How can Information Security extract and learn iP-to-user mapping information from authentication events for VPN and wireless users?

Information Security is enforcing group-based policies by using security-event monitoring on Windows User-ID agents for IP-to-User mapping in the network. During the rollout, Information Security identified a gap for users authenticating to their VPN and wireless networks.

Root cause analysis showed that users were authenticating via RADIUS and that authentication events were not captured on the domain controllers that were being monitored Information Security found that authentication events existed on the Identity Management solution (IDM). There did not appear to be direct integration between PAN-OS and the IDM solution

How can Information Security extract and learn iP-to-user mapping information from authentication events for VPN and wireless users?
A . Add domain controllers that might be missing to perform security-event monitoring for VPN and wireless users.
B. Configure the integrated User-ID agent on PAN-OS to accept Syslog messages over TLS.
C. Configure the User-ID XML API on PAN-OS firewalls to pull the authentication events directly from the IDM solution
D. Configure the Windows User-ID agents to monitor the VPN concentrators and wireless controllers for IP-to-User mapping.

View Answer

Answer: B

Explanation:

According to the Palo Alto Networks documentation1, the User-ID XML API is a feature that allows external systems to send user mapping information to the firewall or Panorama using XML messages over HTTPS. The User-ID XML API can be used to integrate with third-party identity management solutions (IDM) that can provide authentication events for VPN and wireless users. Therefore, the correct answer is C.

The other options are not effective or relevant for extracting and learning IP-to-user mapping information from authentication events for VPN and wireless users:

✑ Add domain controllers that might be missing to perform security-event monitoring for VPN and wireless users: This option would not help because the root cause analysis showed that authentication events were not captured on the domain controllers that were being monitored. Adding more domain controllers would not change this fact, unless they were configured to receive authentication events from RADIUS servers, which is not mentioned in the scenario.

✑ Configure the integrated User-ID agent on PAN-OS to accept Syslog messages over TLS: This option would not help because it assumes that the IDM solution can send Syslog messages over TLS, which is not mentioned in the scenario.

Moreover, Syslog messages are less reliable and secure than XML messages for user mapping information.

✑ Configure the Windows User-ID agents to monitor the VPN concentrators and wireless controllers for IP-to-User mapping: This option would not help because it assumes that the VPN concentrators and wireless controllers can provide IP-to-User mapping information, which is not mentioned in the scenario. Moreover, this option would require additional configuration and maintenance of Windows User-ID agents, which may not be feasible or scalable.

References: 1: https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/9-1/pan-os-admin/user-id/map-ip-addresses-to-users/send-user-mappings-to-user-id-using-the-xml-api