PSE-Strata Palo Alto Networks System Engineer Professional - Strata Questions and Answers

When sizing the Cortex Data Lake for Traps Management Service, two key factors must be considered:

Retention Requirements: It is essential to determine how long the logs and data need to be retained in the Cortex Data Lake. This affects the overall storage capacity required, as longer retention periods will necessitate more storage space​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

The Number of Traps Agents: The total number of Traps agents deployed will directly impact the volume of data being generated and sent to the Cortex Data Lake. More agents mean more data, which in turn requires a larger data lake capacity to handle the increased load​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

Dynamic User Groups (DUGs) in Palo Alto Networks are determined using tags. Tags are metadata assigned to users based on various criteria, such as behavior, location, or other attributes. These tags are used to dynamically update group memberships without manual intervention. For instance, if a user meets certain conditions defined by the administrator, they are automatically tagged and included in the respective DUG. This feature enhances the flexibility and automation of security policies, ensuring that the right policies are applied to the right users in real-time.

When a client chooses not to block uncategorized websites, additional measures are necessary to maintain a level of protection.

A URL filtering profile with the action set to continue for unknown URL categories: By setting the action to continue, users will be prompted before accessing uncategorized websites, which provides an extra layer of caution and awareness, helping to mitigate risks associated with unknown sites.

A file blocking profile attached to security policy rules: This helps to reduce the risk of drive-by downloads by blocking potentially harmful file types from being downloaded when users visit uncategorized websites. This additional layer of security ensures that even if users access risky sites, the likelihood of malicious file downloads is minimized.

Deploying Panorama in a High Availability (HA) configuration provides significant advantages, especially for maintaining the management layer and ensuring robust log collection. Here are the key reasons:

Ensure Management Continuity: By deploying a second Panorama appliance in an HA setup, you can ensure continuous management of your firewall environment. In the event that the primary Panorama appliance fails, the secondary appliance can take over, ensuring that there is no interruption in management capabilities. This is crucial for maintaining operational stability and uninterrupted administrative functions​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

Improve Log Collection Redundancy: An HA setup improves the redundancy and reliability of log collection. If the primary Panorama appliance that is collecting logs from various firewalls becomes unavailable, the secondary appliance can continue the log collection process. This ensures that all security events and network activities are recorded without gaps, which is essential for effective monitoring and incident response​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks Knowledge Base)​.

When customers have high bandwidth requirements for Service Connections and need to onboard multiple Service Connections to the same Prisma Access location servicing a single datacenter, there are specific limitations to consider:

A. Network segments in the datacenter need to be advertised to only one Service Connection to prevent routing issues and ensure that traffic is properly managed and routed without conflicts.

B. The customer edge device must support policy-based routing with symmetric return functionality. This requirement ensures that traffic is routed back through the same path it came from, maintaining session integrity and preventing asymmetric routing issues, which can lead to packet loss and connection instability.

During a security event, the Traps agent (part of Cortex XDR) performs several actions beyond just preventing the activity:

Collects forensic information about the event: The Traps agent gathers detailed information regarding the event, which helps in understanding the nature and source of the threat.

Communicates the status of the endpoint to the ESM (Endpoint Security Manager): This communication ensures that the ESM is aware of the current state of the endpoint, helping in centralized management and response.

Notifies the user about the event: The agent informs the user about the occurrence of a security event, which can help in immediate local response and awareness.

References:

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Documentation

Palo Alto Networks Traps Agent User Guide

In PAN-OS 9, the WF-500 appliance added support for new file types, including ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) and 7-Zip files. This expansion enables broader malware detection capabilities by analyzing additional file formats commonly used in various operating systems and compression utilities​ (LIVEcommunity | Palo Alto Networks)​​ (LIVEcommunity | Palo Alto Networks)​.

Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) offer advanced features that are not typically found in legacy firewall products, including:

Policy Match is Based on Application: Unlike legacy firewalls that base policies primarily on IP addresses, ports, and protocols, Palo Alto Networks NGFWs can create policies based on specific applications (App-ID). This allows for more precise control over network traffic, ensuring that only legitimate application traffic is allowed while blocking unwanted or malicious applications.

Identification of Application is Possible on Any Port: Traditional firewalls often rely on static port numbers to identify traffic, which can be easily bypassed by applications using non-standard ports. Palo Alto Networks NGFWs can identify applications regardless of the port they use, providing more accurate application identification and better security enforcement.

These features enhance the ability to manage and secure network traffic effectively, providing superior protection compared to legacy firewall solutions.

WildFire can analyze various script types to detect and mitigate potential threats.

JScript (Option C):

JScript files can be used in web-based attacks and are commonly analyzed by WildFire.

When having a customer pre-sales call, the aspect of the NGFW that should be covered is:

A. The NGFW simplifies your operations through analytics and automation while giving you consistent protection through exceptional visibility and control across the data center, perimeter, branch, mobile, and cloud networks.

This aspect highlights the key benefits of using the NGFW, such as operational simplification through advanced analytics and automation, and comprehensive protection across various parts of the network. This message effectively communicates the value proposition of the NGFW to potential customers, making it a crucial point to cover in pre-sales discussions.

For detecting actionable events on the network and processing related threat events, the Automated Correlation Engine (ACE) in PAN-OS is highly suitable.

Automated Correlation Engine (ACE):

ACE analyzes firewall logs to detect patterns and sequences of events that may indicate a compromised host.

It automatically processes related threat events, pinpointing areas of risk and providing actionable insights.

Information about Command-and-Control (C2) hosts can be found in the following items:

Threat logs (A): These logs contain detailed information about detected threats, including C2 activities.

WildFire analysis reports (B): WildFire reports provide insights into malicious files and their behaviors, including any C2 communication attempts.

Botnet reports (C): These reports identify infected hosts within the network that are communicating with known botnet C2 servers.

These sources collectively provide comprehensive visibility into C2 activities within the network, aiding in the detection and mitigation of compromised hosts​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

To enable Credential Phishing Prevention on a Palo Alto Networks firewall, several actions need to be taken to detect and block phishing attempts effectively.

Enable User Credential Detection: This is crucial for identifying when user credentials are being sent to potentially malicious or unknown sites.

Enable User-ID: This feature maps IP addresses to user identities, which is necessary for identifying which user credentials are being used and applying relevant security policies.

Define a URL Filtering profile: This profile allows the firewall to inspect and control web traffic, blocking access to phishing sites and other malicious URLs.

WildFire signatures are generated based on the analysis of unknown files submitted to the WildFire cloud. These signatures are updated and pushed to the antivirus database every 24 hours. This frequent update cycle ensures that the firewall can detect and block the latest threats quickly and effectively, minimizing the window of exposure to new malware.

Palo Alto Networks firewalls support several methods for mapping users to IP addresses, which are critical for implementing user-based security policies:

eDirectory Monitoring: The firewall can monitor Novell eDirectory servers to map IP addresses to usernames by reading user login events from the eDirectory server. This method is often used in environments where eDirectory is the primary directory service​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks Knowledge Base)​.

Client Probing: This method involves the firewall sending probes to the client machines to verify user login information. Probing can use protocols like NetBIOS, WMI, or XFF headers to collect user-to-IP mapping information directly from the clients​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

Active Directory Monitoring: The firewall can monitor Microsoft Active Directory domain controllers to collect user login events. This method is widely used in environments where Active Directory is the primary directory service. It provides real-time user mapping by tracking user logins and logouts across the domain controllers​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (LIVEcommunity | Palo Alto Networks)​.

