GlobalProtect
What Data Does the GlobalProtect App Collect?
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- 10.1 & Later
- 9.1 (EoL)
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- 6.3
- 6.2
- 6.1
- 6.0
- 5.1
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- 6.1
- 6.0
- 5.1
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- 6.3
- 6.2
- 6.1
- 6.0
- 5.1
What Data Does the GlobalProtect App Collect?
The GlobalProtect app collects data about security packages and host information
installed on the device, such as patch management, firewalls, anti-malware software, and
disk backup and encryption.
By default, the GlobalProtect app collects vendor-specific data about the end user security
packages that are running on the endpoint (as compiled by the OPSWAT global partnership
program) and reports this data to the GlobalProtect gateway for policy enforcement. See
the GlobalProtect 5.1 OPSWAT Support table, GlobalProtect 5.2 OPSWAT Support table, GlobalProtect 6.0 OPSWAT Support table, or
GlobalProtect 6.1 OPSWAT Support table for
details about the third-party vendor products that GlobalProtect can detect using the
specified OPSWAT SDK.
Starting with GlobalProtect app 5.2.6, support for OPSWAT
SDK V3 (end-of-life) will be removed and the GlobalProtect app will
only use OPSWAT SDK V4. Vendor and product names are based on OPSWAT
SDK V4. GlobalProtect app 5.2.6 and later release HIP check functionality
will not work with PAN-OS 8.0 (end-of-life) and earlier releases
(end-of-life). GlobalProtect app 5.2.6 and later release HIP check
functionality will work as expected with PAN-OS 8.1 and later releases.
Because security software must continually evolve to ensure end
user protection, your GlobalProtect gateway licenses also enable
you to receive dynamic updates for the GlobalProtect data file with
the latest patch and software versions available for each package.
The GlobalProtect data file contains the list of anti-malware products with corresponding
lists of historical versions and definition update versions for each product.
GlobalProtect data file is not used to populate the details of products such as the list
of operating systems and anti-malware software while configuring HIP Objects on the firewall. These details are
obtained through regular app or threat content updates.
For example, the GlobalProtect data file is used to:
- Match the HIP object for the specified definition version of the specific product using the Within option. For example Within = 4, which would imply the latest version and three versions below would be acceptable.
- Match the latest product version using the Within option. For example,Within =1 (one is grayed out for version matching as the only available option).
To be able to perform comparisons as listed above, the firewall should have an up to date
GlobalProtect data file.
The GlobalProtect Data file is used for specific HIP Objects when you use the
Within condition while configuring HIP objects on the
firewall.
By default, the app collects data about the following categories
of information to help identify the security state of the host:
Category | Data Collected |
|---|---|
General | Information about the host itself, including
the hostname, logon domain, operating system, app version, and,
for Windows systems, the domain to which the machine belongs. For
Windows endpoints’ domain, the GlobalProtect app collects the domain
defined for ComputerNameDnsDomain,
which is the DNS domain assigned to the local computer or the cluster associated
with the local computer. This data is displayed for the Windows
endpoints’ Domain in the HIP Match log details (MonitorLogsHIP Match). |
Mobile Device | Information about the mobile
device, including the device name, logon domain, operating system,
app version, and information about the network to which the device
is connected. In addition, GlobalProtect collects information on
whether the device is rooted or jailbroken. To collect mobile device attributes and utilize them in HIP enforcement policies, GlobalProtect
requires an MDM server. GlobalProtect currently supports HIP
integration with the Workspace ONE MDM server. For devices managed by Workspace ONE, host information collected by the GlobalProtect app can be
supplemented with additional information collected from the
Workspace ONE service. Refer to Configure Windows User-ID Agent to Collect Host
Information for a list of attributes that can be
retrieved from Workspace ONE. |
Patch Management | Information about any patch management software
that is enabled and/or installed on the host and whether there are
any missing patches. If you want to configure
the Severity value for missing patches as
a match condition in your HIP object (ObjectsGlobalProtectHIP Objects<hip-object>Patch
ManagementCriteria),
use the following mappings between the GlobalProtect severity values
and the OPSWAT severity ratings to understand what each value means:
|
Firewall | Information about any firewalls that are
installed and/or enabled on the host. |
Anti-Malware | Information about any antivirus or anti-spyware
software that is enabled and/or installed on the endpoint, whether
or not real-time protection is enabled, the virus definition version,
last scan time, and the vendor and product name. GlobalProtect
uses OPSWAT technology to detect and assess third-party security applications on
the endpoint. By integrating with the OPSWAT OESIS framework, GlobalProtect enables
you to assess the compliance state of the endpoint. For example,
you can define HIP objects and HIP profiles that verify the presence
of a specific version of antivirus software from a specific vendor
on the endpoint and also ensure that it has the latest virus definition
files. OPSWAT is unable to detect the following Anti-Malware information
for the Gatekeeper security feature on macOS endpoints:
|
Disk Backup | Information about whether disk backup software
is installed, the last backup time, and the vendor and product name
of the software. |
Disk Encryption | Information about whether disk encryption
software is installed, which drives and/or paths are configured
for encryption, and the vendor and product name of the software. (Requires
GlobalProtect app 5.2) If you want to view the encryption status
of all drives and/or paths on the endpoint, you must manually enter All as the Encrypted
Locations when creating the HIP object for the Disk
Encryption category. To verify if all drives or paths
are encrypted, you must set the Encrypted Locations to All and
set the State to Is encrypted from
the drop-down. |
Data Loss Prevention | Information about whether data
loss prevention (DLP) software is installed and/or enabled to prevent
sensitive corporate information from leaving the corporate network
or from being stored on a potentially insecure device. This information
is only collected from Windows endpoints. |
Certificate | Information about the machine
certificate installed on the endpoint. |
Custom Checks | Information about whether specific registry
keys (Windows only), property lists (plists) (macOS only), process
lists (Linux only), OR operating system processes and user-space
application processes are present. |
You can exclude certain categories of information from being
collected on certain hosts to save CPU cycles and improve response
time. To do this, create an agent configuration on the portal, and
then exclude the categories you are not interested in (NetworkGlobalProtectPortals<portal-config>Agent<agent-config>Data Collection). For example,
if you do not plan on creating policies based on whether or not
endpoints run disk backup software, you can exclude that category
to prevent the app from collecting any information about disk backup.
You can also exclude information from being collected on personal
endpoints in order to provide user privacy. For example, you can
exclude the list of apps installed on endpoints that are not managed
by a third-party mobile device manager.