Palo Alto Networks Network Security Architect Sample Questions:

1. A company wants to reduce false positives in threat detection while maintaining strong security.
What should they do?

A) Disable security profiles
B) Tune security profiles and exceptions
C) Remove logging
D) Allow all traffic

2. An organization with offices throughout the world has an SD-WAN solution in which all traffic is backhauled to a central set of data centers. Many of the offices have IoT / OT devices. Which IoT Security requirement must be taken into consideration by the security architect when determining which Zero Trust network solution will help this organization evolve its security architecture?

A) The organization must have local NGFW for enforcement.
B) Either a Prisma SD-WAN ION or an NGFW device must be present for accurate IoT / OT detection.
C) All DHCP requests must traverse the Prisma SD-WAN fabric for IoT / OT detection.
D) A local sensor must be deployed as either an agent on the DHCP server or as a container on the virtual infrastructure.

3. A global organization is in the process of securing critical applications during a cloud-based migration while migrating to a cloud-first design, and it is currently performing a brownfield migration of its most critical applications - such as CRM and product intellectual property / design systems - into Azure Cloud. The organization already has an active/passive high availability (HA) NGFW deployed at its data center with multiple zones and has replicated that design into its existing Azure HA deployment.
The organization recognizes the need to modernize its security posture as critical workloads move out of the data center and users connect from anywhere. Its security model is defined by a traditional "hard shell, soft center" approach:
Zero Trust Gaps
- Current network segmentation is perimeter-based. The organization wants to expand Zero Trust principles across cloud and on-premises environments.
- The network relies heavily on VLANs and IP address-based Access Control Lists (ACLs) segmented primarily by office location and broad departmental groups.
- Once employees are on the corporate network (i.e., inside the "perimeter"), they have relatively wide access.
- If attackers compromise a single endpoint (e.g., via a phishing email), they can easily move laterally and scan for high-value targets.
Cloud Blind Spots
- The organization uses Azure for its production environments and hosts applications that contain sensitive customer data.
- Security controls in the cloud are often managed independently of the on-premises network.
Access is frequently granted with overly permissive identity and access management (IAM) roles and keys based on the resource rather than the user's real-time context or application health.
Remote User Access
- Many remote users are still hairpinning into the corporate data center just to reach internet or SaaS resources, creating latency and inefficiency.
- Traditional VPN is used for remote employees.
- The VPN grants access to the entire internal network segment making the remote endpoint the new, weaker perimeter. There is no continuous check on the user's device health after the initial connection.
Visibility and Logging
- Logs are primarily stored on-premises, then forwarded to a local Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution. As applications move to Azure, visibility into cloud traffic and user behavior becomes fragmented.
Data Security Concern
- Sensitive data, including product design files, will now live in SaaS and cloud environments. The organization needs data security to prevent leakage and enforce compliance.
Ingress Security
- Third-party partners and suppliers require access into the data center and cloud applications, introducing risk at ingress points.
Which solution will improve resilience and reduce operational overhead in this scenario?

A) Vertically scaling the existing HA solution with enough capacity for the new applications
B) Centralized VM-Series NGFW deployed in the existing virtual network (VNet)
C) Cloud NGFW integrated into the existing virtual network (VNet) design
D) Distributed VM-Series NGFW in a new virtual network (VNet)

4. A global manufacturing organization has a strategic plan for rapid growth through mergers and acquisitions Several components the organization has purchased are deemed large deployments with existing IP address schemas and allocations that conflict with the parent organization. The manufacturing organization needs access to the resources before a re-IP initiative can be completed.
All of the deployments include a variety of IoT devices Leadership requires protection of vulnerable assets and identification of any known CVEs associated with the IoT devices. The governance, risk and compliance (GRC) team requires comprehensive non-repudiable logs to identify all IoT devices reporting "Critical (9 0+) CVE scores" for mandatory remediation.
Throughput needs to exceed the current 1 Gbps trending rate, and with expected growth will soon scale to 5 Gbps.
Segmentation is a mandatory requirement with enclaves based on region, device type, and function.
Which off-ramp should an architect recommend to meet the requirements of the organization?

A) Colo-Connect
B) ZTNA Connector
C) GCP Network Cloud Connector
D) Service Connection

5. An organization wants to detect and prevent unknown malware. Which Palo Alto feature should be implemented?

A) WildFire
B) Routing
C) NAT
D) Antivirus only

Solutions: