The Cisco ASA Firewall 5500-X series has evolved from the previous ASA 5500 Firewall series, designed to protect mission critical corporate networks and data centers from today’s advanced security threats.

Through sophisticated software and hardware options (modules), the ASA’s 5500-X series Firewalls support a number of greatly advanced next-generation security features that sets them apart.These include:

• Cisco Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) services. A signature based IPS solution offered as a software or hardware module depending on the ASA 5500-X appliance model.
• Cisco ASA CX Context-aware services. A software module for ASA 5500-X appliances except the ASA 5585-X where it’s offered as a hardware module. Provides IPS services, Application Visibility and Control (AVC), web security and botnet filtering.
• Cisco FirePOWER Services. Cisco’s latest software & hardware threat protection, superseding previous technologies by combining IPS and CX services plus full contextual awareness of users, infrastructure, applications and content, URL filtering with advanced malware protection (AMP). Offered as a software module for 5500-X series appliances except the 5585-X, which requires a dedicated hardware module. Note that FirePOWER services run in parallel with the classical ASA software.
• Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD). This is the next step after the FirePOWER services which was released by Cisco in 2015.  While FirePOWER services run alongside with the classical Cisco ASA software, the newer Firepower Threat Defence combines the Cisco ASA Software + FirePOWER services in one software package. This is also the concept of the newer Firepower appliances (e.g 4100 & 9000 series) which run Firepower Threat Defense software. At this point, Firepower Threat Defence is under continious development but does not still support many features offered by the classical ASA software. For example at the time of writing site-to-site IP Sec VPN is still not available.

Our previous article examined Cisco’s ASA 5500 series Firewall hardware modules, which include the Content Security CSC-SSM & Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) / Intrusion Detection System (IDS) AIP-SCC / AIP-SSM modules. While these solutions are no longer sold by Cisco, they have been widely deployed in data centers and corporate networks around the world and will be supported by Cisco until 2018.

Note: To download datasheets containing technical specifications and features offered by the Cisco 5500-X Series Firewalls with FirePOWER, IPS and CX Context-aware services, visit our Cisco ASA 5500 & 5500-X Series Adaptive Security Appliances Download Section.

Since Cisco’s announcement back in 2013 regarding the discontinuation of its ASA 5500 series firewall appliances in favour of the newer 5500-X Next Generation Firewalls, customers have been contemplating when to upgrade to the newer 5500-X series. Given the fact that Cisco is no longer providing major firmware upgrades to the older ASA 5500 series and the appearance of new advanced security threats and malware (e.g ransomware), it is now considered imperative to upgrade to the newer platform so that security is maintained at the highest possible level.

Customers seeking advanced protection are likely to consider expanding their ASA Firewall capabilities with the purchase of an IPS module, CX Context-aware or FirePOWER services.

Figure 1. The Cisco FirePOWER hardware module for the ASA-5585-X Firewall

Cisco’s FirePOWER advanced security threat protection solution was introduced late 2014 and its purpose is to replace the current ASA 5500-X IPS and ASA CX 5500-X Context-aware offerings.

The diagram below shows key security features provided by most Cisco ASA Firewall appliances. Features such as Clustering, High Availability, Network profiling, Identity-Policy Control, VPN and advanced access lists have until today been fairly standard offerings across the ASA Firewall series, however, the newer 5500-X can now offer the additional FirePOWER services marked in red below:

Australia’s first official Cisco Data Center User Group is a reality!

Originally inspired by Cisco Champions Chris Partsenidis and Derek Hennessy, and backed up by Cisco Systems we decided it was time to get Australia’s Cisco community together. Monthly meetings are held at a great location in Melbourne CBD along with free beer & food and great discussions!

In late 2014, Cisco announced the new licensing model for the latest AnyConnect Secure Mobility client v4.x. With this new version, Cisco introduced a number of new features, but also simplified the licensing model which was somewhat confusing. In this article, we will take a look at the new AnyConnect 4.x licenses which consist of: AnyConnect Plus license, AnyConnect Plus Perpetual license and AnyConnect Apex license.
 
We will also show how the new licenses map to the older AnyConnect Essentials and AnyConnect Premium license, plus the available migration paths. Finally, we also take a look at Cisco’s Software Application Support (SAS) and Software Application Support plus Upgrade (SASU), which are required when purchasing AnyConnect.

