Network Security Professional Advanced Practice Exam: Hard Questions 2025

A security team wants to minimize the risk of policy bypass caused by App-ID misclassification during application negotiation (for example, apps that start as SSL/web-browsing and then switch to a different application). They need a design that still allows required business apps while ensuring that traffic initially identified as an allowed app cannot later turn into a disallowed app without being re-evaluated. Which configuration approach best addresses this requirement with the least operational overhead?

An organization enforces a strict egress policy: only sanctioned SaaS applications are allowed from user subnets. They already use User-ID and App-ID. In a pilot, users can still upload data to unsanctioned file-sharing services by using the same browser session after authenticating to a sanctioned SSO portal. The security team wants the firewall to differentiate between sanctioned and unsanctioned SaaS at the application layer and control risky functions like upload. Which solution best meets the goal?

A company is migrating to a zero trust model. They want to ensure that every new rule created in their NGFW policy cannot accidentally allow traffic without threat inspection. They also want to reduce the chance that an administrator forgets to attach Security Profiles. Which approach best enforces this as a policy guardrail?

An enterprise uses a shared internet egress firewall. They deploy SSL forward-proxy decryption for user subnets. After enabling decryption, some applications break intermittently and users report certificate warnings only for specific SaaS apps. Troubleshooting shows that the affected SaaS uses certificate pinning in certain clients, while browser access is mostly fine. The security team must restore availability for those pinned clients while maintaining decryption for everything else. Which change is the best practice?

A firewall is deployed with multiple virtual routers (VRs) to separate business units. A new requirement mandates that one shared DMZ service subnet must be reachable from both VRs, but the organization wants to avoid leaking other routes between VRs. The current design uses static routes and does not run dynamic routing. Which design best meets the requirement with minimal blast radius?

An administrator configures NAT for outbound internet access. Users report that some SaaS services fail only when connections are initiated from a specific internal subnet; other subnets work. Packet captures show the SYN leaves, SYN/ACK returns to the firewall, but the client never receives it. The security policy appears correct. Which NAT-related cause is most likely and what is the best fix?

A global organization is choosing between explicit proxy and transparent forward-proxy for remote users using a SASE service. The key requirement is to ensure consistent policy enforcement for managed and unmanaged devices while minimizing user configuration. They also want strong identity-based policy with the fewest gaps when devices roam and change networks. Which architecture best fits?

A company uses SASE with cloud-managed security policies. They need to enforce a rule: developers may access a cloud-hosted Git service, but only from compliant corporate laptops; personal devices must be blocked even if the user authenticates successfully. The solution must work reliably for users off-network and should not depend on IP allowlists. What is the best approach?

Security leadership wants to reduce operational overhead while improving protection against unknown threats across both on-prem NGFWs and SASE enforcement points. They want consistent outcomes even when a new malware variant appears. Which combination best accomplishes this goal?

After a policy change, users intermittently lose access to a critical internal web application. The issue occurs only for some users and only during peak hours. Traffic logs show sessions allowed, but the application times out. The security team suspects asymmetric routing or session offload issues across an HA pair and upstream load balancer. What is the most effective sequence to isolate the root cause using firewall tooling and logs?