WatchGuard Account SSO Integration with AuthPoint

This document describes how to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your WatchGuard accounts with AuthPoint as an identity provider.

SAML SSO for WatchGuard accounts only supports service provider initiated login. Users cannot log in from the AuthPoint IdP portal.

Contents

WatchGuard Account Authentication Data Flow with AuthPoint

AuthPoint communicates with various cloud-based services and service providers with the SAML protocol. This diagram shows the data flow of an MFA transaction for WatchGuard Cloud.

The screenshot of topology

Before You Begin

Before you begin these procedures, make sure that:

To log in with SSO, your WatchGuard user account must have the same email address as your AuthPoint user account.

Configure SSO for Your WatchGuard Account

To configure SSO for your WatchGuard account, complete these steps:

  1. Download the metadata file.
  2. Configure SSO for your WatchGuard account.

To download the metadata file:

  1. Log in to WatchGuard Cloud.
  2. From the navigation menu, select Configure > AuthPoint. If you have a Service Provider account, you must select an account from Account Manager.
  3. Select Resources.
    The Resources page opens.

  1. Click Certificate.
    The Certificates page opens.

  1. Next to the AuthPoint certificate you want to associate with your resource, click , then:
    1. To copy the metadata URL, select Copy Metadata URL.
    2. To download the metadata file, select Download Metadata.
      We recommend that you choose the certificate with the latest expiration date.

      The AuthPoint metadata file provides your service provider, in this case WatchGuard, with information necessary to identify AuthPoint as a trusted identity provider.

To configure SSO for your WatchGuard account:

  1. Log in to WatchGuard Cloud with your WatchGuard user account credentials.
  2. From the navigation menu, select Administration > SSO.
    The SAML SSO page opens.

Screenshot of WGID, administration sso feature

  1. Click Configure SAML SSO.
    The Important dialog box opens.

Screenshot of WGID, importsnt pop-up

  1. Click Continue.
    The WatchGuard Account SSO Configuration Wizard page opens.

Screenshot of WGID,import metadata url

  1. In the Metadata URL text box, type or paste the AuthPoint metadata URL you copied in this section. If you downloaded the AuthPoint metadata file, click Select a Metadata File, then upload your AuthPoint metadata file.
  2. Click Next.
    The SAML Configuration options open.

Screenshot of WGID, SAML Configuration

  1. In the IDP Name text box, type a name to identify your identity provider (AuthPoint). In our example, we use AuthPoint_Test.
  2. Keep the default values for other settings.
  3. To open the SSO Reference URLs options, click Next three times.
    The SSO Reference URLs options opens.

    The SSO reference URLs provide you with direct links to the SSO login page for each account.

Screenshot of WGID, sso reference urls

  1. From the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML Metadata text box, copy the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML Metadata URL.

    To complete the configuration, keep the WatchGuard Account SSO Configuration Wizard page open.

  2. To open the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML metadata file, on a new tab on your web browser, enter the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML Metadata URL you copied in the previous step.
  3. From the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML Metadata file, copy the value of the entityID, SingleLogoutService Location, and AssertionConsumerService Location parameters. You need this information when you configure a SAML resource in AuthPoint in the next section.
  4. On your web browser, select the tab on which you have WatchGuard Cloud open.
  5. On the WatchGuard Account SSO Configuration Wizard page, click Back to WatchGuard Cloud.
  6. Select The screenshot of user icon > My Account.
  7. Select SSO. Make sure the Enable SAML SSO toggle status is green.
  8. To add the operators in WatchGuard Cloud, follow the steps in Add Operators to Your Account. After you add an operator, make sure the Enable login with SAML SSO check box is selected.

To log in with SSO, you must have a WatchGuard Cloud operator account and an AuthPoint user account with the same email address.

When you configure SAML SSO for your WatchGuard account, users can either log in with SSO or with their local user account. We recommend users log in with SSO so they do not have to re-authenticate after their initial login.

Configure AuthPoint

To configure AuthPoint, complete these steps:

  1. Add a SAML Resource in AuthPoint.
  2. Add a Group in AuthPoint.
  3. Add an Authentication Policy to AuthPoint.
  4. Add Users to AuthPoint.

Add a SAML Resource in AuthPoint

To add a SAML resource in AuthPoint:

From the AuthPoint management UI:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Resources. Click Add Resource.
    The Add Resource page opens.

  1. From the Type drop-down list, select SAML.
    Additional fields appear.

  1. On the SAML page, in the Name text box, type a name for this resource. In our example, we use WatchGuard.
  2. From the Application Type drop-down list, select Others.
  3. In the Service Provider Entity ID text box, type or paste the entityID value you copied from the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML metadata file in this section.
  4. In the Assertion Consumer Service text box, type or paste the AssertionConsumerService Location value you copied from the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML metadata file in this section.
  5. From the User ID Sent On Redirection To Service Provider drop-down list, select Email.
  6. In the Logout URL text box, type or paste the SingleLogoutService Location value you copied from the WatchGuard Service Provider SAML metadata file in this section.
  7. From the Signature Method drop-down list, select SHA-256.
  8. From the AuthPoint Certificate drop-down list, select the certificate to associate with your resource. This must be the same certificate that you downloaded in the previous section.
  9. Click Save.

