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Need to get your HTTPS In Order? We're here to help.

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The time to upgrade all your layers within your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise organization has come! ESRI will be enforcing the HTTPS protocol starting on December 8, 2020. This update to ESRI’s security posture means that all resources (layers and all other items) consumed by web maps and other applications in your organization will be unavailable if not registered to a secure URL starting with ‘HTTPS’. This important change in ESRI’s security practices will affect most, if not all, organizations. Read more to find out how to implement this change, and call or email when you need help, our professional staff is well-versed in all ArcGIS products and we can do the work for you quickly and securely.

Why do we need https?

To show the differences visually, when a string is passed on the internet using HTTP it looks like this:

    hello my name is hunter ray

Conversely, that same string passed on the internet using HTTPS would look like this:

    ITM0IRyiEhVpa6VnKyExMiEgNveaFfKn3

The simplest answer is internet security, but for all of you knowledge seekers I’ll provide some background. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) communication, allows for the secure transmission of data on the internet via SSL (older) or TLS (newer) protocols. These protocols work for both incoming and outgoing data between a client (your web browser) and the server. The HTTPS protocols allow data to be encrypted, ultimately minimizing the breach of any sensitive information.

I think we can all agree that the HTTPS protocol for data transfers over the internet is preferred over HTTP. Every ArcGIS Online or Enterprise organization has both public and private items in their content, so ensuring that those sensitive items are secured is in everyone’s best interest.

 

HOW DO I FIND MY ISSUES?

Okay now that you’re an HTTPS expert (feel free to brag to all your friends), lets figure out how to find those HTTP issues. Before you start thinking about the plethora of layers and other items in your content that have URLs needing checked, take a deep breath - ESRI has you covered. To assist with finding issues in your organization, ESRI developed a tool aptly named ‘HTTP Check’ for their ArcGIS Security Advisor application that will streamline the process of finding and correcting items requiring attention. After logging in to your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise organization through this application, you can begin to use the HTTP Check tool.

On the ArcGIS Security Advisor home page, a side panel shows options for various security checks. After opening the HTTP Check, the interface will allow you to scan all items in your organization by leaving the search filter blank and selecting “Scan”. Search filters can be used for items by using various parameters like item type, item ID, item owner, etc.

 

HOW DO I FIX MY ITEMS?

Using the results from the HTTP Check (Copy/Paste the output table into Excel for saving and sharing) you can begin to navigate to items in your organization that are in need of repair. Most repairs can be made for items like dashboards and web mapping applications by repairing the web maps they are built around.

  1. Open the web map’s Settings

  2. Scroll down to the Web Map section in Layer Settings

  3. Click Update Layers to HTTPS then click Update Layers

  4. Layers that can be repaired using an HTTPS twin will automatically be fixed

  5. Layer’s requiring manual correction will be listed in the results window

 

Data from ArcGIS Server

Another repair choice in the Layer Settings is to Update References for ArcGIS Server site references. Depending on the Enterprise setup, special attention may be needed to repair these layers. In ArcGIS Enterprise, if your organization’s layers are hosted using an ArcGIS Server/Web Adaptor not set up for HTTPS, an SSL/TLS certificate will need to be obtained from a certificate authority for the hosting domain.

 

CORRECTION TIPS

  • Logging in as the organization’s administrator will give you full access to items that require attention.

  • Each publisher can be put in charge of using the ArcGIS Security Advisor to scan and repair any items they own.

  • When the HTTP Check results have finished, copying/pasting the result table into Excel can be helpful for saving and sharing the results.

  • Media options in popups will need to be accessed in the web map and changed manually.

  • A Technical Support article with FAQs about the upgrade process can be found here.

The process of finding and fixing any data source errors in your content may seem daunting, but using the tools outlined above can keep it manageable. Call or email when you need help, our professional staff is well-versed in all ArcGIS products and we can do the work for you quickly and securely.