Free Paloalto Networks PSE-Strata Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 4

The sinkhole IP address provided by DNS Security serves two main benefits:

Client Communication (A): When the client communicates with the sinkhole IP address instead of the malicious IP address, it prevents the client from establishing a connection with the malicious server. This helps in protecting the client from potential harm and disrupts the malicious activity.

Client Identification (D): If the internal DNS server is positioned between the client and the firewall, the sinkhole IP address allows the firewall to identify which clients are attempting to access the malicious domain. This information is critical for administrators to take further action, such as cleaning the infected devices and enhancing security policies.

References:

Palo Alto Networks, DNS Security and Sinkhole Configuration documentation.

The Palo Alto Networks Security Operating Platform is designed to prevent various stages of the cyberattack lifecycle. Specifically, it effectively prevents the following four stages:

Breach the Perimeter: By using advanced threat prevention mechanisms, the platform can stop initial attempts to penetrate the network perimeter.

Lateral Movement: Once inside the network, attackers often try to move laterally to access more systems. The platform uses network segmentation and advanced monitoring to detect and prevent such movements.

Exfiltrate Data: Data exfiltration is the process of unauthorized data transfer out of the network. The platform employs data loss prevention (DLP) technologies to detect and block such attempts.

Deliver the Malware: The platform can prevent malware delivery through its threat prevention capabilities, including anti-malware, anti-spyware, and sandboxing technologies.

These steps cover critical phases where the platform can intervene to stop attacks before they cause significant damage.

When configuring the NGFW to act as a decryption broker for multiple transparent bridge security chains, the following items are required:

A unique Transparent Bridge Decryption Forwarding Profile to a single Decryption policy rule (B): Each decryption policy rule must be associated with a unique Transparent Bridge Decryption Forwarding Profile. This ensures that decrypted traffic is forwarded appropriately to the specific security chain.

A unique Decryption policy rule is required per security chain (C): You need to create a separate decryption policy rule for each security chain. This allows you to distribute the decrypted traffic among multiple security chains based on policy criteria.

These configurations enable the firewall to effectively manage and distribute the load across multiple security chains, ensuring optimal performance and security​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)

In a Palo Alto Networks firewall, when configuring User-ID, there are two essential components that must be configured: User Mapping and Group Mapping.

User Mapping involves identifying users by their usernames, which helps in associating network traffic with user activity. This is critical for applying user-specific policies and monitoring user activities.

Group Mapping involves associating users with their respective groups, typically pulled from a directory service like LDAP. This allows the firewall to apply policies based on group membership, making it easier to manage policies for large numbers of users.

These components enable the firewall to enforce security policies based on user identity and group membership, enhancing overall network security by ensuring that policies are applied accurately.

The update frequencies for the databases of different subscription services on Palo Alto Networks are as follows:

Anti-virus: Daily updates ensure that the latest virus definitions and malware signatures are available to protect against new threats.

Application: Weekly updates provide the latest application signatures to maintain accurate application identification and control.

Threats: Daily updates deliver the most current threat signatures to enhance the firewall's ability to detect and prevent emerging threats.

WildFire: Updates every 5 minutes ensure that the latest malware analysis results and protections are quickly disseminated to protect against new and evolving threats.

These update intervals are designed to provide comprehensive and up-to-date protection against a wide range of security threats.

References:

Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention Documentation

Palo Alto Networks WildFire Subscription Service Guide

When beginning to understand the Zero Trust protect surface using the Palo Alto Networks Zero Trust reference architecture, the following two steps are crucial:

Validate User Identities through Authentication (A): This step involves ensuring that all users are authenticated properly. By verifying the identities of users attempting to access the network, organizations can ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive resources. This is a fundamental principle of Zero Trust, which operates on the premise of "never trust, always verify."

Categorize Data and Applications by Levels of Sensitivity (C): This involves identifying and classifying data and applications based on their sensitivity and importance to the organization. By understanding what needs to be protected and the level of sensitivity, security policies can be tailored to provide appropriate levels of protection. This helps in prioritizing security measures based on the criticality of the data and applications.

References:

Palo Alto Networks, Zero Trust Architecture Documentation.

NIST Zero Trust Architecture (NIST SP 800-207).

Logs from various products can be sent to the Cortex Data Lake, which serves as a centralized logging and data repository:

PA-3260 firewall: This next-generation firewall (NGFW) is capable of forwarding comprehensive logs, including threat, traffic, and user activity data, to the Cortex Data Lake for centralized analysis and response.

Prisma Access: This cloud-delivered security service ensures secure access to applications and data from anywhere. It integrates with Cortex Data Lake to provide consistent security across all users, irrespective of their location, by logging security events and user activities​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

An Anti-Spyware profile on Palo Alto Networks firewalls can be configured to address command-and-control (C2) traffic from compromised hosts using the following actions:

Reset (C): This action resets the connection, disrupting the communication between the compromised host and the C2 server.

Redirect (D): This action redirects the traffic to a different destination, which can be used to analyze or block the traffic.

Drop (E): This action drops the packets, effectively blocking the communication attempt.

Alert (F): This action generates an alert, notifying administrators of the detected C2 traffic without taking immediate action against the packets.

These actions provide flexible options for responding to and mitigating the risks associated with C2 traffic​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

The metric health baseline for devices is typically calculated by taking the average performance of a specific metric over a period (such as seven days) and then adding the standard deviation to account for variability. This helps in identifying deviations from normal performance, which can indicate potential issues or anomalies in device behavior.

References:

Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics (NPMD) methodologies

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) standards for performance baselines

To support asymmetric routing with redundancy in a legacy environment using Palo Alto Networks firewalls, the following two features must be enabled:

Policy-based forwarding (PBF): This feature allows you to direct traffic to a specific interface or next-hop IP address, bypassing the normal routing table. PBF is crucial for managing asymmetric routing scenarios where inbound and outbound traffic might take different paths.

HA active/active: High Availability (HA) active/active configuration enables two firewalls to simultaneously manage traffic, providing redundancy and failover capabilities. This setup is essential for maintaining network availability and performance in environments with asymmetric routing, as it ensures that both firewalls can actively handle traffic.

References:

Palo Alto Networks High Availability (HA) Guide

Palo Alto Networks Policy-Based Forwarding Documentation