PSE-Strata Paloalto Networks Palo Alto Networks System Engineer Professional - Strata Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

The Palo Alto Networks platform approach to security offers several key benefits:

Operational Efficiencies: By automating incident review and response, the platform reduces the need for manual intervention, thereby decreasing the mean time to resolution (MTTR). This streamlines security operations and allows teams to focus on more strategic tasks.

Increased Security: The scalable cloud-delivered security services (CDSS) provided by Palo Alto Networks ensure that security measures can be dynamically scaled to meet the needs of the organization, offering robust protection against evolving threats.

Cost Savings: The platform reduces the overall IT management effort and device requirements, leading to significant cost savings. This is achieved through integrated solutions that minimize the need for multiple disparate security products and simplify management.

The CLI command to view SD-WAN events, such as path selection and path quality measurements, is essential for network administrators to monitor and troubleshoot SD-WAN operations.

CLI Command:

>show sdwan event

This command provides visibility into SD-WAN events, including path selection decisions and path quality metrics.

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.

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)​.

File Blocking Profiles can help prevent drive-by downloads by blocking certain types of file downloads that are commonly associated with malware. This allows web-browsing traffic to continue but prevents potentially harmful files from being downloaded automatically, thus protecting against malicious software that could be installed without user consent.

References:

Palo Alto Networks' documentation on File Blocking Profiles

OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) guidelines on preventing drive-by downloads

To ensure that firewalls have the most current set of signatures for up-to-date protection, it is recommended to use dynamic updates with the most aggressive schedule required by business needs. Dynamic updates allow the firewall to automatically download and install the latest threat signatures and security updates from Palo Alto Networks. This approach minimizes the window of vulnerability by ensuring that the firewall is consistently equipped with the most recent protections against emerging threats. Setting an aggressive update schedule ensures timely application of critical updates, enhancing the overall security posture of the network.

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.

Expedition is a tool provided by Palo Alto Networks to help streamline the migration and optimization of security policies. Two key presales selling advantages of using Expedition are:

Streamline & Migrate to Layer7 Policies Using Policy Optimizer: Policy Optimizer helps in converting traditional Layer 3/4 policies into more granular Layer 7 application-based policies. This migration ensures more precise control and better security by focusing on the actual applications rather than just IP addresses and ports.

Reduce Effort to Implement Policies Based on App-ID and User-ID: Expedition facilitates the implementation of security policies based on Palo Alto Networks' App-ID and User-ID technologies. This reduces the complexity and effort required to manage security policies, as policies can be applied based on specific applications and user identities, leading to more effective and efficient security management.

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).

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)​.

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.

The Query Builder found in the Custom Report creation dialog of the firewall specifically includes the following components:

Connector (A): This is used to connect different parts of the query, allowing the user to specify how data elements are linked.

Operator (D): Operators are used to define the conditions for the query, such as equals, not equals, greater than, etc.

Attribute (E): Attributes represent the fields or data points that can be queried.

These components are essential for building effective and precise queries within the custom report creation functionality of the firewall, ensuring that users can extract relevant data based on specific conditions.

Anti-Spyware Signatures are designed to detect and block known malware, including those that attempt to establish command-and-control (C2) connections with external servers. When an endpoint inside an organization is infected with known malware, the anti-spyware signatures on the firewall can recognize the malicious traffic and prevent the connection from being established. This mechanism works by inspecting traffic against a database of known spyware and malware signatures, thereby stopping the malware from communicating with its C2 server.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) significantly enhances security by requiring multiple forms of verification to access accounts, reducing the risk of abuse from stolen credentials. URL Filtering Profiles block access to malicious or high-risk websites that might be used to harvest credentials or facilitate phishing attacks. SSL decryption rules allow security systems to inspect encrypted traffic, ensuring that malicious content is not being hidden within encrypted sessions, thereby preventing the use of stolen credentials on secure sites. These measures collectively help in reducing the risk of credential theft and misuse.

References:

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines on authentication

Palo Alto Networks' Best Practices for URL Filtering

SSL Decryption in Network Security (SANS Institute)

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

The Best Practice Assessment (BPA) tool provided by Palo Alto Networks helps organizations to assess and improve their security posture. The tool identifies several best practices, including:

Use of Decryption Policies: Implementing decryption policies ensures that encrypted traffic can be inspected for threats. This is crucial for identifying and mitigating risks hidden within SSL/TLS encrypted traffic​ (Marks4Sure)​.

Measure the Adoption of URL Filters, App-ID, User-ID: The BPA tool evaluates how effectively the organization is utilizing URL filtering, application identification (App-ID), and user identification (User-ID) to enforce security policies. These technologies are essential for granular control and visibility over network traffic​ (Marks4Sure)​.

Identify Sanctioned and Unsanctioned SaaS Applications: The tool helps in identifying which SaaS applications are being used within the network, distinguishing between those that are sanctioned by IT and those that are not. This visibility is crucial for managing shadow IT and ensuring that only approved applications are used, reducing security risks​ (Marks4Sure)​.

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.

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)​.