Viewing Files in the File Library
To view the files already in the file library, go to Library > Files. A list of the available files is displayed, as shown below. Note the following information about the file listing:
- If a file is approved and restricted as malicious, you see the Restricted Malicious tag.
- If you are an approver, you see a Pending Approval tag for files that have not yet been approved for use in Actions.
- User Tags are also shown in the Tags column of the file library listing, when configured. Notice that two different group tags are visible.
Adding Files to the File Library
You can easily add files to the file library.
All files that are added must be approved before they can be used in an Action.
To upload a file to the file library
- Go to Library > Files.
Click Upload File.
Upload File
File size is limited to 300 MB by default. You can update it by going to Settings > Director Settings, and then clicking Advanced. See Advanced Settings for more information.- Enter the following information for the new file:
File Restrictions: Select an option:
Request None indicates to the approver that this file contains no malicious code and does not need to be restricted.
Restrict as Malicious indicates that this file is a known malicious file (for example, malware). This file should be restricted to Protected Theater, Email Theater, or Malicious File Transfer Actions.
You cannot download files marked as malicious, and Host CLI Actions created from these files can only run in Protected Theater. Files will appear with a Pending Approval tag in the list until they are approved.- File Notes: Enter notes about the file that can be helpful to the approver or to other potential users of the file.
- User Tags: Select or create new tags to indicate information about this file. Prepend Group: to the tag, to use the Groups view in the file library (see Grouping Files in the File Library).
- File Info Type: (Optional) Select a checkbox to indicate if this file is related to Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Payment Card Industry (PCI), or if it's proprietary.
- Applicable OS/Platform: Select a specific platform to which this file applies, or select General-OS/Platform.
- Select File: Browse for and choose the file you want to upload.
Zip File: (Optional) If you're uploading a file that has been compressed, choose the Zip file checkbox. The Validation Platform currently supports .zip, .zipx, and .gz formats. The compressed file cannot be in a folder.
If you need to compress a file from a Mac, we suggest using command-line tools to do so. When using the internal OS archiving tools from the GUI, many versions of macOS automatically adds a hidden directory. This directory prevents you from uploading the file.Zip Password: Enter a password for the zip archive, if applicable.
Supported Encryption levels are: 256-bit AES, 128-bit AES, and zip2.0 (legacy).
Click Upload File.
The file is uploaded and appears in the table in a Pending Approval state. If the file was compressed and you selected the Zip File checkbox, the file is decompressed.
Approving Files for Use in the File Library
Once a file has been uploaded to the File Library, if it was set to Restrict as Malicious, it will appear in the file list with the red tag Restricted Malicious. If the file was set to Request None, the file appears with a purple tag Pending Approval.
File Approval Restrictions
Users who are permitted to approve files that have been uploaded to or edited in the File Library must have the Approve File Library Restrictions flag enabled on their user account, as shown in the screenshot below. Users who do not have this flag enabled can see the files they uploaded or edited but do not see the option to approve the file. If you do not have approval permissions and you should, contact your platform admin.
NOTE: You cannot use an uploaded file if the Pending Approval flag is set.
File Approval Process
To approve a file that is pending approval
- Go to Library > File Library.
Locate the file you want to approve. You can enter all or part of the string "pending_approval" in the search bar to narrow your results.
File pending approval
Click Approve File
next to the file you want to approve and you'll see the following:- Select an approval status for the file.
- Click Submit.
next to the file you want to approve and you'll see the following:
To edit a file before approving
In some cases, if you are the approver, you may want to make changes to a file before sending for approval or before approving its use. You can also use this procedure at any point in the lifecycle of a file in the File Library.
- Go to Library > File Library.
- Locate the file you want to approve.
Click Edit File (
) next to the file in the list and you'll see the Edit form as shown below:Select the appropriate File Restrictions option, if necessary.
NOTE: When editing a file that was previously approved, you see an additional File Restriction choice of "Send Back to Pending Approval," which triggers another Pending Approval status on the file.
- Click Update.
) next to the file in the list and you'll see the Edit form as shown below:
File Rejection Tracking
When you reject a file that is pending approval, or when you delete a file from the File Library, the platform logs information about the transaction in the rejection log. You can access the rejection logs by clicking View Rejection Logs at the bottom of the File Library page, as shown below.
The file rejection log tracks the following information:
- Timestamp of the file rejection (UTC)
- Username of the account that rejected the file
- The Message digest containing:
- Filename
- SHA256 hash
- Username of the account that uploaded the file
- Username of the account that rejected the file
Grouping Files in the File Library
You can group files in the File Library based on file type, network segment, or any other category that is useful to you. Grouping is simply a way to catalog the files in your file library.
Adding a Group Tag to a File
A group tag is simply a User Tag with "Group:" prepended to the group name.
There are two methods for adding a group tag to a file:
- Add a file to the file library using the procedure found in Adding Files to the File Library. Set the User Tag with a group tag.
- Edit a file that is already in the file library and add a group tag.
Adding group tags to an existing file in the file library
Viewing File Groups
To view file groups in the file library, click Groups.
Viewing File Groups
The file groups are shown as in the example screenshot below. Files that do not have a group tag are in the "Ungrouped" category.
Each file group has its own search bar, so you can search for a given file within the group, narrowing the results.
NOTE: A file can appear in more than one group. For example, if you have a file xzy.zip, and you label that file as Group: A and Group: B, the file will appear in both the Group A and Group B groups.