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Security
Configure different security features to adequately protect business assets and resources in the data model when using BigFix Inventory.
Security configuration scenarios
Check what security options need to be enabled on the BigFix server and the BigFix Inventory server to achieve each of the supported security scenarios.

Security
Configure different security features to adequately protect business assets and resources in the data model when using BigFix Inventory.
- Flow of data
  There are several different interactions that occur between the components of the BigFix Inventory infrastructure and between the user and tool.
- Security configuration scenarios
  Check what security options need to be enabled on the BigFix server and the BigFix Inventory server to achieve each of the supported security scenarios.
- Configuring database connection encryption
  You can encrypt the connection between BigFix Inventory server and the BigFix Inventory database. Encryption is established between BigFix Inventory server and the database engine using a JDBC driver. You can encrypt the connection while upgrading the server.
- Configuring secure communication
  To ensure secure communication, BigFix Inventory uses public key cryptography, which is based on algorithms that use two separate keys, a private key and a public key. This key pair is used to encrypt and decrypt communication
- Assuring compliance with federal encryption standards
  You can configure BigFix Inventory to be compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standard requirements that are related to encryption.
- Authenticating users with LDAP
  BigFix Inventory supports authentication through a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server. To use this feature, you must configure the BigFix Inventory server.
- Configuring and enabling single sign-on (SSO)
  Available from 9.2.1. You can now use the two-factor authentication and use SSO to log on to BigFix Inventory and maintain login consistency with other applications in the enterprise. You can configure BigFix Inventory to use two-factor authentication with single sign-on based either on the exchange of Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML 2.0) token and Microsoft™ Active Directory Federation Services as Identity Provider or you can use the IBM Lightweight Third-Party Authentication (LTPA) technology and IBM Security Access Manager for Web as the authentication service.
- Configuring passwords and encryption mechanisms
  To improve the application security, define a security policy for user passwords. You can also configure passwords and encryption mechanisms for the keystore in which the passwords are stored, and the BigFix Inventory database.
- Configuring user account lockout
  Available from 9.2.8. By default, user account is locked for 5 minutes after the user attempts to log in to BigFix Inventory more than 10 times within 5 minutes. You can change the default settings or disable the user account lockout.
- Configuring VM Manager tool to accept trusted VM manager certificates
  By default, the VM Manager tool accepts all VM manager certificates regardless of whether they are trusted or not. You can change the default behavior to ensure that only trusted certificates are accepted by the VM Manager tool.
- Relays
  Relays lighten both upstream and downstream burdens on the server. Rather than communicating directly with a server, clients can instead be instructed to communicate with designated relays, considerably reducing both server load and client and server network traffic.

Security configuration scenarios

Check what security options need to be enabled on the BigFix server and the BigFix Inventory server to achieve each of the supported security scenarios.

TLS 1.2 and 1.3 protocol

To use TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3 protocol, perform the following configuration:

Enable HTTPS in BigFix Inventory

BigFix Inventory supports only TLS 1.2 protocol for HTTPS inbound communications till version 10.0.12.

Starting from version 10.0.13, BigFix Inventory supports both TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 protocols for HTTPS inbound communications.

Since BigFix Inventory 10.0.13, it is possible to enforce TLS 1.3 protocol for inbound communication by adding the <ssl id="defaultSSLConfig" sslProtocol="TLSv1.3"/> line to the installation_directory/wlp/usr/servers/server1/customization.xml file.

You can enforce TLS 1.3 on BigFix Platform version 11. It is supported with BigFix Inventory version 10.0.9 and higher.

If FIPS is enabled, only TLS 1.2 protocol is supported. To enforce TLS 1.2 protocol, add the <ssl id="defaultSSLConfig" sslProtocol="TLSv1.2"/> line to the installation_directory/wlp/usr/servers/server1/customization.xml file.

FIPS 140-2

To achieve compliance with the FIPS 140-2 standard, perform the following configuration:

Enable enhanced security and SHA-256 downloads on the BigFix server
Enable HTTPS in BigFix Inventory
Enable FIPS 140-2 in BigFix Inventory

For more information about the standard, see: Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2.

SP800-131

To achieve compliance with SP800-131 standard, perform the following configuration:

Enable HTTPS in BigFix Inventory
Enable SP800-131 compliance in BigFix Inventory

For more information about the standard, see: SP800-131 compliance.