Quick Start — Set Up AuthPoint

Applies To: AuthPoint Multi-Factor Authentication, AuthPoint Total Identity Security

This quick start topic reviews the general steps to configure and test multi-factor authentication (MFA) with AuthPoint. This guide introduces AuthPoint, reviews the basic components of AuthPoint, and helps you get started so you can test MFA before you fully deploy AuthPoint.

If you already understand the basic setup of AuthPoint and are ready to deploy it in your network, you can start with the AuthPoint Deployment Guide.

If you have not already purchased an AuthPoint license, you can start a free AuthPoint trial in WatchGuard Cloud. To start a trial, go to the Trials page. You can also contact your preferred WatchGuard Partner and have them set you up with an AuthPoint trial. For more information, see Manage Trials – Service Providers and Manage Trials – Subscribers.

Before you begin, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the components of AuthPoint and some of the key terms related to AuthPoint:

AuthPoint has several components:

  • AuthPoint Management UI — The AuthPoint management UI in WatchGuard Cloud is where you set up and manage your users, groups, resources, authentication policies, external identities, and the AuthPoint Gateway.
  • AuthPoint Mobile App — The AuthPoint mobile app is required for authentication. You can view and manage tokens, approve push notifications, get OTPs, and scan QR codes.
  • AuthPoint Gateway — The AuthPoint Gateway is a lightweight software application that you install on your network so that AuthPoint can communicate with your RADIUS clients and LDAP databases. The Gateway operates as a RADIUS server and is required for RADIUS authentication and for LDAP users to authenticate with SAML resources.
  • Logon App — The Logon app is used to require authentication when users log on to a computer or server. There are two parts to the Logon app — the application you install on a computer or server and the resource you configure in AuthPoint.
  • ADFS Agent — With the AuthPoint ADFS agent, you can add multi-factor authentication (MFA) to Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) for additional security.
  • RD Web Agent — With the AuthPoint RD Web agent, you can add MFA to Remote Desktop Web Access.
  • Authentication Policies — Authentication policies specify which resources users can authenticate to and which authentication methods they can use (Push, QR code, and OTP).
  • Policy Objects — Policy objects are the individually configurable components of a policy, such as Network Locations. You configure policy objects and then add them to authentication policies.
  • Resources — Resources are the applications and services that your users connect to. In AuthPoint there are seven types of resources:
    • Firebox — The Firebox resource is used to enable AuthPoint as an authentication server on a Firebox that has been added to WatchGuard Cloud.
    • RADIUS client — An application or service that uses RADIUS authentication (primarily firewalls and VPNs).
    • SAML — An application or service that uses Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) authentication, such as Microsoft 365, Salesforce, or the Firebox Access Portal.
    • IdP portal — A portal page that shows users the SAML resources available to them.
    • Logon app — The Logon app resource is used to configure and define authentication policies for the Logon app.
    • ADFS — The ADFS resource is used to add MFA to ADFS authentication.
    • RD Web — The RD Web resource is used to add MFA to Remote Desktop Web Access.
    • RESTful API Client — The RESTful API Client resource is used to configure and define authentication policies for a RESTful API client.
  • Authentication Methods
    • Push Notification — A push notification is a notification sent to your mobile device when you try to log in to a resource. You must approve the push notification to log in or deny it to prevent an access attempt that was not made by you.
    • QR Code — When you authenticate with a QR code, you scan the QR code on the screen with the AuthPoint mobile app and use the verification code you receive to authenticate and log in.
    • One-Time Password (OTP) — An OTP is a unique, temporary password available in the AuthPoint mobile app. To log in to a resource with OTP, you must type the OTP shown in your AuthPoint mobile app when you authenticate.
  • External Identities — The information required to connect to your Active Directory or LDAP databases to get user account information and validate passwords.

Connect to AuthPoint Management UI

The AuthPoint management UI is where you set up and manage your AuthPoint users, groups, resources, and authentication policies. You get access to the AuthPoint management UI in WatchGuard Cloud.

