Free Paloalto Networks PSE-Strata Practice Exam with Questions & Answers

The SP3 (Single Pass Parallel Processing) architecture of Palo Alto Networks' Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) is designed to address high-throughput and low-latency requirements while providing comprehensive security features. This architecture allows the firewall to process network traffic in a single pass for all security functions, which significantly enhances performance by reducing latency and ensuring high throughput. By highlighting SP3, you can assure potential customers that the NGFW can handle their performance needs while delivering robust security.

To run Cortex XDR effectively, the following three mandatory components are required:

NGFW with PANOS 8.0.5 or Later: The Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) running PANOS 8.0.5 or later is necessary to provide advanced security features and integration with Cortex XDR.

Cortex Data Lake: This component is essential for storing and analyzing large volumes of data, providing the necessary infrastructure for Cortex XDR to perform threat detection and response.

Traps: Traps (now part of Cortex XDR Endpoint Protection) is essential for endpoint protection, helping to prevent, detect, and respond to threats on endpoints.

These components work together to provide comprehensive threat detection and response capabilities within the Cortex XDR framework.

The three tabs available in the Detailed Device Health on Panorama for hardware-based firewalls are:

Environments: This tab provides information about the environmental conditions of the firewall, such as temperature and power status.

Interfaces: This tab displays the status and statistics of the network interfaces on the firewall.

Sessions: This tab shows session information, including session counts and details about active sessions.

These tabs allow administrators to monitor the health and performance of their firewalls effectively, ensuring optimal operation and quick identification of issues.

In the context of XYZ Corporation's legacy environment with asymmetric routing, enabling redundancy while supporting asymmetric routing can be effectively managed with Palo Alto Networks firewalls. Asymmetric routing occurs when the path the traffic takes to reach a destination is different from the path it takes to return. To handle this scenario, the following two features must be enabled:

HA Active/Active (B): High Availability (HA) in an active/active configuration allows both firewalls in the pair to process traffic simultaneously. This is essential for handling asymmetric routing as both firewalls can process and route packets independently, ensuring that the traffic can flow correctly even if it comes back via a different path.

Policy-Based Forwarding (D): Policy-Based Forwarding (PBF) enables the firewall to make routing decisions based on policies that match traffic to specific interfaces, rather than relying solely on the routing table. This is crucial for asymmetric routing because it allows the firewall to direct return traffic along a specific path, aligning with the asymmetric nature of the traffic flow.

References:

Palo Alto Networks, High Availability Concepts, and Policy-Based Forwarding documentation.

To avoid split-brain scenarios in an active/passive high availability (HA) pair deployment, it is essential to ensure reliable communication between the HA peers. Using the management interface as the HA1 backup link provides an additional communication path between the firewalls, ensuring they can synchronize state information and avoid scenarios where both units assume the active role due to a communication failure.

DNS sinkholing is a technique used to intercept and redirect malicious traffic to a designated IP address (sinkhole) to identify and prevent further malicious activity. When a compromised host attempts to connect to a known malicious domain, it is instead directed to the sinkhole IP address. This allows security administrators to identify infected hosts by examining traffic logs, where connections to the sinkhole IP address are recorded. DNS sinkholing does not require a separate license, and the relevant signatures are typically included in the Threat Prevention package.

Palo Alto Networks Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) offers significant business value by automating and simplifying the process of adding new firewalls to the network, specifically the Panorama management server.

Automation and Simplification:

ZTP automates the initial configuration and deployment of new firewalls, reducing the need for manual intervention.

This leads to faster deployment times and reduces the potential for human error.

 To protect against port scans from the internet, a Zone Protection Profile should be applied to the zone of the ingress interface. This profile helps defend the network by setting thresholds for various types of scans and attacks, including port scans, thus reducing the risk of reconnaissance activities that precede actual attacks​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.QUESTION NO: 43

When log sizing is factored for the Cortex Data Lake on the NGFW, what is the average log size used in calculation?

A. 8MB

B. depends on the Cortex Data Lake tier purchased

C. 18 bytes

D. 1500 bytes

Answer: D

When calculating log sizing for the Cortex Data Lake on the NGFW, the average log size used is 1500 bytes. This size helps in estimating storage requirements and planning for log retention policies efficiently, ensuring that there is adequate storage capacity to handle the volume of logs generated by the network firewalls​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.QUESTION NO: 44

What can be applied to prevent users from unknowingly downloading malicious file types from the internet?

A. A vulnerability profile to security policy rules that deny general web access

B. An antivirus profile to security policy rules that deny general web access

C. A zone protection profile to the untrust zone

D. A file blocking profile to security policy rules that allow general web access

Answer: D

To prevent users from unknowingly downloading malicious file types from the internet, a File Blocking Profile should be applied to security policy rules that allow general web access. This profile can be configured to block or alert on downloads of specific file types that are commonly used to deliver malware, providing an additional layer of protection against threats​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

Palo Alto Networks updates Command-and-Control (C2) signatures frequently to ensure the latest threats are detected and blocked. The recommended schedule for updating C2 signatures is once a day. This daily update ensures that the firewall has the most current threat intelligence, providing robust protection against C2 traffic.

In Panorama, templates are used to define common base configurations that can be applied across multiple firewalls. The following tabs are crucial for this purpose:

Network Tab: This tab is used to define network configurations, including interface settings, routing, and other network-related parameters that need to be consistent across multiple firewalls​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

Device Tab: This tab allows administrators to set up device-specific configurations such as system settings, logging, and other administrative settings that form the base configuration for the firewalls​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.