Cisco Cisco Email Security Appliance C160 Mode D'Emploi

Web interface. HTTPS sessions to the Email Security appliance’s web interface use TLS version 1 
and FIPS cipher suites. This also includes HTTPS sessions to the IronPort Spam Quarantine and 
other IP interfaces. You cannot change these values using 

sslconfig

 when in FIPS mode.

Certificates. FIPS mode restricts the kinds of certificates used by the appliances. Certificates must 
use one of the following signature algorithms: SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and 
SHA-512. The appliance will not import certificates that do not use one of these algorithms. The 
appliance cannot be switched to FIPS mode if it has any non-compliant certificates in use. It will 
displays an error message instead. See 

information.

DKIM signing and verification. RSA keys used for DKIM signatures and verification must be 
1024, 1536, or 2048 bits in length. The appliance cannot be switched to FIPS mode if it has any 
non-compliant RSA keys in use. It will displays an error message instead. When verifying a DKIM 
signature, the appliance returns a permanent failure if the signature does not use a FIPS-compliant 
key. See 

LDAPS. TLS transactions between the Email Security appliance and LDAP servers, including using 
an LDAP server for external authentication, use TLS version 1 and FIPS cipher suites. If the LDAP 
server uses MD5 hashes to store passwords, the SMTP authentication query will fail because MD5 
is not FIPS-compliant.

Logs. SSH2 is the only allowed protocol for pushing logs via SCP. For error messages related to 
FIPS management, read the FIPS Logs at the INFO level.

Console serial port. If you are accessing an Email Security appliance via a serial connection, the 
session times out 30 minutes after the connection to the Serial Console port is terminated.

Centralized Management. For clustered appliances, FIPS mode can only be turned on at the cluster 
level.

AsyncOS for Email includes the 

fipsconfig

 CLI command to switch the appliance over to FIPS mode. 

You also use the 

fipsconfig

 CLI command to switch the appliance back to non-FIPS mode. Only 

administrators can use this command.

The appliance displays a warning if there are any non-FIPS compliant certificates or DKIM keys in use. 
You cannot switch the appliance to FIPS mode until you remove these keys and certificates.

A reboot is required after switching the appliance from non-FIPS mode to FIPS mode or from FIPS mode 
to non-FIPS mode.

AsyncOS restricts the sslconfig command to only printing tis configured settings when the appliance is 
in FIPS mode.

AsyncOS allows you to encrypt communications between the appliance and external machines by using 
a certificate and private key pair. You can upload an existing certificate and key pair, generate a 
self-signed certificate, or generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to submit to a certificate 
authority to obtain a public certificate. The certificate authority will return a trusted public certificate 
signed by a private key that you can then upload onto the appliance.

When the appliance is in FIPS mode, you can continue to