Enroll Windows machines with the Windows Cloud Agent

This topic describes how to enroll Windows machines with the Windows Cloud Agent to enforce adaptive MFA without depending on direct connectivity (LAN or VPN) to the directory source (for example, Active Directory).

Before you enroll any Windows machines, you should create a policy set to configure adaptive MFA for your Windows users. The Windows Cloud Agent supports the following authentication mechanisms:

  • Mobile Authenticator

    The number matching feature of the Mobile Authenticator is not supported by the Windows Cloud Agent. Please disable Endpoint Policies > Common Settings > Mobile Settings > Security Settings > Require number matching for mobile authenticator to prevent accidental approvals within your Windows Cloud Agent policy set.

  • email

  • phone call

  • SMS

  • OATH OTP (HOTP)

  • QR code

  • security questions

Select passwordless authentication mechanisms to provide your users with a seamless log in experience. Refer to CyberArk Identity Windows Cloud Agent for more information about passwordless authentication, and other benefits of enrolling with the Windows Cloud Agent.

Remember to complete the Prerequisites for deploying the Windows Cloud Agent first.

Configure adaptive MFA for Windows users

Configure an authentication policy to enforce adaptive MFA when users log in to their enrolled Windows machines. For example, you could use additional authentication mechanisms if a user tries to log in from outside of your corporate IP range.

To configure a Windows authentication policy in the Identity Administration portal

  1. Sign in to the Identity Administration portal.

  2. Go to Core Services > Policies, and then select the policy that you want to edit or click Add Policy Set to create a new one.

    The Policy Settings page opens.

  3. Select the Specified Roles or the Sets option in the Policy Assignment area.

  4. Click Add, find and select the role or set that contains the relevant users or endpoints, then click Add.

  5. Go to Authentication Policies > Endpoint Authentication.

  6. Select Yes in the Enable authentication policy controls drop-down.

    If you want users to authenticate regardless of the log-in condition, skip the following step and use the Default Profile (used if no conditions matched) drop-down to define an authentication profile.

  7. (Optional) Click Add Rule to specify conditional access.

    The Authentication Rule window appears.

  8. Click Add Filter on the Authentication Rule window.

  9. Define the filter and condition using the drop-down menus.

    Filter Description Conditions available

    IP Address

    The computer’s IP address when the user logs in. You can create rules based on:

    • Whether the IP address is inside or outside the corporate network.

      Use either the inside secure zone or outside secure zone condition. Secure zones are defined in Settings > Network > Secure Zones.

    • Whether the IP address is inside a subset of your corporate network.

      Use the inside secure zone... condition. If you select this condition, you also need to indicate the specific secure zone (IP range configured in the IP table in Settings > Network > Secure Zones).

    To configure the IP address condition, you first need to configure the IP address range in Settings > Network > Secure Zones. See Define Secure Zones. The specified authentication profile is then applied to users whose IP address matches the specified IP address value, or falls within the specified IP address range.

    Also see Disable Secure Zones to exempt certain IP addresses or ranges from policy rules.
    • inside secure zones
    • outside secure zones
    • inside secure zone...

    Day of Week

    Specific days of the week (Sunday through Saturday). You can select one or more, based on either User Local Time or UTC.

    Checkboxes for each day of the week and radio buttons to select either User Local Time or UTC

    Date

    A date before or after which the user logs in that triggers the specified authentication requirement, based on either User Local Time or UTC.
    • Less than <selected date>
    • Greater than <selected date>

    User Local Time or UTC

    Date Range

    A specific date range, based on either User Local Time or UTC.

    Date pickers and radio buttons for User Local Time or UTC

    Time Range

    A time range in hh:mm (24 hour clock), based on either User Local Time or UTC .

    Select an Authentication Profile for the time range defined; users who sign in during that time range are subject to the selected authentication profile. You can also choose to not allow sign in during a specified time range.

    Example

    If the Time Range in the Authentication Rule is from 18:00 to 09:00 and the Authentication Profile selected is Not Allowed, impacted users can't sign in during this time. A message displays saying the user does not have the required attributes to sign in.

    Authentication filters for RADIUS connections only use UTC.

    Strings representing time ranges in the format hh:mm, with radio buttons for User Local Time or UTC

    Device OS

    The operating system of the device a user is logging in from.
    • equal to
    • not equal to

    Network Level Authentication

    This filter is used to apply authentication profiles based on whether an RDP client has completed Network Level Authenticaton ("NLA").

    • is done

    • is not done

    Risk Level

    Risk Level: The authentication factor is the risk level of the user logging on to the User Portal. For example, a user attempting to log in to CyberArk Identity from an unfamiliar location can be prompted to enter a password and text message (SMS) confirmation code because the external firewall condition correlates with a medium risk level. This Risk Level filter requires additional licenses. If you do not see this filter, contact CyberArk support. The supported risk levels are:

    • Non Detected -- No unexpected activities are detected.
    • Low -- Some aspects of the requested identity activity are unexpected. Remediation action or simple warning notification can be raised depending on the policy setup.
    • Medium -- Many aspects of the requested identity activity are unexpected. Remediation action or simple warning notification can be raised depending on the policy setup.
    • High -- Strong indicators that the requested identity activity is an anomaly and the user's identity has been compromised. Immediate remediation action, such as MFA, should be enforced.
    • Undetermined -- Not enough user behavior activities (frequency of system use by the user and length of time user has been in the system) have been collected.
    Additional licenses might be required to enable this feature. Contact your CyberArk account representative for more information.

