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Add an Internet Access Rule

The Cisco Secure Access policy is a collection of an organization's internet and private access rules. To start protecting user devices that connect to the Internet, add internet rules to the organization's Access policy.

This guide describes the steps to add an internet access rule and configure security controls and profiles.

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

Note: Prerequisites for internet access rules are similar to but different from prerequisites for private access rules.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to Secure > Access Rules.

  2. Click Add Rule > Internet Access.
    At the top of the rule is a summary section. The Summary describes the security controls that you configure on this rule.

  3. Configure access criteria. For more information, see Access Options

  4. Click Next.
    The Next button is not available until you give the rule a name and then click out of the Rule name field.

  5. Configure security controls. For more information, see Security Control Options.

  6. Click Save.

  7. (Optional) Enable or disable the rule using the toggle at the top of the page.

  8. (Important) Additional rules are required for most traffic. For more information, see Ensure Rule Matching for Encrypted Internet Traffic.

Access Options

Disable or Enable the rule

After you configure the rule and click Save, the rule will take effect only if this toggle shows as Enabled.

Logging settings

Logging options are at the top right corner of the page:

To choose options, click Edit.

For details, see Manage Logging.

Summary

After you configure the rule, view a summary of the rule's action here.

If you see an Upgrade button, this means your company has an opportunity to upgrade to a licensing package that offers additional functionality. For details, contact your Cisco sales representative.

Rule name

You must give your rule a name before you can click Next at the bottom of the page (to specify security controls.)

Rule order

Specify where you want this rule in the overall rule order.

Secure Access applies the first rule in the list on the Access Policy page that matches the traffic.

Order your rules so that more specific rules are above more general rules that might also apply to the traffic.

For important guidelines, see Edit the Order of Rules on the Access Policy Page.

Rule action

By default, access to internet destinations is allowed unless an access rule blocks or modifies access using the Warn or Isolate options.

The action you choose determines which other options are available in the rule.

Specify the rule action before you specify other settings including source and destination, or those configurations will be reset when you change the action.

  • Allow - When the action is Allow, traffic can still be blocked if it does not pass the security controls specified in the rule.
  • Block - If you want to display a notification page to end users who attempt to access a blocked destination, see Manage Notification Pages.
  • Warn - When the action is Warn:
    • End users must click a link in a warning notification to access the destination.
    • The destination can include applications and application categories as well as content categories and content category lists.
    • You can configure a custom warning notification that Secure Access will present to users who attempt to access a warned destination. You can also preview the notification page. See Manage Notification Pages.
    • Decryption must be enabled in order to present the notification.
    • For required certificates for displaying notifications, see Certificates for Internet Decryption.
  • Isolate - If your license includes the Remote Browser Isolation feature, Secure Access creates a virtual browser that hosts applicable destination access requests. This action is available only for certain destinations.
    For information about the Isolate action, see Understand Isolated Destinations.
    If you see an Upgrade button, click it for information about enhanced functionality for this feature.

Pre-Configured Sources

We recommend that you create reusable components rather than adding source IP addresses directly to a rule. For more information, see Components for Internet Access Rules.

Note: The arrows out icon opens a window to configure the sources in your rule.

  1. Navigate to Secure > Access Policy > Add Rule > Internet Access.
  2. Navigate to Specify Access and then click on the search bar under From.
  3. For Select sources, click in the white space beside the default value ("Any") and choose the configured source components in your organization.
    For descriptions of the different types of sources, including links to how to create reusable sources, see Components for Internet Access Rules.

  1. After you add a source component, click +More to view the list of sources that you added to the rule.
    a. Click on the X to remove a previously added source, then click Done

Composite Sources

You can add Sources directly on an internet rule. This option is useful if you need to quickly address a specific issue that arises, for example to immediately block a particular user's access to an internet destination. For more information about configuring sources, see About Configuring Sources for Internet Access Rules.

Important: Secure Access does not support a comma-separated list of wildcard masks.