WildFire, a cloud-based threat analysis service from Palo Alto Networks, is capable of detecting zero-day malware across several types of traffic, including SMTP, HTTPS, and FTP. By analyzing files transmitted over these protocols, WildFire can identify malicious activities that traditional security measures might miss. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is used for email transmission, HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) secures web traffic, and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is used for file transfers. These protocols are commonly exploited by attackers to distribute malware, making WildFire’s ability to monitor and analyze them critical for comprehensive network security.

Before deploying a firewall evaluation unit in a customer environment, it is essential to take certain preparatory actions to ensure a smooth evaluation process and accurate results.

Upgrade the evaluation unit to the most current recommended firmware, unless a demo of the upgrade process is planned (Option C):

Ensures that the evaluation unit is running the latest and most secure firmware, providing the best performance and security features available.

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)​.

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

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)​.

Cortex XDR licensing is based on the number of nodes and endpoints providing logs. This model ensures that organizations are charged according to the volume of endpoints and devices that are integrated with the Cortex XDR platform for comprehensive detection and response capabilities. By basing the licensing on endpoints and nodes, Cortex XDR offers a scalable and flexible solution that can adapt to the specific needs and growth of an organization's network infrastructure.

References:

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Licensing Guide

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Datasheet

DNS Sinkholing is a powerful feature in network security that offers several advantages:

Forging DNS replies to known malicious domains: This technique redirects malicious domain queries to a designated IP address (sinkhole), effectively preventing the malware from communicating with its command and control servers, thereby neutralizing its threat.

Working upstream from the internal DNS server: DNS Sinkholing can be implemented upstream, meaning it intercepts and manipulates DNS queries before they reach the internal DNS server. This preemptive action helps in blocking threats early in the DNS resolution process, providing an additional security layer​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

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

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.

Palo Alto Networks' platform addresses concerns regarding SSL decryption by offering the ability to define a list of websites or URL categories that can be excluded from decryption. This feature allows organizations to comply with privacy and regulatory requirements while still gaining visibility into encrypted traffic where necessary. By creating exceptions for specific websites or URL categories, organizations can strike a balance between security needs and privacy concerns. This method ensures that sensitive data remains confidential while still allowing the firewall to inspect other traffic for threats.

The CLI command that allows you to view latency, jitter, and packet loss on a virtual SD-WAN interface is:

show sdwan path-monitor stats vif

This command displays the statistics related to the virtual SD-WAN interface, including important metrics such as latency, jitter, and packet loss. These metrics are crucial for monitoring the performance and quality of the SD-WAN connections to ensure optimal network performance and quick identification of issues.

References:

Palo Alto Networks SD-WAN Configuration Guide

Palo Alto Networks CLI Reference

To prevent the abuse of stolen credentials, two effective configuration elements are:

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (C): Implementing MFA adds an additional layer of security by requiring users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to a resource such as an application or online account. This significantly reduces the risk of credential abuse because even if the credentials are stolen, the attacker would still need the second factor to gain access.

URL Filtering Profiles (D): URL Filtering Profiles help prevent access to malicious or inappropriate websites. By restricting access to known phishing and malicious sites, URL filtering can prevent users from inadvertently entering their credentials on fraudulent websites, thereby reducing the chances of credential theft and misuse.

References:

Palo Alto Networks, Multi-Factor Authentication Setup and URL Filtering Profiles documentation.

The Security Lifecycle Review (SLR) is a pre-sales tool used by Palo Alto Networks that involves an in-depth interview, typically lasting around 4 hours, to assess a customer's current security posture. The SLR provides a comprehensive review of the security measures in place, identifies potential gaps, and offers recommendations for improvements. This tool helps organizations understand their security environment and make informed decisions about enhancing their security infrastructure.

References: Palo Alto Networks SLR documentation.

To address threats based on domain generation algorithms (DGAs), the Anti-Spyware profile is used to configure Domain Name Security (DNS) on Palo Alto Networks firewalls. DGAs are algorithms used by malware to generate a large number of domain names for command-and-control servers, making it difficult to block them through traditional means. The Anti-Spyware profile includes features to detect and block connections to these dynamically generated domains in real-time, providing robust protection against this sophisticated attack vector.

