NetSec-Pro Palo Alto Networks Network Security Professional Questions and Answers

The “Report and Maintenance” step of the Zero Trust model emphasizes ongoing monitoring, analysis, and reporting to ensure the environment remains secure over time.

“The Report and Maintenance phase includes continuous monitoring, log forwarding, and sharing of security telemetry to third-party tools to maintain and validate Zero Trust implementation.”

(Source: Zero Trust Best Practices)

By forwarding logs to SOC tools, the engineer ensures comprehensive visibility and proactive threat hunting.

To fully manage a firewall from Strata Cloud Manager (SCM), it’s essential to establish trust and ensure reliable connectivity:

Configure NTP and DNS servers

The firewall must have accurate time (NTP) and name resolution (DNS) to securely communicate with SCM and related cloud services.

“To ensure successful management, configure the firewall’s NTP and DNS settings to synchronize time and resolve domain names such as stratacloudmanager.paloaltonetworks.com.”

(Source: SCM Onboarding Requirements)

Install a device certificate

A device certificate authenticates the firewall’s identity when connecting to SCM.

“The device certificate authenticates the firewall to Palo Alto Networks cloud services, including SCM. It’s a fundamental requirement to establish secure connectivity.”

(Source: Device Certificates)

These steps ensure trust, secure communication , and successful onboarding into SCM.

To inspect SaaS app traffic (often encrypted), you must configure:

SSL Forward Proxy

“The SSL Forward Proxy decryption profile enables the firewall to decrypt outbound SSL traffic, essential for visibility into SaaS app usage.”

(Source: SSL Forward Proxy Overview)

Validate certificates

“Validating and deploying the appropriate root and intermediate CA certificates is critical for establishing trust and preventing SSL errors during decryption.”

(Source: Certificate Deployment and Validation)

Without these steps, SaaS decryption and policy enforcement would be incomplete.

The Strata Logging Service offers scalable log storage to accommodate data growth, which ensures organizations can retain logs for compliance and threat hunting as their environments expand.

“The Strata Logging Service is designed to scale dynamically to accommodate growing log retention needs, allowing enterprises to maintain comprehensive visibility as they expand their network footprint.”

(Source: Strata Logging Service Overview)

Cloud NGFW for AWS can be configured using Panorama for centralized management, as well as the AWS management console for native integration and configuration.

“You can configure Cloud NGFW for AWS using Panorama for centralized security management, or directly through the AWS management console to deploy and manage security services for your AWS resources.”

(Source: Cloud NGFW for AWS Guide)

Advanced DNS Security uses a signature policy to sinkhole malicious DNS queries and prevent them from resolving.

“The DNS Security service integrates with Anti-Spyware profiles, and you must configure signature policy settings to sinkhole malicious queries. This proactively stops traffic to known malicious domains.”

(Source: Configure DNS Security)

Sinkholing ensures that DNS queries to malicious FQDNs are redirected to a safe IP, preventing compromise.

Strata Cloud Manager (SCM) offers a cloud-based unified management plane for both NGFWs and Prisma Access, enabling consistent policy enforcement, simplified management, and AI-driven operational insights.

“Strata Cloud Manager provides a single interface for unified management of NGFWs and Prisma Access, leveraging AI to optimize security operations and streamline workflows.”

(Source: Strata Cloud Manager Overview)

Unlike Panorama, which is an on-premises management solution, SCM delivers cloud-based, AI-driven capabilities for centralized oversight.

When using AWS centralized deployments for Cloud NGFW, the service deploys NGFW instances into selected VPCs as additional workloads to secure that traffic.

“In centralized deployments, Cloud NGFW instances are deployed as security appliances within the selected VPCs, ensuring consistent traffic inspection and protection.”

(Source: Cloud NGFW Deployment Models)

This approach minimizes complexity and ensures direct security policy enforcement within AWS.

Blocking non-compliant SSH versions and failing certificate validations are fundamental security measures:

Block sessions when certificate validation fails

“The SSH Proxy profile should block sessions that fail certificate validation to ensure that only trusted hosts are allowed.”

(Source: SSH Proxy Decryption Best Practices)

Block connections using non-compliant SSH versions

Older SSH versions may have vulnerabilities or lack modern encryption algorithms.

“To enforce stronger security, block SSH sessions that use older or deprecated versions of the SSH protocol that do not comply with your security posture.”

(Source: SSH Decryption and Best Practices)

Together, these measures minimize the risk of MITM attacks and secure SSH traffic.

WildFire inline ML detection supports PE files , which are Windows Portable Executable files such as .exe and .dll.

To create custom Prisma Access reports within SCM , you first configure a dashboard that aggregates the relevant logs and analytics. This allows you to define the data points you want to include.

“Dashboards in SCM can be customized to include Prisma Access data sources, enabling you to create and generate reports that meet specific business and security requirements.”

(Source: SCM Dashboards and Reporting)

Once configured, you can export the dashboard as a custom report .

“Use the dashboard’s data visualization to create custom reports for Prisma Access, which can be exported as PDFs for distribution.”

(Source: SCM Report Customization)

To connect a remote network to Prisma Access via Strata Cloud Manager (SCM), the remote network requires an IPSec termination node . This acts as the VPN endpoint, ensuring secure connectivity between branch locations and Prisma Access.

“To onboard a remote network, configure the IPSec termination node on the customer’s premises. This VPN endpoint establishes the secure tunnel to Prisma Access for traffic backhauling.”

(Source: Onboard Remote Networks)

Key takeaway:

The IPSec termination node is fundamental for secure, encrypted connectivity.

GlobalProtect HIP checks can evaluate host posture information including anti-malware status, disk encryption, patch levels, firewall status, and other endpoint security attributes.

Prisma SD-WAN device inventory can show statuses such as Unclaimed , Offline , and Online-Restricted to indicate onboarding and communication state.

The firewall must be running a PAN-OS version that is supported by Panorama. This means that Panorama must be running the same or a newer PAN-OS version as the one being installed on the firewalls to maintain compatibility.

“Before you upgrade the firewall, ensure that Panorama is running the same or a later PAN-OS version than the firewall. Panorama must always be at the same or a higher version to maintain compatibility.”

(Source: Panorama Admin Guide – Upgrade Process)

A decryption policy allows the firewall to inspect encrypted traffic and apply security controls to Post-quantum Cryptography (PQC) usage, as PQC algorithms are typically implemented within encrypted sessions.

“Decryption policies enable the firewall to see and control encrypted traffic. This visibility and control extend to new cryptographic algorithms, including PQC, to ensure that security measures are applied consistently.”

(Source: Palo Alto Networks Decryption Overview)

By decrypting sessions, you ensure that even PQC traffic can be inspected, logged, and subject to security profiles for visibility and policy enforcement.