To connect to WatchGuard Cloud, go to cloud.watchguard.com. After you log in, select Configure > AuthPoint.

Screen shot that shows the Configure menu in WatchGuard Cloud.

Service Providers have a different view of WatchGuard Cloud. If you have a Service Provider account, you must select an account from Account Manager to configure AuthPoint for that account.

Screen shot that shows the Configure menu in WatchGuard Cloud. Screen shot that shows Account Manager in WatchGuard Cloud.

Add a Resource to Protect with MFA

To configure MFA for an application, you must add a resource for the client in AuthPoint and configure the necessary settings for MFA in your third-party application.

In our example, we add an Identity Provider (IdP) portal resource. The IdP portal is a portal page that shows users a list of the SAML resources available to their AuthPoint group. Because the IdP portal is an AuthPoint resource, you can use it to test MFA with no third-party configuration required.

If you want to test MFA with a specific application, see the AuthPoint Integration Guides. If you do not see an integration guide for the application you want to try with AuthPoint, see Configure MFA for an Application or Service or Configure MFA for a RADIUS Client.

To add an IdP portal resource:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Resources.
    The Resources page appears.

Screen shot of the Resources page.

  1. Click Add Resource.
  2. From the Type drop-down list, select IDP Portal.
    Additional fields appear.
  3. In the Name text box, type a descriptive name for the resource. In our example, we name this resource Self Service Portal.
  4. In the Account Alias text box, type a unique value to append to the URL for your IdP portal. In our example, we use Washington. This means that the URL for our IdP portal is https://authpoint.watchguard.com/washington.

Screen shot that shows the Add Resource.

  1. Click Save.
    The IdP portal resource is listed on the Resources page.

Screen shot that shows the added IdP portal in the Resources list.

Add a Group

In AuthPoint, groups are how you define which resources your users have access to. You add users to groups in AuthPoint, then you add the groups to the authentication policies that specify which resources users can authenticate to.

You must add at least one group before you can add or sync users or add authentication policies.

To add a new group:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Groups.
  2. Click Add Group.

Screen shot that shows the Groups page.

  1. On the New Group page, type a Name and Description for your group. The description is optional, but we recommend that you specify the purpose of the group. In our example, the name of this group is Group A.

Screen shot of the New Group page.

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

Screen shot of the New Group page.

Screen shot of the New Group page.

Add an Authentication Policy

Authentication policies specify which resources users can authenticate to and which authentication methods they can use (Push, QR code, and OTP). When you configure an authentication policy, you specify these settings:

  • Whether authentications are allowed or denied
  • Which authentication methods are required
  • Which resources the policy applies to
  • Which groups the policy applies to
  • Which policy objects apply to the authentications

To add a new authentication policy:

  1. Select Authentication Policies.
  2. Click Add Policy.

Screen shot of the Authentication Policies list.

  1. Type a name for this authentication policy.
  2. From the Select the authentication options drop-down list, leave the default Authentication options value selected.

Screen shot of selecting the authentication options on the Add Policy page.

  1. Next to the authentication options drop-down list, select the Password, Push, QR Code, and One-Time Password check boxes. These are the authentication methods that users can choose from when they log in to this resource. The Password check box requires that users type their password before they authenticate for this resource. For more information about authentication methods, see About Authentication.

    Do not select the Extra authentication options. These options only apply to authentication polices with an Microsoft 365 SAML resource.

Screen shot of the Add Policy page with authentication options selected.

  1. From the Groups list, select the AuthPoint group that you created. This specifies which groups this authentication policy applies to. In our example, we select Group A.
  2. From the Resources list, select the IdP portal resource that you created. This determines which resources users can authenticate to. In our example, we select the Self Sevice Portal resource that we created previously.

Screen shot of the Add Policy page with the groups and resources selected.

  1. Skip the Policy Objects list.
  2. Click Save.
    Your policy is created and added to the end of the policy list.

Screen shot of an example policy in the Authentication Policies list.

Add a User

There are two ways to add users in AuthPoint: you can sync users from Azure Active Directory, Active Directory, or a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) database, or you can add local AuthPoint users.