All AnyConnect licenses prior to version 4 had the AnyConnect Essentials and Premium licensing scheme. The newer v4.x AnyConnect licenses now have one of the three licensing options:

• Cisco AnyConnect Plus License (Subscription Based)
• Cisco AnyConnect Plus Perpetual License (Permanent – no subscription)
• Cisco AnyConnect Apex License (Subscription Based)

With the new AnyConnect licenses, Cisco has moved to a subscription-based licensing model which means customers will unfortunately need to fork out more money in the long run.  The Plus Perpetual License on the other hand allows Cisco customers to purchase a one-time license, however the license costs significantly higher than the subscription-based license.

We should also note that AnyConnect 4.0 is not licensed based on simultaneous connections (like the previous AnyConnect 3.x), but is now user-based. This means a user connecting via his smartphone and laptop simultaneously will only occupy a single license.

Since the newer AnyConnect licenses are subscription-based, according to Cisco, if their subscription expires and is not renewed, they will stop working.
 
Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client 4.0 supports the following operating systems:

• Windows 8.1 (32bit & 64Bit)
• Windows 8 (32bit & 64Bit)
• Windows 7 (32bit & 64Bit)
• Linux Ubuntu 12.X 64Bit
• Linux RedHat 6 64Bit
• Mac OS X 10.10 – 10.8

As expected, Windows XP is no longer supported.

Let’s take a look at each license feature and how the older AnyConnect Essentials and Premium licenses map to the newer AnyConnect Plus and Apex licenses:

Figure 1. Mapping AnyConnect 3.x Essentials & Premium to AnyConnect 4.x Plus & Apex

Related AnyConnect Articles on Firewall.cx:

• Configuring Cisco SSL VPN AnyConnect 3.x (WebVPN) on Cisco IOS Routers
• WEB SSL VPN - The Next Wave Of Secure VPN Services

Cisco AnyConnect Plus License (Equivalent to the old Essentials License) 5, 3 or 1-Year Term

The AnyConnect Plus License is a subscription-based license with the option of a 5, 3 or 1-year renewable subscription and supports the following features:

• VPN Support for Devices. Includes Workstations and Laptops.
• Secure Mobility Client support (AnyConnect Mobile). Includes mobile phones, tablets etc.
• SSL VPN (Client-based)
• Per-app VPN. Authorize specific applications access the VPN.  Supports specific devices and software.
• Basic endpoint context collection
• IEEE 802.1X Windows supplicant
• Cisco Cloud Web Security agent for Windows & Mac OS X platforms
• Cloud Web Security and Web Security Appliance support
• Cisco Advanced Malware Protection for Endpoints Enabler. AMP for Endpoints is licensed separately
• Network Access Manager
• Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Compliance

It is worth noting that AnyConnect 3.x required the purchase of Essentials or Premium license + AnyConnect Mobile (L-ASA-AC-M-55xx) in order to support mobile devices (Smartphones, Tablets etc.).  AnyConnect Mobile is now integrated into the new AnyConnect Plus license.

Cisco AnyConnect Plus Perpetual (permanent) License

This article shows how to configure and setup SSH for remote management of Cisco IOS Routers. We’ll show you how to check if SSH is supported by your IOS version, how to enable it, generate an RSA key for your router and finally configure SSH as the preferred management protocol under the VTY interfaces.

Secure Shell (SSH) provides a secure and reliable mean of connecting to remote devices. It’s an encrypted network protocol that allows users to safely access equipment via command line interface sessions. SSH makes use of TCP port 22 which’s assigned to secure logins, file transfer and port forwarding.

SSH uses public key for authenticating the remote device and encrypt all data between that device and the workstation which makes it the best choice for public networks, unlike (telnet) which transmits data in plain text which subjects it to security threats, this makes (telnet) recommended for private networks only to keep the data uncompromised.

Verifying SSH Support on your Router

The first step involves examining whether your Cisco router’s IOS supports SSH or not. Most modern Cisco routers support SSH, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Products with (K9) in the image name e.g c2900-universalk9-mz.SPA.154-3.M2.bin, support strong encryption with 3DES/AES while (K8) IOS bundles support weak encryption with the outdated DES.

