Network Security Professional Practice Exam 2025: Latest Questions

A security engineer wants to allow Microsoft 365 web access while preventing users from browsing other websites over HTTPS. Which next-generation firewall capability best enables this control without relying on IP address lists?

A company plans to decrypt outbound TLS traffic to detect threats while excluding sensitive categories such as finance and healthcare. Which configuration approach best meets this requirement?

An administrator adds a new security rule but users report the traffic is still being blocked by an older rule. Both rules match the same source, destination, and application. What is the most likely reason?

A company has users on laptops that move between corporate offices and home networks. They want consistent security policy enforcement and access to internal applications without backhauling all traffic to a data center. Which Palo Alto Networks architecture best fits?

A security team wants to prevent unknown malware downloads and also identify compromised endpoints attempting outbound connections to command-and-control infrastructure. Which combination of security subscriptions best addresses both requirements?

An engineer needs to verify which security rule allowed a specific user’s session and what application was identified after App-ID classification. Where should they look first?

After enabling SSL Forward Proxy decryption, users report certificate warnings when visiting external websites. The firewall is decrypting traffic as expected. What is the most likely missing step?

A company uses multiple zones and wants to minimize overly permissive rules. Which best practice most directly reduces the attack surface while maintaining manageability?

A branch office uses Prisma Access for internet security. The company wants to steer only business applications to Prisma Access while sending non-business traffic directly to the internet from the branch (local breakout). Which design choice best supports this requirement?

Users report intermittent inability to reach an internal application through the firewall. The Traffic log shows sessions allowed, but the session end reason is frequently 'tcp-rst-from-server'. What does this most likely indicate?

An administrator wants to reduce policy complexity by allowing traffic based on the application rather than only ports. Which firewall capability enables this approach?

A remote user needs secure access to internal web applications without using a full-tunnel VPN. The organization wants per-app access and strong authentication. Which SASE component best fits this requirement?

An engineer wants to identify which Security policy rule allowed a specific session that a user reports as suspicious. Where should the engineer look first?

A company wants all outbound web traffic to be decrypted except for sensitive categories like financial and health sites. Which approach is the recommended best practice?

A branch uses Prisma Access for internet security and wants to steer Microsoft 365 traffic directly to the internet to reduce latency, while keeping other traffic inspected by cloud security. Which design best meets this goal?

Users report intermittent failures when accessing a SaaS application. The Traffic log shows sessions allowed, but the application still fails for some users. Which log type is most likely to reveal whether the firewall is blocking related content (for example, spyware or vulnerability signatures) during those sessions?

An administrator creates a new outbound Security policy rule allowing a specific application. After committing, the Traffic logs still show traffic matching a more general rule above it. What is the most likely reason?

A company wants to automatically block known malicious domains for all users, including those working remotely, without relying on endpoint agents. Which security service most directly addresses this requirement?

A firewall is configured for forward proxy decryption. Some users see certificate warnings only when browsing a specific HTTPS site, while most sites work fine. Which is the most likely cause?

A security team needs to confirm whether a reported connection is being dropped due to a routing issue, policy deny, or a zone mismatch. Which troubleshooting approach provides the most direct, firewall-native path analysis for a single flow without relying on external packet captures?

A remote site uses a PA-Series firewall with two ISP links. You need internet traffic to prefer ISP1 but automatically fail over to ISP2 if ISP1 loses upstream reachability (not just link-down). Which feature best meets this requirement?

After enabling SSL decryption, users report that some banking websites fail to load. You want to quickly confirm whether decryption is being bypassed for those sites without using packet captures. Where is the most direct place to verify this on the firewall?

A security administrator wants to reduce the number of Security policy rules while still matching multiple related applications accurately and with least privilege. Which approach is a Palo Alto Networks best practice?

An organization is moving to Prisma Access for remote users. They want user-to-app access with least privilege, including user and group-based policies, without requiring a full network-level VPN for every application. Which design best fits this goal?

A company wants to allow inbound HTTPS to a web server in a DMZ. The security team requires that the firewall identify and control the application after the TLS handshake (for example, to block non-web apps tunneling over TCP/443). Which configuration best meets this requirement?