Details
Inaccurate time stamps make it more difficult to correlate events and can lead to an inaccurate analysis. Determining the correct time a particular event occurred on a system is critical when conducting forensic analysis and investigating system events. Synchronizing internal information system clocks provides uniformity of time stamps for information systems with multiple system clocks and systems connected over a network.
Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to synchronize the system clock of a computer to reference time source. The Palo Alto Networks security platform can be configured to use specified Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers. For synchronization with the NTP server(s), NTP uses a minimum polling value of 64 seconds and a maximum polling value of 1024 seconds. These minimum and maximum polling values are not configurable on the firewall.
Solution
Go to Device >> Setup >> Services
Select the ‘Edit’ icon (the gear symbol in the upper-right corner of the pane).
In the ‘Services’ window, in the NTP tab, in the ‘Primary NTP Server Address’ field and the ‘Secondary NTP Server Address’ field, enter the IP address or hostname of the NTP servers.
In the ‘Authentication Type’ field, select one of the following:
Symmetric Key; this option uses symmetric key exchange, which are shared secrets. Enter the key ID, algorithm, authentication key, and confirm the authentication key; for the algorithm, select ‘SHA1’.
Autokey; this option uses auto key, or public key cryptography.
Commit changes by selecting ‘Commit’ in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Select ‘OK’ when the confirmation dialog appears.
Supportive Information
The following resource is also helpful.
This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Audit and Accountability.This control applies to the following type of system Palo_Alto.
References
- 800-53|AU-8(1)(a)
- CAT|III
- CCI|CCI-001891
- CSCv6|6.1
- Group-ID|V-62753
- Rule-ID|SV-77243r1_rule
- STIG-ID|PANW-NM-000098
- Vuln-ID|V-62753