Understand why a Tech NDA Is Required to Troubleshoot

Introduction

This document describes when and why a Tech Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is required for continued troubleshoot CIsco SWA, ESA and SMA.

Product Overview

Before we proceed to the intricacies of the Tech NDA, we shall first acquaint ourselves with the three specified Cisco products.

• ESA (Email Security Appliance).
• SWA (Secure Web Appliance) formerly know as Web Secure Appliance (WSA).
• SMA (Security Management Appliance).

What Is a Tech NDA?

A Tech NDA is a legal document mutually signed by Cisco and your organization to guarantee data confidentiality.

This document legally binds both parties and secures them from the exposure of confidential information shared in any interaction between them.

When Do You Need To Sign a Tech NDA?

Certain Cisco products offer customers the ability to enable secure remote access, which allows permissible Cisco engineers to expand their troubleshooting capabilities by making a connection directly to the root shell. If you are unable to enable remote access to the devices due to network restrictions or other company policies, the Tech NDA allows Cisco to work with you and access the root shell while connected over Webex so that you can monitor any commands or changes done on your device in real time. 

This access allows engineers to run commands, search through directories and logs, review processes, and complete other tasks that are not possible from the front end (customer-facing portion) of the device. 

Examples of what we can potentially do with this access include the following:

• Analyze core dump files.
• Visibility into directories and logs that are otherwise inaccessible.
• Additional details around processes and resource consumption.
• Hardware diagnostics.
• Modifications to code.
• and more.

Why Do You Need To Sign a Tech NDA?

The information gathered from Cisco products' backend is classified as Highly Confidential Restricted and the Tech NDA helps ensure that any Cisco proprietary information observed during a Webex or at any other point in time is not exposed to anyone outside of the intended audience. 

How Can You Sign a Tech NDA?

There are two methods to sing a Tech NDA

[1] Please contact the TAC engineer assigned to your service request to email you the draft of the NDA. Sign and agree the conditions. and share with Cisco. wait for the final confirmation. 

[2] You can contact your Account Manager (AM) and provide this information:

• The legal name of your company
• Country
• Street Address
• City
• Zip Code
• Name of the person who signs
• Email of person who signs – This must be from the domain of the company

Note:If an NDA was signed for a different Service Request (SR) within the past year, it remains valid. Please provide the SR number associated with that NDA to the owner of the current case.

Who Must You Sign a Tech NDA?

An individual with the authorization to legally represent the company.

Typically the person who joins the WebEx session from your end, however someone from a manager level is recommended.

Related Information 

• Technote on FAQ for Remote Access on Cisco ESA/WSA/SMA