as being from User Group C will be processed by Policy # 3.

In the methodology before FortiOS 5.2, traffic authenticated as being User Group B, User Group C or no authenticated user at all would have been stopped at Policy # 1.

The CLI command “fall-through-unauthenticated” that was added in 5.0.1 attempted to allow a process similar to this, but only applied to unathenticated traffic and not authenticated traffic that didn’t match the list of groups is the the sub-policy. The current methodology is not subject to the same limitation and alleviates the need for the function of this command so the command has been removed from the CLI.

 

Implicit Protocols

In previous versions of the firmware, the protocols that were used to authenticate such as HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and Telnet, were supported on the policy whether or not they were included in the supported services. In 5.2, the protocol needed to authenticate needs to be included in the list of allowed services in order the the authentication to take place.

For example, if you have a VIP coming into your network that is for connecting to some security webcams located in your data center that use custom services or ports to connect to, if you are using an identity policy you would also have to include HTTP or HTTPS in the services list in order to actually authenticate.

Another formerly implicit protocol that is not supported automatically in 5.2 is port 53 (DNS). If you are limiting the services of a protocol to web based protocols such as HTTP or HTTPS don’t forget to to add DNS so that the domain names can be resolved.

When upgrading the firmware from version 5.0.x to 5.2.x, a policy with either an iden- tity or device sub-policy will automatically convert from a single policy with sub-policies to a separate policy for each identity based sub-policy.

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SSL/SSH Inspection

While the profile configuration for this is not found in the Security Profiles section but in the Policy Section, it is set in the policy along with the security profiles. This sort of analysis is some times referred to as deep scanning.

Deep Inspection works along the following lines. If your FortiGate unit has the correct chipset it will be able to scan SSL encrypted traffic in the same way that regular traffic can be scanned. The FortiGate firewall will essentially receive the traffic on behalf of the client and open up the encrypted traffic. Once it is finished it re- encrypts the traffic and sends it on to its intended recipient. It is very similar to a man-in-the-middle attack. By enabling this feature, it allows the FortiGate firewall to filter on traffic that is using the SSL encrypted protocol.

The encrypted protocols that can be inspected are:

• HTTPS l  SMTPS l  POP3S l  IMAPS
• FTPS

Before the invention of SSL inspection, scanning regular web traffic can be circumvented by using the prefix https:// instead of http:// in the URL. SSL inspection prevents this circumvention. However, because when the encrypted traffic is decrypted it has to be re-encrypted with the FortiGate’s certificate rather than the original certificate it can cause errors because the name on the certificate does not match the name on the web site.

At one point deep inspection was something that was either turned on or off. Now individual deep inspection profiles can be created depending on the requirements of the policy. Depending on the Inspection Profile, you can:

• Configure which CA certificate will be used to decrypt the SSL encrypted traffic.
• Configure which SSL protocols will be inspected.
• Configure which ports will be associated with which SSL protocols for the purpose of inspection.
• Configure which websites will be exempt from SSL inspection
• Configure whether or not to allow invalid SSL certificates.
• Configure whether or not SSH traffic will be inspected.

 

Inspection Exemption

When you are using a browser to visit SSL encrypted sites and we are using a certificate that does not match the certificate of the site, we are presented with a warning message and the option of continuing, using the untrusted certificate, or terminating the session. However, there are a number of applications that use SSL encrypted traffic. If the application detects SSL traffic that wasn’t signed with a certificate that it trusts it will not allow the traffic. The applications do not give the option to manually indicate that we trust the certificate or the site.

If the option is available, the customer may choose to import needed SSL certificates into Local Certificates and configure a policy for communication for that application.

The assist in preventing loss of access to these site but still enabling the SSL inspection of the rest of the internet traffic, a method of exempting either Website categories or specific sites has been developed. To exempt a large group of sites the profile can be configure to exempt FortiGuard Categories. There are 3 of these categories preselected due to the high likelihood of issues with associated applications with the type of websites included in these categories.

• Heath and Wellness
• Personal Privacy
• Finance and Banking

Other more specific websites can be added to the exemption list by creating addresses for them at Policy & Objects > Objects > Addresses. The adding of addresses is done by selection from a drop down menu. There is an option at the bottom of the list to create a new address, but otherwise only preconfigured addresses that are configured to be on the “Any” interface will be available for selection.

