Using certificates signed by a certificate authority on the Synergis™ unit (Advanced) - Security Center 5.9

Security Center Hardening Guide 5.9

Applies to
Security Center 5.9
Last updated
2020-08-10
Content type
Guides
Guides > Administrator guides
Language
English
Product
Security Center
Version
5.9

The authenticity of the self-signed certificate that comes with the unit by default is not enforced as usual with the Public Key Infrastructure. To be more secure, you can use a fully trusted certificate signed by a certificate authority instead.

What you should know

  • Using certificates signed by a certificate authority is better for setups where multiple computers and browsers access the Synergis™ unit because you do not need to configure each browser to recognize these trusted certificates.
  • Starting in Synergis™ Softwire 10.7, the Synergis™ Cloud Link unit comes with an ECDSA certificate by default. When you try to enroll a new Synergis™ Cloud Link unit on a system running an operating system that lacks support for ECDSA, the enrollment fails because no compatible cipher is available.

    If the enrollment fails, upgrade your operating system to one that supports ECDSA or generate a new RSA certificate on the unit and then try enrolling the unit again.

Procedure

  1. Log on to the Synergis™ unit.
  2. Click Configuration > Certificates.
  3. In the Certificate management section, complete the identification fields.
    The Common name field contains the Synergis™ unit's hostname by default. The Subject alternative name field also contains the hostname by default, but can be edited to a comma-separated DNS list.
    NOTE: The Common name, Subject alternative name, and Country fields are mandatory.
  4. From the Certificate type list, select ECDSA or RSA as the algorithm you want to use.
  5. Click Create certificate signing request.
    A .req file is generated, containing the public portion of the certificate. The file does not contain the private key and is therefore not confidential.
  6. In Windows File Explorer, navigate to your Downloads folder.
  7. Copy the signing request .req file and send it to a certificate authority.
    After verification, the certificate authority signs the public portion of the certificate with its own private key.
  8. When you receive the certificates from the certificate authority, log onto the Synergis™ unit and click Configuration > Certificates.
  9. In the Import signed certificate section, click Select certificate and browse to the folder with the certificates.
  10. Select the first certificate and click Upload. Repeat for the remaining certificates.
    NOTE: Each certificate in the certificate chain must be uploaded individually, or in one operation if you received a .p7b collection file. If you received the collection file, you can omit uploading the root certificate.

Results

Your Synergis™ unit will no longer show a security error in the address bar when connecting using hostname.

After you finish

If the Synergis™ unit was already enrolled in Security Center, the Access Manager will not trust the new certificate or connect to the unit, and you must reset the trusted certificate in Config Tool.

For more information, see Resetting the trusted certificate.