In this quick start topic, we provide the steps to add a local test user. We recommend that you start with a test user before you add or sync all of your end users.

To learn how to sync a user from an external user database, see Sync Users from Active Directory or LDAP andSync Users from Azure Active Directory.

To add a user:

  1. Select Users.
  2. Click Add User.

Screen shot of the Users page.

  1. In the First Name and Last Name text boxes, type the name of a test user. In our example, we use Sun Li.
  2. In the User Name text box, type a unique user name for your user.

Screen shot of the New User page.

  1. Leave the two check boxes selected. These options are necessary to create a token for your user account and to send you an email to activate your token. We cover this in the next section.

  2. In the Email text box, type an email address for the test user. To test AuthPoint, you can use your own email address, but, if you later sync to an authentication database that you are a part of, you must remember to first delete this test user.

    You must specify a valid email address that you have access to. This email address receives the email message to set your password and activate your token.

  3. From the Groups list, select the AuthPoint group(s) to add your user to. The group determines which authentication policies apply to this user. In our example, we add Sun Li to Group A, which we created previously.

Screen shot of the Save button on the New User page.

  1. Click Save.
    The user appears with a green icon next to their user name.

Screen shot of the Users list with a user added.

The user receives two email messages. One is used to set their AuthPoint password and the other to activate a token in the AuthPoint mobile app. To resend the Set Password or Activation email messages, see Resend Activation Email and Resend the Set Password Email to a User.

Set Password and Activate Token

When you add a user, AuthPoint sends two email messages to the user that they use to set their AuthPoint password and activate a token in the AuthPoint mobile app.

Users synced from Active Directory or an LDAP database do not receive the Set Password email. They use the password defined for their user account in Active Directory as their AuthPoint password.

Open the Set Password email sent to the test email account. Click the link in the email to set your password. When prompted, type your password, then click Save.

Screen shot that shows the Set Password page.

Now your AuthPoint password is set. You use this password when you authenticate to log in to protected services and applications.

Next you must activate your token.

Open the Activation email and click the link in the email. This takes you to the Welcome to AuthPoint web page. If you have not done so, download and install the AuthPoint mobile app on your phone.

  • If you opened the web page on your phone, tap the Activate button. This opens the AuthPoint app and activates your token.
  • If you opened the web page on your computer, open the AuthPoint app on your phone and tap Activate in the app, then point the camera on your phone at the QR code on your computer screen.

Screen shot that shows the Welcome to AuthPoint page.

You can also activate tokens in the IdP portal. You might do this if you want to activate a new token on another mobile device.

After a user successfully activates a token, AuthPoint sends you an email message to let you know that a token was activated for your user account. You can see the token on the Users page.

Screen shot that shows the Users list.

Try MFA

At this point, you have configured MFA for one or more of your resources. Now you can test that MFA works.

To test MFA:

  1. In a web browser, navigate to the login URL for your IdP portal. This URL should be https://authpoint.watchguard.com/<your account alias>. In our example, we navigate to https://authpoint.watchguard.com/washington.
    The AuthPoint single sign-on page appears.

    If you don't know the URL of your IdP portal, on the Resources page, select your IdP portal resource to find the URL for that resource.

  2. Type your email address or AuthPoint user name. Click Next.
  3. In the Password text box, type your AuthPoint password. You must do this before you can select an authentication method. This is because we selected the Password check box when we configured the authentication policy for this resource.
  4. Click Send Push to test Push authentication.
  5. Approve the authentication request that you receive on your mobile device.
    You are logged in to the IdP portal.

After you log in to the IdP portal, you see a blank page with no applications listed. This is because you have not configured any SAML resources. After you add SAML resources, the IdP portal shows a list of all the SAML resources available to your AuthPoint group.

Screen shot that shows the application tiles in the IdP portal.

Related Topics

AuthPoint Integration Guides

AuthPoint Deployment Guide

Configure MFA

About Authentication

About the AuthPoint Mobile App