Domain
Credential Filter detection enables the firewall to detect
passwords submitted to web pages. This credential detection method
requires the Windows User-ID agent and the User-ID credential service,
an add-on to the User-ID agent, to be installed on a
read-only
domain controller (RODC).
The Domain Credential
Filter detection method is supported with the Windows User-ID agent
only. You cannot use the PAN-OS integrated User-ID agent to configure
this method of credential detection.
An RODC is a
Microsoft Windows server that maintains a read-only copy of an Active
Directory database that a domain controller hosts. When the domain
controller is located at a corporate headquarters, for example, RODCs
can be deployed in remote network locations to provide local authentication
services. Installing the User-ID agent on an RODC can be useful
for a few reasons: access to the domain controller directory is
not required to enable credential detection and you can support
credential detection for a limited or targeted set of users. Because
the directory the RODC hosts is read-only, the directory contents
remain secure on the domain controller.
Because
you must install the Windows User-ID agent on the RODC for credential
detection, as a best practice deploy a separate agent for this purpose.
Do not use the User-ID agent installed on the RODC to map IP addresses
to users.
After you install the User-ID agent on an
RODC, the User-ID credential service runs in the background and
scans the directory for the usernames and password hashes of group
members that are listed in the RODC password replication policy
(PRP)—you can define who you want to be on this list. The User-ID
credential service then takes the collected usernames and password
hashes and deconstructs the data into a type of bit mask called
a
bloom filter. Bloom filters are compact data structures
that provide a secure method to check if an element (a username
or a password hash) is a member of a set of elements (the sets of
credentials you have approved for replication to the RODC). The
User-ID credential service forwards the bloom filter to the Windows
User-ID agent; the firewall retrieves the latest bloom filter from
the User-ID agent at regular intervals and uses it to detect usernames
and password hash submissions. Depending on your settings, the firewall
then blocks, alerts, or allows on valid password submissions to
web pages, or displays a response page to users warning them of
the dangers of phishing, but allowing them to continue with the
submission.
Throughout this process, the User-ID agent does
not store or expose any password hashes, nor does it forward password
hashes to the firewall. Once the password hashes are deconstructed
into a bloom filter, there is no way to recover them.