Microsoft Exchange: Configuring the Data Protection API Connector

The first step for the Data Protection API solution is to create the connectors for the Microsoft SaaS apps, Microsoft 365 and Exchange. For accounts with multiple Azure AD tenants, you can create multiple Microsoft 365 connectors. In addition, you can create multiple Exchange connectors for each Microsoft 365 parent connector.

Each Microsoft Exchange app and Azure tenant (according to the 365 app) are subject the Microsoft's rate limiting. For more information, see the Microsoft documentation.

To enable the Data Protection API to scan assets and content for Microsoft Exchange, first you need to configure the Microsoft 365 connector as the parent app to give read permissions for the Exchange connector. The parent app only has permissions to manage the Microsoft connectors. You can easily create the app in the Cato Management Application, it's not necessary to configure settings in Microsoft Azure. Afterwards create a separate Microsoft 365 connector for each Azure tenant.

Creating the Microsoft 365 Connector

Use the Cato Management Application to create the Microsoft 365 SaaS application connector for the Azure tenant for the Microsoft Exchange app that your are scanning with the Data Protection API. You must have the correct credentials to authenticate to Microsoft Exchange app to add it to your Cato account.

Before you can create and configure the connector settings, first you need to enable the Data Protection API for your account.

To create the Microsoft 365 parent connector:

1. From the navigation menu, select Resources > Integrations and click Data Protection APIs.

2. Click New. The New Connector panel opens.

3. In the New Connector panel, select the Microsoft 365 app.

   

4. Click Authorize and Save.

   A new browser tab opens to the Microsoft 365 app.

5. In the new browser tab, authenticate to the Microsoft 365 app:

   1. Select the Microsoft account for the Microsoft 365 app.

      Otherwise there may be a Microsoft authentication error.

   2. Enter the password for the app and approve it.

   3. Accept the permissions to let Cato access the Microsoft 365 app.

   4. The screen shows that you have successfully applied the permissions for the app.

      

      You can close the browser tab and return to the Cato Management Application.

6. The Microsoft 365 SaaS application is added to the Installed SaaS Applications page.

   

This section explains how to use the Data Protection policy to monitor and manage the messages and attachments that your users send with Microsoft Exchange.

Configuring Exchange Rules

Use the Data Protection page to add the SaaS application rules in your Data Protection policy.

For more information about the Exchange rule settings, see below Understanding the Exchange Rules.

To create a new Data Protection rule for the Exchange app:

1. From the navigation pane, select Security > App & Data API Protection and select or expand Data Protection.

2. Click New. The New Rule panel opens.

3. In Application Connector, select the Exchange app.

4. In the General section, enter the settings for the rule.

5. In Sender, define the Azure AD users who are sending the mail (the default setting is Any).

6. In Recipients, define the Azure AD users who are receiving the mail (the default setting is Any).

7. In Attachments, define the criteria to specify the email attachments which are scanned (the default setting is to scan all attachments).

8. In Content Profile, select the DLP Content Profile for this rule.

   You can enter keywords in Email Subject, to limit the scans to only emails that contain those keywords.

   For more about DLP Content Profiles, see Creating DLP Content Profiles.

9. In Actions, select Monitor.

10. (Optional) Configure tracking options to generate Events and Send Notifications.

    For more information about notifications, see the relevant article for Subscription Groups, Mailing Lists, and Alert Integrations in the Alerts section.

11. Click Save. The rule is added to the Data Protection policy.

Understanding the Exchange Rules

This section explains how to define the settings for the Data Protection rules to scan the correct Exchange traffic.

• Sender - individual users, or Azure types of users that are sending the email (default value is Any)

• Recipients - individual users, Azure types of users, or email domains that are receiving the email (default value is Any)

• Attachments - Criteria for attachments that are scanned (default value is all attachments)

  • File Type

  • File Name

  • File Size (maximum file size is 100 MB)

• Content Profile - DLP Content Profile that defines the DLP content inspection (Security > DLP Profiles > DLP Profiles > Content Profile)

Working with Senders and Recipients

You can define specific Senders and Recipients for each rule in the Data Protection policy. The Cato Management Application connects to the Azure AD for the tenant defined in the Office 365 Connector. The individual users that are shown for a rule are based on this Azure AD, and are NOT related to the users defined for your Cato account.

If you don't see the required user, make sure that the user is defined correctly in the Azure AD tenant, and then configure the Data Protection rule.

Azure AD defines these types of users:

• Internal

• External

• User

For the Recipients for a rule, you can also define email address domains.

Defining Files or Attachments for a Rule

You can define specific files (or attachments) for a rule and limit the SaaS API engine to only scan the specified files to see if they match the DLP Content Profile.

When you add multiple files to a rule, select the relationship between them:

• Satisfy any (OR) - Match only one of the File Types in the rule

• Satisfy all (AND) - Match all the File Types in the rule (otherwise, the rule is ignored)

You can use the File Name setting in a rule to define the exact file name or use wildcards to define keywords. For example, you can define the File Name as internal to match all file names that contain the word internal.

You can create Threat Protection rules for the connector to scan files and attachment for malware and viruses using the Anti-Malware and Next Gen Anti-Malware engines that are enabled for your account. The Data Protection API engine scans the connector traffic and applies the action and tracking options that you configure for the rule:

When you create a App & Data API Protection rule, the Anti-Malware engines that are enabled for your account (Security > Anti-Malware) perform malware scans on the files that are sent for that connector application.

The following screenshot shows a Threat Protection rule for the OneDrive connector that scans files sent by Internal users or Guests:

Sometimes there is file blocked by Cato's Data Protection API engines that you know is safe, and you need to allow it in the network. The Events page lets you use the file hash to create exceptions that bypass the Threat Protection scans. After you open an event for the specific file that was blocked, click the file hash to open the Exception Configuration panel and add the file as an exception for the account. You can choose the time duration for the file exception, or configure the exception to last forever.

File Exceptions for Anti-Malware and Data Protection API

File exceptions apply across the Anti-Malware and SaaS Security API Threat Protection policies. When you create exceptions from Anti-Malware and NG Anti-Malware events, these exceptions also apply to the App & Data API Protection policy. Similarly, when you create file exceptions from SaaS Security API Anti-Malware events, the exceptions also apply to the Anti-Malware policy. The full file exception list is shown on both the Anti-Malware page and the App & Data API Protection page.

The Home > Events page shows all the Data Protection API events for your account. The powerful search tools let you drill-down and identify the few events that contain the relevant data that you need.

Data Protection API events can be identified by the following fields:

You can learn more about using the Events screen here. You can use the SaaS Security API Data Protection preset to filter the events.