    The following video illustrates how to create an authentication rule based on risk level.
    • equal to
    • not equal to

  10. Click the Add button associated with the filter and condition.

  11. Select the profile that you want applied if all filters/conditions are met in the Authentication Profile drop-down, then click OK.

    The authentication profile is where you define the authentication mechanisms. If you have not created the necessary authentication profile, select the Add New Profile option. See Create authentication profiles.

  12. (Optional) In the Default Profile (used if no conditions matched) drop-down, you can select a default profile to be applied if a user does not match any of the configured conditions.

    13. If you have no authentication rules configured and you select Not Allowed in the Default Profile drop-down, users will not be able to log in to the service.

  13. (Optional) If you have more than one authentication rule, you can drag and drop the rules to a new position in the list to control the order they are applied.

    14. If you configure one-time-passcode (OTP) as an authentication method for your users, as long as endpoint authentication is enabled in your policy setting your users can authenticate using the passcode when their machines are offline. Offline OTP requires that users first log in to User Portal with an internet connection to get the offline code. Direct users to Set up OTPs to authenticate for information on setting up offline OTP.

    If your users also have an enrolled Android or iOS device, after they successfully authenticate to their cloud agent--enrolled machine, they can refresh the Passcodes section of the CyberArk Identity mobile app to automatically create an offline OTP code.

  14. From the policy, select Endpoint Policies > Common Settings > Agent Settings > Lock Screen, then make selections for the following grace period settings.

    The grace period is the amount of time that an active user session can be accessed without MFA challenges. Examples of accessing an active user session include unlocking the screen or switching between logged on users. If the user session is terminated, the grace period timer restarts.

    Setting

    Description
    MFA grace period for OS X and Windows screen unlock

    To specify a grace period, select one of the minute or hour values from the drop-down menu. To specify no grace period, select Immediately. In this case, a locked device immediately requires MFA challenges for unlocking. The default value is Immediately.

    Any change in the grace period setting takes effect only after the period defined in the Update device information frequency (default 12 hours) setting in Endpoint Policies > Device Management Settings, or if policies are manually pushed, or on device restart.
    Enable MFA grace period when device is offline

    Use this setting to control whether the MFA grace period is applied for offline devices. This allows you to choose between user convenience or a strict security posture.

    There is no limit to authentication attempts or lockout with offline authentication. If MFA is not applied, then an attacker has unlimited password attempts within the grace period to sign in.

    The default is equivalent to No, where MFA is always enforced on offline devices.

    Self-service password reset is unavailable inside the MFA grace period.

  15. (Optional) Configure settings for self-service password reset and self-service account unlock.

  16. Click Save.

Enroll Windows machines with the Windows Cloud Agent

You can either enroll a machine individually, or for AD-joined machines you can enroll in bulk.

Step 1: Generate an enrollment code.

You need a randomly generated enrollment code to enroll machine. You must be a member of the System Administrator role to generate enrollment codes.

  1. Log in to the Identity Administration portal.

  2. Click Settings > Endpoints > Enrollment Codes.

  3. Click the Add button.

    The Generate Bulk Enrollment Codes window appears.

  4. (Optional) Select the details to be used to generate the enrollment code.

    • Set an expiration date if the code should expire.

    • Specify the maximum number of devices that can be enrolled or leave Unlimited selected.

    • Enter a description.

  5. Only computers with either a Cloud Agent or Device Trust installed and an IP address within the ranges specified can be added to CyberArk Identity using the enrollment code.

    1. Click IP Range Restrictions to specify the IP addresses where the registration code is valid.

    2. Click Add to specify IP ranges manually.

    3. Click Import Secure Zones to automatically add your existing network IP range.

      4. You can also add addresses after importing your corporate IP addresses. For example, you might want to add IP addresses that are outside of the corporate firewall.

  6. Click Save to generate the enrollment code.

  7. Click Copy to copy it to the clipboard.

Step 2: Download and install the Windows Cloud Agent on Windows machines in your organization.

The procedure for installing on an individual machine is appropriate if you are enrolling a server. Use one of the bulk install procedures to deploy the Windows Cloud Agent on workstations throughout your organization.

A bulk deployment that maps one user per machine requires Windows Cloud Agent version 21.3 or higher.

  1. Log-in to the Identity Administration portal.

  2. Click Downloads and select Agents from the software list.

    All the agents available for download are displayed.

  3. Click download for the Windows Cloud AgentWindows Device Trust installer.

  4. When the download completes, use the Windows native package manager to install.

  5. Enter values for the following parameters.

    • Tenant URL - Your tenant URL. You can find it in the Identity Administration portal, Settings > Customization > Tenant URLs.
    • Enrollment Code - Paste the value of the enrollment code generated previously (In the Identity Administration portal, Settings > Endpoints > Enrollment Codes.