  1. Navigate to Secure > Access Policy > Add Rule > Internet Access.
  2. Navigate to Specify Access and then click on the search bar under From.
  3. For Add a source, enter an IPv4 address, CIDR block, or IPv4 address with a wildcard mask.
    For example:
    • IPv4 address—1.2.3.4
    • CIDR block—1.2.3.4/24
    • Wildcard mask—1.2.3.4/255.255.255.255
      For Wildcard Mask, use this format: <IP address>/<Wildcard Mask>. For information about wildcard masks, see Using Wildcard Masks on Internet Rules.

  1. Click Add.

  2. After you add a composite source, click +More to view the list of sources that you added to the rule.
    a. Click on the X to remove a previously added source, then click Done.

Pre-Configured Destinations

We recommend that you create reusable components rather than adding destinations directly in a rule. For more information, see Components for Internet Access Rules.

The rule action sets the the destination options that are available on the rule. Usually you will select destinations that you or others have previously configured.

Note: The arrows out icon opens a window to configure the destinations in your rule.

  1. Navigate to Secure > Access Policy > Add Rule > Internet Access.

  2. Navigate to Specify Access and then click on the search bar under To.

  3. Click Select destinations, click in the white space beside the default value ("Any") and choose the configured destinations in your organization.

  4. After you add a destination component, click +More to view the list of destinations that you added to the rule.
    a. Click on the X to remove a previously added destination, then click Done.

Composite Destinations

You can add destinations directly on an internet rule. For more information, see About Configuring Destinations for Internet Access Rules.

  1. Navigate to Secure > Access Policy > Add Rule > Internet Access.
  2. Navigate to Specify Access and then click on the search bar under To.
  3. Click Add a destination.
    a. For IP, CIDR, or Wildcard Mask, enter an IPv4 address or CIDR block, or IPv4 address with wildcard mask.
    For example:
    • IPv4 address—1.2.3.4
    • CIDR block—1.2.3.4/24
    • Wildcard mask—1.2.3.4/255.255.255.255
      For Wildcard Mask, use the syntax: <IP address>/<Wildcard Mask>. For information about wildcard masks, see Using Wildcard Masks on Internet Rules.
      b. For Protocol, choose from one of the supported protocols: ANY, TCP, UDP, or ICMP.
      c. For Port/Port Range, enter a port or range of ports separated by a hyphen (-).
      d. When you finish adding the composite destination, click Add.

  1. After you add a destination component, click +More to view the list of destinations that you added to the rule.
    a. Click on the X to remove a previously added destination, then click Done.

Advanced Application Controls

If configured destinations include Application Lists, Application Categories, or individual applications selected from Application Categories that support the ability to control uploads, downloads, posting, or sharing without entirely blocking access to the application, you will see the Advanced Application Controls section.

For more information, see Advanced Application Controls.

Security Control Options

Intrusion Prevention (IPS)

Choose the IPS profile that includes the threat detection settings that you want applied to traffic that matches this rule. You can also disable intrusion prevention for this rule.

For more information, see Manage IPS Profiles.

Security Profile

  • Choose the security profile that includes the web-related settings that you want applied to traffic that matches this rule.
  • For all rules, including Block, Warn, and Isolate rules, unless you have good reason not to, choose a security profile that is configured to decrypt the traffic that will hit the rule. Decryption is required to accurately process traffic to most internet destinations.
  • If the rule will block traffic or warn users, you can choose a security profile that specifies the notifications to display to end users.

For more information, see Security Profiles for Internet Access.

Tenant Control Profile

Tenant controls affect access to Microsoft 365, Google G Suite, Slack, and Dropbox.

Advanced Security Controls

This section includes options to skip enforcement of certain security features, which you may want to do permanently for trusted destinations or temporarily to troubleshoot an issue.

This section includes the ability to access files without decrypting them (sometimes known as "protected file bypass") and the ability to not enforce certain web security features for this rule.

In general, you should allow access to encrypted files only for trusted destinations, because encrypted files cannot be effectively assessed for threats. By default, access to encrypted files is not enabled.

Disable security features only when you have a specific reason to do so.

Next Steps

Return to Get Started with Internet Access Rules and review additional steps you should take after configuring a rule.

Default Settings for Internet Access Rules< Add an Internet Access Rule > About Configuring Sources in Internet Access Rules

Updated about 2 months ago