300-740 Designing and Implementing Secure Cloud Access for Users and Endpoints (SCAZT) Questions and Answers

Automation of containment and response actions—such as isolating compromised endpoints and applying predefined security policies—is a critical capability of Cisco’s XDR and SecureX platform. According to SCAZT Section 6: Threat Response (Pages 112–117), automating threat containment allows security teams to rapidly limit the blast radius of incidents and improve mean time to respond (MTTR), without relying solely on manual intervention.

The Secure Cloud Analytics alert log shows multiple SSH connections on port 22 from diverse and geographically distributed IP addresses targeting a single GCP instance (www-gcp-east-4c). According to the Cloud Analytics alert logic described in SCAZT (Section 6: Threat Response, Pages 113–116), this behavior indicates “Geographically Unusual Remote Access.” It typically triggers when a host receives connections from countries not normally associated with the network’s usage profile. This is often linked to reconnaissance or brute-force SSH attempts.

To enforce both user-based and device-based authentication on Cisco ASA, the tunnel group must include the command: authentication aaa certificate. This configuration requires that both a valid username/password (authenticated via AAA, such as Active Directory) and a trusted certificate (device identity) are present before allowing VPN access. Without this directive, only username/password credentials are validated, which leads to the scenario described in the question.

In the Cisco SAFE framework, Reference Architectures serve as blueprints that logically arrange security technologies and capabilities to specific business goals and network use cases. These architectures integrate technologies across domains (e.g., cloud, endpoint, branch) and reflect best practices for layered security.

SCAZT Section 1 (Cloud Security Architecture, Pages 13–15) states that Reference Architectures are built from Secure Domains and Places in the Network, offering a structured approach to threat defense.

The provided JSON-like policy structure shows a segmentation rule with action "BLOCK" and filters referencing the HTTPS Consumer and HTTPS Provider. However, to block HTTP, you must define the protocol explicitly in the parameters. The attribute “l4_params” is currently empty. According to Cisco Secure Workload best practices (SCAZT Section 4: Application and Data Security, Pages 88–91), Layer 4 parameters (l4_params) must be used to specify protocols such as HTTP or port 80. Without defining HTTP here, the policy does not apply to HTTP traffic.

According to the SCAZT documentation, web application firewalls (WAFs) designed to protect against zero-day Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks leverage adaptive and behavioral-based algorithms. These algorithms dynamically analyze traffic patterns, baseline normal behavior, and detect anomalies that could indicate novel or zero-day attacks. Unlike signature-based detection, adaptive and behavioral methods adjust in real-time to emerging threats, learning from ongoing traffic without relying on pre-defined rules. This proactive approach enables rapid detection and mitigation of unknown DDoS vectors, critical for cloud and network security where threats evolve constantly.

Directory traversal attacks exploit improper file path validations to access unauthorized directories and files. To prevent this, it is critical to restrict what areas of the file system an application or user can access. Limiting file system permissions prevents attackers from gaining access to sensitive areas even if a traversal vulnerability exists.

As explained in SCAZT Section 4 (Application and Data Security, Pages 85–87), enforcing minimal privileges and file system segmentation is a key defense against such attacks.

Zero Trust is based on the concept of “never trust, always verify.” It ensures that no user or device is inherently trusted, even if they are inside the corporate network. Cisco’s Zero Trust Architecture implements continuous trust verification for every access request, using identity, device posture, and behavior analysis.

SCAZT Section 1 (Cloud Security Architecture, Pages 13–17) describes how Cisco’s Zero Trust model authenticates and authorizes access before permitting resource interaction.

In Cisco Secure Endpoint (formerly AMP for Endpoints), isolating an infected machine is the most immediate action to contain the threat. Isolation cuts the endpoint off from all network communication except to the management console, allowing the analyst to investigate further while preventing lateral movement or data exfiltration.

According to SCAZT Section 6: Threat Response (Pages 114–117), isolation is a recommended first response in the event of malware detection.

To preserve the user for investigation while immediately revoking access, the correct approach is to disable the user in the Duo Admin Panel. This action blocks authentication without deleting logs or user data. Simultaneously, resetting the password from Active Directory ensures any potentially compromised credentials are revoked.

According to SCAZT (Section 2: User and Device Security, Pages 40–44), disabling user accounts in Duo offers secure containment during security incidents while maintaining data for forensic review.

To enable VPN load balancing with secure encryption between Cisco ASA firewalls, two additional commands are required:

encryption aes 256: Defines the encryption scheme used in the load balancing cluster. Without specifying encryption, secure key exchanges between devices will not occur properly.

cluster encryption: Enables encrypted communication between the clustered ASA devices. Without this command, cluster member synchronization is not securely established.

The commands shown in the exhibit correctly configure the cluster key and virtual IP but lack the necessary encryption parameters. According to Cisco’s VPN load balancing implementation guides and reinforced in the SCAZT documentation, these two settings are required to secure the VPN session load distribution.

Rule 3 allows all traffic (including SSH) from 10.1.0.0/30 during the hours of 18:00–08:00, which directly conflicts with Rule 1 that is intended to deny SSH at those same hours. Since firewall rules are evaluated top-down and Rule 3 allows traffic during the exact period where SSH should be blocked, deleting Rule 3 will allow Rule 1 to apply correctly.

This behavior is explained in SCAZT Section 3 (Network and Cloud Security, Pages 72–75), where rule precedence and time-based evaluation logic are discussed.

The App Discovery function in Cisco Umbrella enables organizations to identify cloud applications in use across their environment, including unsanctioned or shadow IT services. This is crucial for risk assessments and ranking cloud services based on their risk profile.

App Discovery analyzes DNS and web traffic to detect SaaS applications and assigns a risk score to each app based on industry best practices and Cisco Talos threat intelligence.

It provides visibility into cloud service usage and supports decisions about which applications should be allowed, restricted, or blocked.

???? Reference (Cisco SCAZT Guide):

Section: Visibility and Assurance

Topic: Cisco Umbrella > App Discovery

Key Statement: "App Discovery helps identify cloud applications in use and provides risk ratings for each, allowing organizations to apply governance policies to risky or unsanctioned cloud services."

Pages: 84–86

Rule 1 is a “deny all” rule placed at the top of the access control policy. Because Cisco firewalls process rules sequentially from top to bottom, Rule 1 is blocking all traffic—including RDP (Rule 2) and HTTPS (Rule 3). To allow specific traffic, the “deny all” catch-all rule should be placed last so that the specific allow rules are evaluated first.

SCAZT Section 3 (Network and Cloud Security, Pages 69–74) discusses rule hierarchy and clearly states that allow rules must precede any general deny policies to ensure intended traffic is matched correctly. This best practice is essential when dealing with multi-cloud access control.