Examples of sites that you may want to configure for exemption so that there will be no interference due to certificate issues:

Apple

• *.appstore.com
• *.apple.com
• *.itunes.apple.com
• *.icloud.com
• swscan.apple.com

 

Dropbox

• *.dropbox.com

Skype

• *.messenger.live.com

Windows Updates

• update.microsoft.com

Allow Invalid SSL Certificate

This setting was something that used to be part of the Proxy Options, but now that SSL inspection has it’s own configuration setting it is configured with those. It might seem like a straight forward decision that the allowing of invalid SSL certificates must be bad and therefore should not be allowed, but there can be some reasons that should be considered. The issues at hand are the reasons to use a SSL certificate and the reasons that a certificate will be considered invalid.

At a purely technical level, a properly formed certificate will encrypt the data so that it can only be read by the intended parties and not be read by anyone sniffing traffic on the network. For this reason, people will often use self-signed certificates. These self signed certificates are free and will encrypt the data just as well as those purchased from any of the big vendors of certificates, but if they are not listed as an approved Certificate Authority (CA) the certificates will be considered invalid.

On the other hand, one of the services the vendors provide is verification of identity of those that purchase their certificates. This means that if you see a valid certificate from a site that identified itself as being from “valid- company.com” that you can be reasonably sure that the site does belong to that company and not a false site masquerading as being part of that company.

 

Creating or editing an SSL/SSH Inspection profile

1. Go to Policy & Objects > Policy > SSL/SSH Inspection.

This will open to one of the existing profiles.

The links for the actions are located in the upper right hand corner of the window.

• To view a list of the exiting profiles select the List icon (a page) at the far right.
• To clone an existing profile, select the Clone icon (one page behind another), second from the right
• To create a new profile, select the Create New icon (“+ “symbol), third from the right.
• To view or edit an existing profile, choose it from the dropdown menu field.

2. Name Field:

Give the Profile an easily identifiable name that references its intent.

3. Comments Field:

Enter any additional information that might be needed by administrators, as a reminder of the profile’s purpose and scope.

4. SSL Inspection Options:

a. Enable SSL Inspection of:

• Multiple Clients Connecting to Multiple Servers – Use this option for generic policies where the destination is unknown.
• Protecting SSL Server – Use this option when setting up a profile customized for a specific SSL server with a specific certificate.

b. CA Certificate

Use the drop down menu to choose which one of the installed certificates to use for the inspection of the packets.

c. Inspection Method

The options here are:

• SSL Certificate Inspection – only inspects the certificate, not the contents of the traffic.
• Full SSL Inspection – inspects all of the traffic.

d. Inspect All Ports

Enable the ability to inspect all ports by checking the box. If the feature is not enabled, specify in the field next to the listed protocols, the port through which that protocols traffic will be inspected. Traffic of that protocol going through any other port will not be inspected.

5. Exempt from SSL Inspection:

Use the dropdown menus in this section to specify either a FortiGuard Web Category or addresses that will be exempt from SSL inspection.

a. Web Categories

By default the categories of Health and Wellness, Personal Privacy, and Finance and Banking have been added as these are one that are most likely to have applications that will require a specific certificate.

b. Addresses

These can be any of the Address objects that have an interface of “Any”.

6. SSH Inspection Options:

a. SSH Deep Scan

Toggle the grey on button so that it is: Greyed out to disable the feature

Opaque and vibrate to enable the feature

b. SSH Port

The available options are:

• Any – choosing this option will search all of the traffic regardless of service or TCP/IP port for packets that conform to the SSH protocol
• Specify – choosing this option will restrict the search for SSH protocol packets to the TCP/IP port number specified in the field. This is not as comprehensive but it is easier on the performance of the firewall.

d. Protocol Actions

• Exec – Block, Log or neither. Select using check boxes.
• Port-Forward – Block, Log or neither. Select using check boxes.
• SSH-Shell – Block, Log or neither. Select using check boxes.
• X11-Filter – Block, Log or neither. Select using check boxes.

7. Common Options:

a. Allow Invalid SSL Certificates

Check the box to enable the passing of traffic with invalid certificate

b. Log Invalid Certificates

Check the box to have the Logging function record traffic sessions that contained invalid certificates

The Enable SSH Deep Scan feature is enabled by default when creating a new SSL/SSH Inspection profile. There are situations were this feature can cause issues so be sure that you would like it enabled before applying it.

The context location for configuring the SSL/SSH Inspection in the CLI is:

config firewall ssl-ssh-profile

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