    • Optional parameters - CyberArk recommends adding the following parameters to assign users permission to log in to the enrolled machine.

      • -l <role> to specify the role containing the users who you want to be able to sign in to the machine.

        This should be the same role that the policy set enabling Endpoint Authentication is applied to. Remember to use quotes around role names with spaces.

        If you are setting permissions for a Windows server, add the AD group listed in the server's Remote Desktop Users list to enforce your authentication policies via RDP connections.

        Although users who received permission via role assignment can authenticate to the machine and generate offline OTPs for offline authentication, CyberArk Identity does not consider them the machine owner.

      • -e <user> where <user> is the user's userPrincipalName.

        Users explicitly assigned during enrollment are considered the owner of the device; the user can find the device on the Devices tab of the User Portal.

      If you are enrolling a server that can only access the internet through a proxy server (for example, a domain controller), use -p <proxy url> where <proxy url> is the URL of the proxy server the machine uses to connect to the internet.

      If you are enrolling a server with no open inbound ports, use -p <proxy url>, where <proxy url> is the IP address and port of the server hosting the CyberArk Identity Connector; the CyberArk Identity Connector acts as a proxy to CyberArk Identity.

      Refer to Windows Cloud Agent CLI reference for more information about available parameters.

    If it's necessary, you can give additional users permission later: Grant authentication permission to additional users. Users given permission after enrollment are not considered the machine owner, regardless of whether they are explicitly given permission or given permission via role membership.

  6. Click Finish to enroll the machine.

    If enrollment does not initiate or complete, you can manually enroll the machine using the CLI. Refer to Windows Cloud Agent CLI reference for more information.

This procedure is only applicable to AD-joined machines. It deploys the Windows Cloud Agent on Windows workstations throughout your organization by granting authentication permissions to a role.

  1. Generate the MST file.

    1. Log in the Identity Administration portal.

    2. Click Downloads and select Agents from the software list.

      All the agents available for download are displayed.

    3. Click download for the Windows Cloud Agent.

    4. Create a backup copy of the installer file.

    5. Right-click the installer file and select Edit with Orca.

    6. Select Transform > New Transform.

    7. Select the Property table in the left hand pane.

    8. Right-click in the main pane and select Add Row to specify the relevant properties and values.

    9. Specify the following properties and corresponding values one at a time into the pop-up window:

      Property Value

      Notes

      TENANTURL <tenant url>

      Your tenant URL. You can find it in the Identity Administration portal, Settings > Customization > Tenant URLs. See Configure tenant settings for more information on tenant URLs.
      ENROLLCODE <enrollment code>

      The enrollment code you generated. See Generate an enrollment code..
      PARAM -l <role>

      <role> should be the role containing users you want enrolled. This role should be the same one you specified in your policy assignment settings -- the Identity Administration portal, Core Services > Policies > Policy Settings > Policy Assignment configuration area.

      Although users who received permission via role membership can authenticate to the machine and generate offline OTPs for offline authentication, CyberArk Identity does not consider them the machine owner.

      If it's necessary, you can give additional users permission later: Grant authentication permission to additional users. Users given permission after enrollment are not considered the machine owner, regardless of whether they are explicitly given permission or given permission via role membership.

      Refer to Windows Cloud Agent CLI reference for more information about available parameters.

    10. Repeat the previous steps to create the required properties.

      The following image shows a created tenant URL property/value and the window available for the next property.

    11. Select Transform > Generate Transform to save your modifications to the MST file.

    12. Select Transform > Close Transform.

      Be sure to save the MST file in the same folder as the MSI file. If the MST and MSI files are in different folders, the MST file will not execute when you execute the MSI file.

  2. Deploy the MSI file to your organization.

    Deployment methods include:

    See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/transforms for more information about how to specify the transform using your chosen deployment method.

This procedure is only applicable to AD-joined machines. It deploys the Windows Cloud Agent on Windows workstations throughout your organization by mapping individual users to each workstation.

  1. Log in to the Identity Administration portal.

  2. Click Settings > Endpoints > Corporate-owned Devices > Import.
    The Corporate-owned Devices Import window opens.

  3. (Optional) Click the Corporate-owned devices import template link if you need to create the CSV file.

  4. (Optional) For Windows devices, open the CSV file and enter a username with the domain suffix in the Assigned User column to assign each Windows device to a user.

  5. Click Browse, navigate to your CSV file, then upload the file.

  6. Click Next.

  7. Review the data fields and click Next.

  8. Verify the email address for report delivery and click Confirm.
    The imported devices and serial numbers appear in the Corporate-owned Devices list in the Identity Administration portal (Settings > Endpoints > Corporate-owned Devices).

  1. Click Downloads and expandAgents in the software list.

  2. Click download for the Windows Cloud Agent.

  3. Deploy the Windows Cloud Agent with the tool of your choice.

    For example, you could use SCCM. After you deploy the Windows Cloud Agent, only the users assigned in the CSV file can authenticate to each machine.

Grant authentication permission to additional users