Paloalto Networks PSE-SoftwareFirewall Palo Alto Networks Systems Engineer (PSE): Software Firewall Professional Exam Practice Test

Enabling Threat Prevention on Palo Alto Networks firewalls provides comprehensive protection against inbound threats by inspecting traffic for exploits, malware, and other malicious activities.

Reference: The Threat Prevention service is detailed in the PAN-OS documentation, highlighting its role in securing inbound traffic by leveraging various threat detection and prevention techniques.

Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention Documentation

VM-Series Auto Scaling:

The VM-Series firewalls are designed to integrate with cloud environments like AWS and support auto-scaling. This allows for the deployment of a single auto-scaling group (ASG) of VM-Series firewalls to secure inbound traffic from the internet to AWS application workloads.

Allow-list Security Model:

Prisma Cloud Compute provides runtime security by automatically creating an allow-list security model for each container and service. This model ensures that only expected and authorized behaviors are allowed, effectively preventing unauthorized activities.

For deploying VM-Series firewalls in an AWS environment, it is important to note that only active-passive HA is supported. This setup ensures that one firewall handles the traffic while the other remains in standby mode, ready to take over in case the active firewall fails. This limitation is essential to consider when planning for high availability and fault tolerance in AWS deployments.

References:

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Deployment Guide for AWS: VM-Series Deployment Guide

Palo Alto Networks HA Configuration Guide: HA Configuration

Dynamic address groups in Palo Alto Networks firewalls provide flexibility by allowing network resources to be added without requiring changes to existing policies and rules:

Dynamic address group: These groups automatically update based on tags and attributes assigned to network objects. When new resources are added with the appropriate tags, they are dynamically included in the address group, and the associated policies automatically apply to them without manual intervention.

Zero Trust implementation revolves around the principle that no entity, inside or outside the network, should be trusted by default. The primary methods that benefit an organization are:

Security automation is seamlessly integrated: Zero Trust requires continuous monitoring and verification of every device and user attempting to access resources. Automation helps in efficiently managing these processes, ensuring that security policies are consistently enforced without human error. Automated tools can quickly detect anomalies, respond to threats, and update access controls dynamically.

Visibility into application-level cluster traffic:

VM-Series firewalls and hardware firewalls that are external to the Kubernetes cluster lack the necessary visibility into the traffic and communications occurring at the application level within the cluster. This limitation impedes their ability to effectively protect containerized workloads.

TLS decryption is the feature that inspects encrypted outbound traffic. By decrypting TLS/SSL traffic, the firewall can inspect the content for threats and enforce security policies. This is crucial for preventing malware and other threats that might hide within encrypted traffic.

References:

Palo Alto Networks TLS Decryption Documentation: TLS Decryption

Palo Alto Networks Security Subscriptions: TLS Decryption

Prospects interested in Palo Alto Networks virtualized next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) can achieve improved return on investment (ROI) through the following factors:

Reduced operational expenditures: Virtualized NGFWs reduce the need for physical hardware, lowering the costs associated with purchasing, maintaining, and managing hardware appliances. This also includes savings on power, cooling, and physical space requirements.

For a customer deploying VM-Series firewalls in a private data center and concerned about protecting resources from malware and lateral movement, the following subscriptions are recommended:

Threat Prevention:This subscription provides comprehensive threat detection and prevention capabilities, including IPS, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and vulnerability protection.

WildFire:This advanced threat intelligence service analyzes suspicious files and identifies new malware, providing protection against zero-day exploits and threats.

References:

Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention: Threat Prevention

Palo Alto Networks WildFire: WildFire

Software next-generation firewall (NGFW) credits can be used to enable DNS security on Palo Alto Networks firewalls. These credits allow customers to activate DNS Security service, which provides real-time protection against DNS-based threats by leveraging machine learning and continuous analysis.

References:

Palo Alto Networks DNS Security: DNS Security

Palo Alto Networks Licensing Guide: Software NGFW Credits

For automating the deployment of VM-Series firewalls from NSX Manager, Panorama must be configured to recognize and communicate with both the NSX Manager and vCenter. This ensures that Panorama can manage the firewall policies and orchestration efficiently.

Within a Cisco ACI architecture, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) are deployed using service graphs. Service graphs in Cisco ACI define the sequence of network services that traffic must pass through. By configuring service graphs, administrators can seamlessly integrate Palo Alto Networks firewalls into the fabric to inspect and secure traffic flows.

References:

Palo Alto Networks and Cisco ACI Integration Guide: Service Graphs Integration

Cisco ACI Service Graph Documentation: Service Graphs

Geneve (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation) is the protocol used for communication between VM-Series firewalls and a Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB) in AWS. Geneve provides a flexible encapsulation method and is specifically supported for integrating with AWS GWLB to ensure seamless traffic flow and security inspection.

References:

AWS Gateway Load Balancer Documentation:AWS GWLB

Palo Alto Networks Integration Guide: Integrating VM-Series with AWS GWLB

NAT (Network Address Translation) protects and hides an internal network in an outbound flow by translating internal private IP addresses to a public IP address. This process masks the internal IP addresses from external networks, providing security and privacy for the internal network. NAT is commonly used in outbound traffic to allow multiple devices on a local network to communicate with external networks while appearing as a single IP address.

References:

Palo Alto Networks NAT Configuration Guide: NAT Configuration

Palo Alto Networks Concepts: NAT

Tags in a VM-Series firewall environment allow administrators to dynamically adjust security policy rules based on changes within the virtual environment. These tags can be used to label and categorize virtual machines (VMs) or other entities within the environment, and policies can be created to automatically respond to these tags. This facilitates adaptive security measures that align with the current state and requirements of the environment.

References:

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Deployment Guide: Dynamic Address Groups and Tags

The CN-Series firewalls are purpose-built for securing Kubernetes environments. They provide network security, visibility, and threat prevention specifically tailored to containerized applications and microservices running in Kubernetes.

To integrate a Palo Alto Networks VM-Series firewall with Azure Orchestration, an API Key is required. The API Key is used to authenticate and authorize the firewall to interact with Azure services, enabling automated management and orchestration of security policies and configurations.

References:

Palo Alto Networks Integration with Azure: Azure Integration

Azure API Management:Azure API Key

Registering an Authorization Code:

An orchestration system can automate the registration of authorization codes, which is a critical step in licensing the VM-Series firewall. This process involves submitting the code to Palo Alto Networks to activate the license.