The smallest Panorama solution that can be used to manage up to 2500 Palo Alto Networks Next Generation firewalls is the M-200 appliance.

The M-200 is designed for medium-sized organizations and provides the necessary performance and scalability to manage a large number of firewalls efficiently.

The M-600 is a more powerful appliance but is not the smallest option.

The M-100 has been superseded by the M-200 and does not support as many devices.

The Panorama VM-Series can manage a large number of devices but is not typically considered the "smallest" solution due to its virtual nature and varying performance based on the underlying hardware.

The Decryption Broker in Palo Alto Networks supports the following types of security chains:

Virtual wire: This mode allows for seamless integration of the Decryption Broker into the network without the need for IP addressing, providing a transparent method of traffic inspection and decryption.

Layer 3: In this mode, the Decryption Broker operates at the network layer, allowing for routing and advanced inspection of decrypted traffic.

These security chains enable the Decryption Broker to decrypt SSL/TLS traffic and forward it to other security devices for further inspection, enhancing overall security posture.

References:

Palo Alto Networks Decryption Broker Documentation

Palo Alto Networks SSL Decryption Guide

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.

PAN-OS software can consume MineMeld outputs in two primary ways:

API (Application Programming Interface): This method allows direct integration where PAN-OS can pull MineMeld indicators through API calls, facilitating real-time data exchange and automation in threat intelligence.

EDL (External Dynamic Lists): PAN-OS can consume MineMeld outputs by configuring EDLs, which are lists of indicators (such as IP addresses, domains, or URLs) that can be dynamically updated and referenced in security policies​ (Palo Alto Networks)​​ (Palo Alto Networks)​.

DNS Security is a service that prevents users from resolving IP addresses to malicious, grayware, or newly registered domains. By integrating DNS Security into the Palo Alto Networks platform, organizations can block threats at the DNS layer, providing an additional level of protection against domain-based attacks. This service leverages real-time threat intelligence to identify and block malicious domains before they can be used in attacks.

In the first step of the Palo Alto Networks Five-Step Zero Trust Methodology, "Define the protect surface," an organization identifies its critical data, applications, assets, and services (DAAS). This step is crucial because it determines what needs to be protected within the Zero Trust framework. By clearly defining the protect surface, organizations can focus their security efforts on the most critical areas.

In a Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), supporting asymmetric routing with redundancy requires specific features to handle traffic that may not follow the same path in both directions.

Active / active high availability (HA): This feature allows two firewalls to operate in tandem, sharing the traffic load. Active/active HA mode is designed to handle asymmetric routing scenarios where traffic might ingress through one firewall and egress through another, ensuring continuity and redundancy.

non-SYN first packet: This feature is crucial for dealing with non-standard traffic patterns where the initial packet may not always be a SYN packet (typical in TCP connections). It allows the firewall to handle and correctly process such packets, which is essential in asymmetric routing scenarios.

Palo Alto Networks Single Pass Parallel Processing (SP3) architecture is designed to handle traffic efficiently and securely. The key aspect of SP3 is:

Single Pass Processing (C): This means that all traffic is processed in a single pass through the firewall, regardless of the number of security features enabled. There is no additional performance impact for each feature because the firewall processes all security functions (such as threat prevention, URL filtering, and application control) simultaneously in a single pass. This architecture ensures high performance and low latency while maintaining robust security.

References:

Palo Alto Networks, Single Pass Parallel Processing (SP3) Whitepaper.

Palo Alto Networks, Firewall Performance and Architecture Documentation.

AutoFocus is a threat intelligence service provided by Palo Alto Networks that gives context and insight into threat data by leveraging a vast repository of threat intelligence data. It can inform customers about whether a zero-day attack is specifically targeted at their organization by correlating global threat intelligence with local data. This allows the customer to understand the specific nature and scope of the threat, providing actionable insights to mitigate such attacks.