Paloalto Networks NetSec-Pro Palo Alto Networks Network Security Professional Exam Practice Test

Adecryption policyallows the firewall to inspect encrypted traffic and apply security controls toPost-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.

SD-WANsolutionsoptimize application experienceand provide secure, dynamic connectivity across distributed locations by leveraging real-time path metrics (latency, jitter, loss).

“By implementing SD-WAN, traffic is routed intelligently based on real-time network performance metrics. Zone protection profiles ensure security while maximizing application performance.”

(Source: SD-WAN Architecture)

Key advantage:

Secure connectivity and best user experience across campuses and branches.

To fully leverageinline cloud analysisin Advanced Threat Prevention, security profiles (e.g., anti-spyware) must beupdated or newly createdto enable local deep learning and inline cloud analysis models.

“To activate inline cloud analysis, update your Anti-Spyware profile to enable advanced inline detection engines, including deep learning-based models and cloud-delivered signatures.”

(Source: Inline Cloud Analysis and Deep Learning)

This ensuresreal-time protectionfrom sophisticated threats beyond static signatures.

IoT SecurityusesMAC address,device manufacturer, andOS informationtoidentify and classify devicesvia Device-ID.

“IoT Security uses passive network traffic analysis to fingerprint devices based on the MAC address, manufacturer, and operating system to ensure accurate classification.”

(Source: IoT Security Device-ID and Classification)

These attributes provide a robust, manufacturer-agnostic method to fingerprint IoT devices.

Blocking non-compliant SSH versionsandfailing certificate validationsare 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 measuresminimize the risk of MITM attacksand secure SSH traffic.

Content-IDis the core of Palo Alto Networks' prevention architecture, providingsingle-pass application layer inspectionto deliver real-time threat prevention across all traffic.

“Content-ID uses a single-pass architecture to perform application-layer (Layer 7) traffic inspection and real-time threat prevention. Unlike traditional firewalls that rely on multiple scans, Content-ID inspects traffic once to enforce multiple security controls simultaneously.”

(Source: Content-ID Overview)

By consolidating security functions in a single pass, it ensures both efficiency and comprehensive security.

Advanced DNS Securityuses a signature policy tosinkholemalicious 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.

InPalo Alto Networks' Single-Pass Parallel Processing (SP3)architecture, SSL/TLS decryption occurs only during theslow pathwhen the firewall first encounters a new session.

“SSL/TLS decryption, which requires CPU-intensive cryptographic operations, is performed during the slow path when establishing new sessions. Once decrypted, traffic is processed in the fast path for subsequent packets.”

(Source: Packet Flow and SP3 Architecture)

After the initial decryption in the slow path, decrypted traffic is handled by fast path for efficiency.

Device grouping rulesin SCM allow administrators toorganize firewalls into logical groupsand collectively manage updates or configuration pushes across those groups.

“SCM allows you to create device group rules, enabling streamlined management and collective updates of multiple NGFW instances.”

(Source: SCM Device Grouping)

This approach ensures consistency in software versions and configuration baselines across large deployments.

TheVM-Series NGFWsare designed to integrate seamlessly with bothPanoramaandStrata Cloud Manager(SCM), allowing administrators to managephysical and virtualfirewall deployments from either interface.

“You can manage VM-Series Next-Generation Firewalls using either Panorama for centralized management of all firewalls or Strata Cloud Manager for cloud-based management, giving flexibility across hybrid environments.”

(Source: VM-Series Management Options)

Unified management flexibility is key for enterprises with hybrid or multi-cloud deployments.

To allow third-party contractors controlled access, security policies must combineuser identificationandtime-based access controls:

User-ID

“User-ID enables security policies to be based on user identity rather than IP addresses, ensuring precise policy enforcement for specific users such as contractors.”

(Source: User-ID Overview)

Schedule

“Schedules allow policies to be active only during specific times, providing time-based access control (e.g., after business hours).”

(Source: Security Policy Schedules)

Together, they ensure that only authorized users (contractors) have access, and only when explicitly allowed.

In Prisma Access, theinterzonesecurity policy rule isavailableand plays a crucial role in controlling trafficbetweenzones.

“You can configure an interzone rule to control traffic that flows between different zones in Prisma Access, enabling granular security policy enforcement.”

(Source: Prisma Access Security Policies)

This ensures comprehensive control of traffic crossing security boundaries in the cloud-delivered architecture.

To preventSYN flood attacks, the NGFW usesSYN cookiesto validate legitimate session establishment.

“SYN cookies allow the firewall to verify the legitimacy of new session requests without allocating resources until the handshake is completed. This prevents SYN flood attacks from exhausting system resources.”

(Source: Flood Protection Best Practices)

SYN cookies mitigate resource exhaustion by ensuring only legitimate connections are established.

Prisma Access for secure remote access

“Prisma Access extends consistent security and optimized connectivity to branch locations, enabling secure access for mobile and branch users.”

(Source: Prisma Access Overview)

Centralized management for consistent policy enforcement

“Centralized management using Strata Cloud Manager or Panorama ensures security policies and updates are uniformly applied across distributed locations, preventing policy drift and security gaps.”

(Source: Strata Cloud Manager Best Practices)

These two practices are foundational for modern, distributed enterprise networks to maintain security posture and performance.

When migrating from aperpetual VM-Series firewall license to a flexible VM licensing model, two critical steps are needed:

Allocate same number of vCPUs– This ensures that the VM-Series capacity remains consistent and avoids resource bottlenecks.

“When migrating perpetual VM-Series licenses to flexible VM licensing, allocate the same vCPU and memory resources to ensure equivalent performance.”

(Source: VM-Series Flexible Licensing Migration)

Limit to same security services– Flexible licensing requires maintaining the same security services to preserve licensing compliance.

“Ensure that you allow only the same security services on the flexible VM instance as were licensed on the perpetual VM.”

(Source: Flexible Licensing and Service Subscriptions)

Single floating IP address(also known as a floating IP or shared IP) is supported only in anactive/passiveHA pair. In active/active HA, both firewalls are forwarding traffic simultaneously and thus do not share a single floating IP.

“In active/passive HA, a single floating IP address is used for seamless failover. Active/active HA requires separate IP addresses and does not support a single floating IP.”

(Source: Active/Passive vs. Active/Active HA)

Thissimplifies failoverin active/passive deployments by using a single shared IP that moves to the active peer upon failover.

SSL Inbound Inspectionallows the firewall to decrypt incoming encrypted traffic to internal servers (e.g., web servers) by acting as aman-in-the-middle (MITM). The firewall uses the private key of the server to decrypt the session and apply security policies before re-encrypting the traffic.

“SSL Inbound Inspection requires you to import the server’s private key and certificate into the firewall. The firewall then acts as a man-in-the-middle (MITM) to decrypt inbound sessions from external clients to internal servers for inspection.”

(Source: SSL Inbound Inspection)

In cloud environments like Azure, theVM-Series NGFWis deployed to createLayer 3 segmentation zonesclosest to the application workloads.

“In Azure, deploy VM-Series firewalls in Layer 3 mode to enforce security policies closest to private applications, meeting strict compliance and segmentation requirements.”

(Source: VM-Series in Public Clouds)

Layer 3 segmentation ensures security policies are enforced at the right boundary to isolate traffic within Azure’s virtual networks.