What is Cisco Umbrella

Cisco Umbrella is a network solution that monitors network traffic at the DNS level. All network traffic from a managed device can pass through the Umbrella engines and there it is analyzed whether it is free for malware, phishing etc. Cisco Umbrella uses the Internet infrastructure to block access to dangerous places on the network and prevents connection being established, ensuring security regardless of the customer's location. Umbrella redirects DNS queries from our devices to a secure DNS service that updates the knowledge about the network state in real time. 

Adding Cisco AnyConnect to FAMOC

AnyConnect can be added to FAMOC just like any other application. Simply go to the APPLICATIONS tab and click + button to add a new app.

Then select the platform - Android. Select the option to add an application from the Google Play Store. Enter AnyConnect in the search field, select the appropriate application from the list, and click Next.

Then continue with the steps up to the confirmation screen.

AnyConnect configuration in FAMOC manage

To properly configure the Umbrella service in FAMOC manage, you will need values such as Organization ID and Umbrella Registration Token.

To get them, log in to the Umbrella portal, then in the Deployments> Core Identities> Mobile Devices tab, click Manage MDMS and download the Android config file.

The process is described in detail at the link below.

https://docs.umbrella.com/deployment-umbrella/docs/android-configuration-download

Once we have added the AnyConnect application to FAMOC manage and we know the Organization ID and Umbrella Registration Token, we can proceed to configuration.

In the APPLICATIONS tab, search for AnyConnect and go to the application details. Then open the Configurations tab. We choose the Android Managed Configurations method.

Click Edit. The fields of interest are Umbrella Organization Id and Umbrella Registration Token. Open the Android configuration file downloaded from the Umbrella portal and copy the appropriate values from the file to the managed configuration.

organizationID - Umbrella Organization Id

regToken - Umbrella Registration Token

The above values should be written in the following format:

Then we save the configuration. From now on, the AnyConnect application will install on devices with the parameters set by us.

Device operations

After installing the AnyConnect app on your device, launch it. We will receive a notification about the connection request, confirm our consent by clicking OK.

If the process was successful, the application will display the following message about active Umbrella protection:

Additional possibilities

Since the AnyConnect app is essentially a VPN client, we can force it to run continuously on the device with the Always on VPN configuration.

In the CONFIGURATIONS tab, we add a new configuration. I choose the Android platform and then the VPN configuration type.

We go through the steps of creating a configuration. The name of the package to be entered is: com.cisco.anyconnect.vpn.android.avf (be careful not to close the device's connection with the FAMOC manage server in this way).

Then we can decide to disallow the connection to the network without an active VPN connection.

We confirm our choice and finish creating the configuration. We can now apply it to the device manually or add it as part of the policy.

When applied to the device, the connection to the Cisco Umbrella will be permanent, you do not need to manually call it, and the user will not turn it off by accident.