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Clean Access Agent FAQKey Terms• Network Access Procedure: The process of authentication and validation of your computer required for university network access. • Authentication: The process of verifying your access to the network by confirming your username and password and associating it with your computer. • Validation: The process of confirming that certain security measures are in place on your computer. QuestionsQ: What is Clean Access? Q: What Networks Require Validation? Q: Why Are We Introducing this Solution Now? Q: How Does Validation Work? Q: Where do the Cisco Clean Access Servers Fit in the Network? Q: What is the Clean Access Agent? Q: What Validation Checks are Being Performed? Q: How Long Do the Validation Checks Take? Q: What is the Process for Changing the Minimum Security Requirements? Q: How Often Will I Be Revalidated? Q: How Does Validation Work for Macintosh Users? Q: How Does Validation Work for Linux Users? Q: What Remediation is Available? Q: What Happens If an “Infected” System Behaves Badly on the Network?
A: Clean access is a solution provided by Cisco, Inc. that performs network validation. The software performs the following functions:
Q: What Networks Require Validation? A: We are deploying the validation solution to the student residential network starting with Fall semester 2005. Q: Why Are We Introducing this Solution Now? A: Each semester, student machines are introduced to the campus that potentially contain harmful viruses and malware. On move-in weekend in particular, worms and viruses attempt to spread to unpatched/vulnerable machines. Information Technology Services determined that the best way to prevent this from happening is to insure that virus software and Operating System critical update/patches are current and maintained. Q: How Does Validation Work? A: Similar to the "Computer Registration" form, this solution will redirect any Internet browser request to a web page that instructs the user to download and install the validation client known as the “Cisco Clean Access Agent”. Once launched, the client downloads the validation rules and processes them. If the workstation fails the test, it is allowed Internet access only to the remediation sites for a period of about 45 minutes. Once corrected, full network access is provided. Q: Where do the Cisco Clean Access Servers Fit in the Network? A: There is a management server, known as “Clean Access Manager” which provides the administration of the Cisco Clean Access-protected network. The enforcement servers are known as “Clean Access Servers. The Clean Access Servers receive the validation instructions from the Clean Access Manager and download these to each client installed on workstations which connect to the network. We have configured the Clean Access Servers as routers in the university network. Access to the network is controlled via access control lists on the router. Thus, unauthenticated access is limited to very few network addresses; once authenticated and validated, Cisco Clean Access modifies the access controls to allow full access to the network. Q: What is the Clean Access Agent? A: Clean Access Agent is the client application that can check certain security settings on any Microsoft Windows PC to make sure that the system is up-to-date with required security patches and report this status to the Clean Access Server. No information about the user or the content of user files is sent to the server. Each user must use Clean Access Agent for his/her Microsoft Windows PC in order to authenticate and use the university network. Q: What Validation Checks are Being Performed? A: For Fall semester, we are configuring Cisco Clean Access to validate the following:
Q: How Long Do the Validation Checks Take? A: In our pilots to date, the checks take between 15 and 30 seconds. Q: What is the Process for Changing the Minimum Security Requirements? A: As new critical Microsoft updates become available, the security requirements will be updated to reflect the new patches. Typically, we will not immediately set the validation check for the new patches, but allow some time (typically a week) for people to update their systems in due course. If a vulnerability is reported or the threat of a virus storm or worm attack emerges, we will update the validation check immediately in reaction to the threat. Please note that we may cancel all network connections for a particular subnet in response to an attack. Again, we will send email and will only resort to these actions in very urgent conditions. Q: How Often Will I Be Revalidated? A: We plan to re-validate everyone on each login. This is to ensure that the most current antivirus updates are installed. Additionally, we have configured the validation timer for every 7 days. Initial plans are for early Monday mornings. Q: How Does Validation Work for Macintosh Users? A: Currently Macintosh users must authenticate by logging in via a web page. At this point there is no client which is downloaded to Macintosh systems. The network connection timer is set for Macintosh systems; however, there is no icon that can be right-clicked to logout and subsequently login again. Q: How Does Validation Work for Linux Users? A: Linux users must authenticate by logging in via a web page. There is no client which is downloaded to Linux systems. The network connection timer is set for Linux systems; however, there is no icon that can be right-clicked to logout and subsequently login again. Q: What Remediation is Available? A: Authentication Failure - If a user’s systems fails authentication, the user is instructed to provide the correct 49er Express username and password. If the user has forgotten his/her password, he/she is instructed to set a new password via the password reset tool on 49er Express. Anti-virus Failure - UNC Charlotte provides Symantec Anti-virus free to students. It is required that all PCs connected to the campus network be running Anti-virus software. Other allowed Anti-Virus clients include McAfee, AVG and Trend Micro Anti-virus, however, limited support is provided. If the user’s system fails the check for current Anti-virus software, the user is provided a download for Symantec Anti-virus. Microsoft Windows Update Failure - If the user’s system fails the check for the Windows Updates service, the user is instructed to click on the URL for the Microsoft Windows update configuration site and follow the instructions. Q: What Happens If an “Infected” System Behaves Badly on the Network? A: The validation solution can not prevent all infections. Also, we have experienced denial of service attacks originating from within the university network. For those subnets controlled by Clean Access Servers, the process will be to disconnect the offending system using the Clean Access Manager management console. Unless the system is demonstrating a vulnerability for which there is no patch, there should be no need to block the physical switch port, as the user will not be able to reconnect until the problem is corrected. |
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