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

Client-based VPNsolutions like GlobalProtect provide full coverage for the mobile workforce by extending the enterprise security stack to remote endpoints. It establishes a secure tunnel, allowing consistent security policies across the enterprise perimeter and the mobile workforce.

“GlobalProtect is a client-based VPN that provides secure, consistent protection for mobile users by extending the security capabilities of Prisma Access to remote endpoints, covering all network protocols.”

(Source: GlobalProtect Admin Guide)

Strata Cloud Manager (SCM)offers acloud-based unified managementplane 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.

GlobalProtect logs

These logs provide detailed insights into the user’s connectivity, tunnel status, and authentication events.

“GlobalProtect logs include detailed information about connection establishment, tunnel negotiation, and any errors that can prevent mobile users from accessing applications.”

(Source: GlobalProtect Troubleshooting)

Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM)

ADEM helps visualize end-to-end performance and identifies network issues affecting SaaS app access for mobile users.

“ADEM provides real-time and historical visibility into user experience, enabling quick identification and resolution of connectivity or performance issues for SaaS applications.”

(Source: ADEM for Prisma Access)

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.

Applications and threats

Panorama can push application and threat signature updates to managed firewalls, ensuring consistent application and threat visibility.

“Panorama uses dynamic updates to distribute the latest application and threat signature packs to all managed firewalls.”

(Source: Manage Content Updates in Panorama)

WildFire

Panorama also distributes WildFire signature updates to firewalls for real-time malware detection.

“WildFire updates provide the latest malware signatures to enhance detection and prevention, and can be deployed to all managed firewalls via Panorama.”

(Source: WildFire and Dynamic Updates)

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)

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.

Dynamic path selectionis the foundation of SD-WAN, leveraging real-time performance data to dynamically route traffic over the best available path.

“Dynamic path selection continuously monitors performance metrics (loss, latency, jitter) and makes real-time routing decisions to ensure application SLAs are met across the WAN.”

(Source: Prisma SD-WAN Dynamic Path Selection)

Establishing dynamic path selection first ensures the rest of the SD-WAN optimizations (e.g., failover, QoS) work effectively.

Heartbeat pollingis a core HA function to monitor connectivity between HA peers, leveraging ICMP pings to determine link health and availability.

“Heartbeat Polling uses ICMP pings to verify the connectivity and health of the HA peers. If heartbeat polling fails, the firewall considers the peer to be down and may initiate failover.”

(Source: HA Link and Path Monitoring)

If ICMP pings fail, checking heartbeat polling logs helps identify if link or path monitoring triggers the failover.

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.

Dynamic Address Groupsenable the firewall to automatically adjust security policies based on tags assigned dynamically (via log events, API, etc.). This eliminates the need for manual updates to policies when server roles or IPs change.

“Dynamic Address Groups allow you to create policies that automatically adapt to changes in the environment. These groups are populated dynamically based on tags, enabling automated security policy updates without manual intervention.”

(Source: Dynamic Address Groups)

When implementing SSL Forward Proxy decryption for outbound traffic, two key challenges that must be evaluated are:

Incomplete certificate chains: This occurs when the firewall cannot validate the entire certificate chain for a site, which may cause decryption failures.

Certificate pinning: Applications like banking apps may use certificate pinning to prevent MITM (man-in-the-middle) attacks, and these applications will break if SSL Forward Proxy is used.

“When decrypting outbound SSL traffic, you must consider incomplete certificate chains, which can cause decryption to fail if the firewall cannot validate the entire chain. Also, be aware of certificate pinning in applications that prevents decryption by rejecting forged certificates.”

(Source: Palo Alto Networks Decryption Concepts)

TheStrata Logging Serviceoffersscalable log storageto 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)

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 ensuretrust, secure communication, and successful onboarding into SCM.

For IoT Security toaccurately classify and monitorIoT devices, the following logs must be forwarded to Strata Logging Service:

Enhanced application logs– provide detailed application usage and behaviors, essential for profiling device types and roles.

“Enhanced Application logs provide additional context on IoT device behavior and usage patterns, and must be forwarded to Strata Logging Service for IoT Security to build accurate Device-ID profiles.”

(Source: IoT Security Logging Requirements)

Threat logs– essential for detecting suspicious or malicious activities by IoT devices.

“Threat logs are critical for identifying potential exploits or suspicious activities involving IoT devices and are required for accurate threat visibility within IoT Security.”

(Source: IoT Security Logs)

These logs collectively ensure accurate device classification and real-time threat visibility.