Add a Group in AuthPoint

You must have at least one user group in AuthPoint to configure MFA. If you already have a group, you do not have to add another group.

To add a group to AuthPoint:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Groups.
  2. Click Add Group.
    The New Group page appears.

Screenshot that shows the Groups page.

  1. In the Name text box, type a descriptive name for the group.
  2. (Optional) In the Description text box, type a description of the group.

Screen shot of the New Group page.

  1. Click Save.
    Your group is listed on the Groups page.

Screenshot of the Save button on the New Group page.

Add an Authentication Policy to AuthPoint

Authentication policies specify which resources users can authenticate to and which authentication methods they can use (Push, QR code, and OTP).

You must have at least one authentication policy in AuthPoint that includes the WatchGuard resource. If you already have authentication policies, you do not have to create a new authentication policy. You can add this resource to your existing authentication policies.

Users that do not have an authentication policy for a specific resource cannot authenticate to log in to that resource.

To configure an authentication policy:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Authentication Policies.
  2. Click Add Policy.

Screenshot of the Add Policy button on the Authentication Policies page.

  1. Type a name for this policy.
  2. From the Select the authentication options drop-down list, select Authentication options and select which authentication options users can choose from when they authenticate.

    For SAML resources, if you select more than one authentication option, users must select one of the available options when they authenticate. For example, if you select OTP and Push, users can choose to type their OTP or approve a push to authenticate. You cannot require that they do both.

  1. Select which groups this policy applies to. You can select more than one group. To configure this policy to apply to all groups, select All Groups.
  2. Select the resource that you created in the previous section. If you want this policy to apply to additional resources, select each resource this policy applies to. To configure this policy to apply to all resources, select All Resources.

Screenshot of the Add Policy page with the groups and resources selected

  1. (Optional) If you have configured policy objects such as a Network Location, select which policy objects apply to this policy. When you add a policy object to a policy, the policy only applies to user authentications that are the same as the conditions of the policy objects. For example, if you add a Network Location to a policy, the policy only applies to user authentications that come from that Network Location. Users who only have a policy that includes a Network Location do not get access to the resource when they authenticate outside of that Network Location (because they do not have a policy that applies, not because authentication is denied).

    If you configure policy objects, we recommend that you create a second policy for the same groups and resources without the policy objects. The policy with the policy objects should have a higher priority.

Screenshot of the Policy Objects drop-down list.

  1. Click Save.
    Your policy is created and added to the end of the policy list.

    When you create a new policy, we recommend that you review the order of your policies. AuthPoint always adds new policies to the end of the policy list.

Screenshot of the Save button on the Add Policy page.

Add Users to AuthPoint

Before you assign users to a group, you must add the users to AuthPoint. There are two ways to add AuthPoint user accounts:

  • Sync users from an external user database
  • Add local AuthPoint users

Each user must be a member of a group. You must add at least one group before you can add users to AuthPoint.

To import users from Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, or an LDAP database, you must add an external identity in the AuthPoint management UI. External identities connect to user databases to get user account information and validate passwords.

  • To sync users from Active Directory or an LDAP database, you must add an LDAP external identity
  • To sync users from Microsoft Entra ID, you must add a Microsoft Entra ID external identity

When you sync users from an external user database, you can sync any number of users and they are all added to AuthPoint at one time. Users synced from an external user database use the password defined for their user account as their AuthPoint password.

To learn how to sync users, go to Sync Users from Active Directory or LDAP and Sync Users from Azure Active Directory.

You can create local AuthPoint users on the Users page in the AuthPoint management UI. Because you can create only one user at a time, you most commonly do this when you want to create test users or to add only a small number of users.

Unlike users synced from an external user database, local AuthPoint users define and manage their own AuthPoint password. When you add a local user account, the user receives an email that prompts them to set their password.

To learn how to add local AuthPoint user accounts, go to Add Local AuthPoint Users.

Test the Integration

To test AuthPoint MFA with your WatchGuard account, you can authenticate with a mobile token on your mobile device. For SAML resources, you can choose any method (push, QR code, or one-time password).

In this example, we show the push authentication method (users receive a push notification in the mobile app that they must approve to authenticate).

  1. In a web browser, go to WatchGuard Cloud.
  2. Click Log In With SSO.
  3. In the IDP Name text box, type the IDP name. In our example, we use AuthPoint_Test.
  4. Click Log In.
  5. Type your email address or AuthPoint user name.
  6. Click Next.
  7. If required, in the Password text box, type your password.
  8. For the authentication method, select Send Push.
  9. Approve the authentication request that you receive on your mobile device.
    You are logged in to WatchGuard Cloud.