CPC-SEN CyberArk Sentry - Privilege Cloud Questions and Answers

For large implementations of CyberArk Privilege Cloud Connectors in AWS and Azure environments, each connector can handle between 31-60 concurrent RDP/SSH sessions. This capacity is specified in the CyberArk documentation concerning Privilege Cloud Connectors and their scalability options. It is designed to support a higher volume of concurrent sessions to meet the needs of larger enterprise environments, ensuring that multiple users can securely access resources without significant performance degradation.

To properly arrange the steps for failing over to a passive Central Policy Manager (CPM) in CyberArk, the sequence should be as follows:

• Validate that the active CPM's services are stopped and set to manual.Before enabling the passive CPM, ensure that the services on the active CPM are stopped. This prevents any conflicts or data corruption by making sure that only one CPM is active at a time. Setting the services to manual ensures they do not restart automatically, which is crucial during a failover scenario.
• On the passive CPM, confirm details in the Vault.ini configuration file, reset the password to the CPM user, and recreate the credential file.This step involves making sure the passive CPM has the correct configuration to seamlessly take over operations. Adjustments in the Vault.ini file may be necessary to ensure it is pointing to the correct Vault and network settings. Resetting the password and recreating the credential file are critical to secure the login and authentication process for the newly active CPM.
• Enable the CPM services on the passive CPM.Once the passive CPM is correctly configured and ready, enable its services to begin handling the tasks and responsibilities of the primary CPM. This action effectively switches the role from passive to active, enabling the passive CPM to function as the new operational manager.
• Review logs to confirm the passive CPM services are running as expected.Finally, review the system and application logs to confirm that the now-active CPM is operating correctly and that all services have started without errors. This step is vital for verifying that the failover process was successful and that the system is stable.

Following this ordered sequence ensures a smooth transition of roles from the active CPM to the passive CPM, minimizing downtime and potential disruptions in the privileged access management operations.

PSM for SSH supports various authentication methods, specifically focusing on secure and verified access mechanisms. The supported methods include:

• RADIUS (D): Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) is a networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting management for users who connect and use a network service. PSM for SSH utilizes RADIUS to authenticate SSH sessions, which adds an additional layer of security by centralizing authentication requests to a RADIUS server.
• Client Authentication Certificate (E): This method uses certificates for authentication, where a client presents a certificate that the server verifies against known trusted certificates. This type of authentication is highly secure as it ensures that both parties involved in the communication are precisely who they claim to be, making it suitable for environments that require stringent security measures.

These methods provide robust security options for SSH sessions managed through CyberArk's PSM, ensuring that only authorized users can access critical systems.

In CyberArk Privilege Cloud, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) can be configured to enhance security by requiring multiple methods of authentication from independent categories of credentials to verify the user's identity. The available authentication methods include:

• Windows Authentication: Leverages the user's Windows credentials.
• PKI (Public Key Infrastructure): Utilizes certificates to authenticate.
• RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service): A networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting management.
• CyberArk: Uses CyberArk's own authentication methods.
• LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol): Protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services.
• SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language): An open standard that allows identity providers to pass authorization credentials to service providers.
• OpenID Connect (OIDC): An authentication layer on top of OAuth 2.0, an authorization framework.

Reference for this can be found in the CyberArk Privilege Cloud documentation, which details the integration and setup of MFA using these methods.

The correct statement about using the AllowedSafes platform parameter is that it prevents the Central Policy Manager (CPM) from scanning all safes, restricting it to scan only safes that match the AllowedSafes configuration. This parameter is crucial in large-scale deployments where efficiency and resource management are key. By specifying which safes the CPM should manage, unnecessary scanning of irrelevant safes is avoided, thus optimizing the CPM's performance and reducing the load on the CyberArk environment. This configuration can be found in the platform management section of the CyberArk documentation.

When installing the first CyberArk Privilege Management (CPM) instance in the Privilege Cloud using the Connector Management Agent, the installation mode should be set to "Active". This configuration sets the CPM to be actively involved in password management and task processing without being in a standby or passive mode. Here are the step-by-step details:

• Download the Connector Management Agent: Obtain the installer from the CyberArk Marketplace or your installation kit.
• Run the Installer: Start the setup and select the CPM component to install.
• Choose Installation Mode: When prompted, select "Active" as the installation mode. This sets up the CPM as the primary node responsible for handling password management operations.

This setup ensures that the CPM is immediately active and capable of handling requests without waiting for manual intervention or failover.

The default username for the Privileged Session Manager (PSM) for SSH maintenance user in CyberArk Privilege Cloud is psmp_maintenance. This account is used for maintenance purposes and is integral for administrative tasks and configurations related to SSH sessions managed by the PSM. The username is predefined and standardized across deployments to maintain consistency and ensure security best practices are adhered to. The username is mentioned in the CyberArk official documentation regarding PSM configuration for SSH.

When implementing LDAPS Integration for a standard Privilege Cloud environment, certain information is crucial and must be provided to the CyberArk Privilege Cloud support team through a Service Request. The necessary details include:

• LDAPS certificate chain for all domain controllers to be integrated (Option A): This information is critical to establishing a trusted secure connection between the Privilege Cloud and the domain controllers using LDAP over SSL (LDAPS).
• Fully Qualified Domain Name and IP Address of the domain controllers to be integrated (Option D): This information is essential for accurately identifying and configuring the network connections to each domain controller that will be integrated with the Privilege Cloud.

For PSM Web Connectors developed using the CyberArk Plugin Generator Utility (PGU), the supported browser is Google Chrome. This is because the PGU is designed to create plugins that are most compatible with Chrome's web technologies and security frameworks. Chrome is generally recommended by CyberArk for its up-to-date security features and extensive support for web applications. This is further supported by the CyberArk documentation on the Plugin Generator Utility, which specifies browser compatibility and the optimal environment for deploying web connectors.

In CyberArk Privilege Cloud Standard, certain users are predefined as built-in for administrative and operational purposes. The built-in users include:

• CyberArkAdmin (Option C): This user is typically set up as a default administrator with full access to manage and configure the Privilege Cloud environment.
• PASReporterUser (Option E): This user is often configured as a reporting user, designed to generate and access various reports without having broader administrative privileges.

In the directory lookup order for the CyberArk Privilege Cloud solution, the "CyberArk Cloud Directory" is always looked up first. This directory service is a part of the CyberArk Privilege Cloud infrastructure and is specifically designed to handle identity and access management within the cloud environment efficiently. It prioritizes the CyberArk Cloud Directory for authentication and identity resolution before consulting any external directory services.

The error message "CACPM410E Ending password policy Prod-AIX-Root-Accounts since the reconciliation task is active but the AllowedSafes parameter was not updated" suggests an issue with configuration parameters. The likely cause is:

• The AllowedSafes parameter does not include the safe containing the reconciliation account defined in the Platform (Option C). This parameter must accurately reflect all safes where the reconciliation account operates to ensure proper management and access by the Central Policy Manager (CPM). If the safe containing the reconciliation account is not listed, the CPM cannot perform its tasks, leading to this error.