To check, simply enter privilege mode and use the show ip ssh command:

R1# show ip ssh
SSH Disabled - version 1.99
%Please create RSA keys to enable SSH (and of atleast 768 bits for SSH v2).
Authentication timeout: 120 secs; Authentication retries: 3
Minimum expected Diffie Hellman key size : 1024 bits
IOS Keys in SECSH format(ssh-rsa, base64 encoded): NONE

In the above output, the system is showing SSH support, but it’s currently disabled as no RSA key has been generated.  It is also worth noting that a key of at least 768 bits must be generated to enable SSHv2.

Securing Access to Router

It’s always a good idea to first restrict access to the Cisco router before enabling SSH. This is very important especially when the device has an interface facing public networks e.g Internet, Public Hotspot.

We first create user credentials for the device and then enable Athentication, Authorization & Accounting Services (AAA).  Finally, ensure a secret password is set to protect access to privilege mode, along with the service password-encryption command to ensure all clear-text passwords are encrypted:

Next, it is highly recommended to restrict remote access via the SSH protocol only. This will ensure that insecure services such as Telnet cannot be used to access the router. Telnet sends all information unencrypted, including username/password, and is therefore considered a security risk.

We’ll use the transport input ssh command under the VTY section to restrict remote access using SSH only. Note that we can also use Access-lists to restrict SSH connections to our router:

Note: the password command used under line vty 0 4 section is completely optional and not used in our case because of the login authentication default command which forces the router to use the AAA mechanism for all user authentication.

Generating Our Router’s RSA Key – Digital Certificate

A firewall is simply a system designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorised Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet. All data entering or leaving the Intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each packet and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

Generally, firewalls are configured to protect against unauthenticated interactive logins from the outside world. This helps prevent "hackers" from logging into machines on your network. More sophisticated firewalls block traffic from the outside to the inside, but permit users on the inside to communicate a little more freely with the outside.

Firewalls are also essential since they can provide a single block point where security and audit can be imposed. Firewalls provide an important logging and auditing function; often they provide summaries to the admin about what type/volume of traffic that has been processed through it. This is an important point: providing this block point can serve the same purpose (on your network) as a armed guard can (for physical premises).

Theoretically, there are two types of firewalls:

1. Network layer

2. Application layer

They are not as different as you may think, as described below.

Which is which depends on what mechanisms the firewall uses to pass traffic from one security zone to another. The International Standards Organization (ISO) Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model for networking defines seven layers, where each layer provides services that higher-level layers depend on. The important thing to recognize is that the lower-level the forwarding mechanism, the less examination the firewall can perform.

Network Layer Firewalls

This type generally makes their decisions based on the source address, destination address and ports in individual IP packets. A simple router is the traditional network layer firewall, since it is not able to make particularly complicated decisions about what a packet is actually talking to or where it actually came from.Modern network layer firewalls have become increasingly more sophisticated, and now maintain internal information about the state of connections passing through them at any time.

One thing that's an important difference about many network layer firewalls is that they route traffic directly though them, so to use one you either need to have a validly assigned IP address block or to use a private internet address block. The network layer firewalls tend to be very fast and tend to be mostly transparent to its users.

Application Layer Firewalls

These generally are hosts running proxy servers, which permit no traffic directly between networks, and which perform elaborate logging and examination of traffic passing through them. Since proxy applications are simply software running on the firewall, it is a good place to do lots of logging and access control. Application layer firewalls can be used as network address translators, since traffic goes in one side and out the other, after having passed through an application that effectively masks the origin of the initiating connection.

Having an application in the way in some cases may impact performance and may make the firewall less transparent. Early application layer firewalls are not particularly transparent to end-users and may require some training. However more modern application layer firewalls are often totally transparent. Application layer firewalls tend to provide more detailed audit reports and tend to enforce more conservative security models than network layer firewalls.

The Future of firewalls sits somewhere between both network layer firewalls and application layer firewalls. It is likely that network layer firewalls will become increasingly aware of the information going through them, and application layer firewalls will become more and more transparent. The end result will be kind of a fast packet-screening system that logs and checks data as it passes through.