WSS Admin Guide

Supporting Your Users

You should prepare the users in your account for the deployment of the Web Security Service, including the purpose, schedules, and what they are expected to do.

Note: Procedures in this topic do not apply to users with the Desktop Web Proxy, because the DWP handles subscription and authentication automatically if users are within the corporate network's IP range. Access the Desktop Web Proxy Configuration Guide.

Supported browsers:

• Internet Explorer® version 11 and newer
• Microsoft Edge® version 37 and newer
• Mozilla® Firefox® version 40 and newer
• Google Chrome® 40 and newer
• Safari® 8 and newer
• Opera® 27 and newer

Subscribing (registering) to the Web Security Service

After you add users to the Management Portal, they are prompted to subscribe to the Web Security Service when they access the Internet for the first time. The service acts as their web proxy and enforces the policies you defined for the users' groups.

During the process of adding users to groups, you can enable the automatic sending of email invitations to the group members. This invitation contains the following information:

• The announcement about the user's need to register on the Web Security Service.
• The user login name, which is the user's email address.
• The link to the subscription page where the user needs to create a password.
• The administrator's email address who can address questions about the process.

If you don't use the automated invitation, notify the affected users through other mechanisms. After users are added to the service, they are required to register for the first time and be authenticated before they can access the web.

After users click the link provided in the email, they are prompted to subscribe to the service. The user's email address is automatically entered as the proxy login. The user types a password, retypes it to confirm, and clicks Subscribe. This authenticates the user to the Web Security Service and saves the password. This user's web activities now pass through the service, and the policy for the user's group is applied every time this user accesses a web site.

Note: The link to register expires in seven days. If the user subscribes within seven days, the link expires immediately. If the user does not subscribe in seven days, no further automated email invitations are sent and the user must contact you. Alternatively, if your account is set to use the Launch Page, the unregistered user sees this page when accessing the web. The user then clicks on the Register button to re-enter a password.

If the user does not receive the email notification, another opportunity to subscribe is available when the user opens the browser to access an external website. The Management Portal opens a login page and the user can self-register by following these steps:

• Open the browser from within the corporate network.
  The login page opens.
• Click Register.
• Enter the email address and password at the subscription prompt.
• Click Subscribe.
  The user is added to the service.

Login pages

If your account requires users to authenticate manually every time they open their browsers, ensure that these settings are enabled:

The Management Portal provides two kinds of login pages:

• The branded login page is displayed if the user is connecting while inside the corporate network. In this case, the Web Security Service recognizes the traffic's source IP address.

• The unbranded login page is displayed if the user is connecting outside the corporate IP address range. In this case, the Web Security Service does not recognize the traffic's source IP address.


Note: The following types of users are not expected to see any login prompts: users with the Desktop Web Proxy and users accessing from IP-address based groups.

To use either page, the user must:

• Click Login or Authenticate, depending on the dialog that appears.
  The browser-specific dialog for entering the user name and password opens.
• Enter the user name (the email address) and password.
• Click OK.
  The policy is examined and applied as follows: if the website being accessed is allowed, the user is immediately taken to that site. Otherwise, the message pages for coached or blocked policies are displayed, based on policy.

If the user initiates a password change

Users can change their passwords through the login page. At the bottom of the page, the user clicks on the Recover Password button shown below.

The user receives an automated email about the request for the change. It is similar to the invitation email for new subscribers, which provides the link to the login page. On that page, the user is prompted to enter the login name and the new password.