Practitioner Palo Alto Networks Cybersecurity Practitioner (PCCP) Questions and Answers

An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a sophisticated, sustained cyberattack in which an intruder establishes an undetected presence in a network in order to steal sensitive data over a prolonged period of time. APTs are usually carried out by well-funded, experienced teams of cybercriminals that target high-value organizations, such as governments, military, or corporations. APTs have the skills and resources to launch additional attacks, as they often use advanced techniques to evade detection, move laterally within the network, and establish multiple entry points and backdoors. APTs are not interested in causing immediate damage or disruption, but rather in achieving long-term goals, such as espionage, sabotage, or theft of intellectual property. Therefore, option B is the correct answer among the given choices123 References:

1: Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician - Palo Alto Networks

2: 10 Palo Alto Networks PCCET Exam Practice Questions - CBT Nuggets

3: What Is an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)? - Cisco

4: What is an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)? - CrowdStrike

5: What Is an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)? - Kaspersky

 In SecOps, the identify stage is the first step in the security operations lifecycle. It involves gaining knowledge and understanding of the possible security threats and establishing methods to detect, respond and proactively prevent them from occurring1. Two of the components included in the identify stage are:

Initial Research: This component involves gathering information about the organization’s assets, vulnerabilities, risks, and compliance requirements. It also involves identifying the key stakeholders, objectives, and metrics for the SecOps project2.

Content Engineering: This component involves developing and maintaining the security content, such as rules, policies, signatures, and alerts, that will be used by the SecOps tools and processes. It also involves testing and validating the security content for accuracy and effectiveness3.

 What is SecOps? (and what are the benefits and best practices?), SecOps - definition & overview, The Six Pillars of Effective Security Operations

● Application (Layer 7 or L7): This layer identifies and establishes availability of communication partners, determines resource availability, and synchronizes communication.

● Presentation (Layer 6 or L6): This layer provides coding and conversion functions (such as data representation, character conversion, data compression, and data encryption) to ensure that data sent from the Application layer of one system is compatible with the Application layer of the receiving system.

● Session (Layer 5 or L5): This layer manages communication sessions (service requests and service responses) between networked systems, including connection establishment, data transfer, and connection release.

● Transport (Layer 4 or L4): This layer provides transparent, reliable data transport and

end-to-end transmission control.

A CI/CD platform is a comprehensive set of tools that help developers, engineers, and DevOps practitioners package and deliver software to the end users. A CI/CD platform automates the process of software testing and deployment, and enables faster and more reliable software releases. Jenkins is a popular open source CI/CD platform that supports a wide range of plugins and integrations to build, test, and deploy various types of applications. Jenkins can be configured to run on different platforms, such as Linux, Windows, or Docker, and can work with various version control systems, such as Git, SVN, or Mercurial. Jenkins can also orchestrate complex workflows, such as parallel or sequential execution, conditional branching, or parameterized triggering, using a graphical interface or a declarative syntax. Jenkins can help developers and DevOps teams achieve continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment, by providing features such as:

•Pipeline as code: Jenkins allows users to define and manage their pipelines as code, using a domain-specific language (DSL) called Jenkinsfile. This enables users to store, version, and reuse their pipeline configurations, and to apply best practices such as code review and testing.

•Distributed builds: Jenkins can scale up or down to meet the demand of concurrent builds, by distributing the workload across multiple agents or nodes. This improves the performance and efficiency of the CI/CD process, and allows users to leverage different environments and resources for different stages of the pipeline.

•Plugin ecosystem: Jenkins has a rich and active community that contributes to its plugin ecosystem, which extends its functionality and compatibility with various tools and technologies. Users can find and install plugins from the Jenkins Plugin Manager, or create their own custom plugins using Java or Groovy.

•Blue Ocean: Jenkins offers a modern and user-friendly web interface called Blue Ocean, which simplifies the creation and visualization of pipelines. Blue Ocean provides features such as real-time feedback, interactive editing, branch and pull request support, and integration with popular chat platforms, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams.

Signature-based malware detection relies on a constantly updated database of known threat signatures to identify malicious files or activity. Without frequent updates, it becomes ineffective against newly emerging threats.

Xpanse is a tool from Palo Alto Networks that provides attack surface management by analyzing exposed services and internet-facing assets, giving security operations teams visibility into environmental risks and helping prioritize remediation of vulnerabilities.

page 173 "AutoFocus makes over a billion samples and sessions, including billions of artifacts, immediately actionable for security analysis and response efforts. AutoFocus extends the product portfolio with the global threat intelligence and attack context needed to accelerate analysis, forensics, and hunting workflows. Together, the platform and AutoFocus move security teams away from legacy manual approaches that rely on aggregating a growing number of detectionbased alerts and post-event mitigation, to preventing sophisticated attacks and enabling proactive hunting activities."

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services combine incident impact analysis and proactive threat hunting to enhance organizational security posture. Incident impact analysis assesses the severity, scope, and potential damage of identified threats, helping prioritize responses. Proactive threat hunting involves skilled analysts searching for hidden threats that automated detection may miss, leveraging threat intelligence and behavioral analytics. Palo Alto Networks’ MDR integrates Cortex XDR and human expertise to detect, investigate, and remediate sophisticated threats early. Unlike routine firewall updates or development processes, MDR is focused on active threat discovery and comprehensive incident management.

A stateless firewall is a network firewall that primarily filters traffic based on source and destination IP address, as well as port numbers and protocols. A stateless firewall does not keep track of the state or context of network connections, and only inspects packet headers. A stateless firewall is faster and simpler than a stateful firewall, but it is less secure and flexible. A stateless firewall cannot block complex attacks or inspect packet contents for malicious payloads. References: What Is a Packet Filtering Firewall? - Palo Alto Networks, Common IP Filtering Techniques – APNIC, What is IP filtering? - Secure Network Traffic Management

 A SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) is a system that collects, analyzes, and correlates security logs from multiple sources, such as endpoints, firewalls, servers, etc. A SIEM can provide a centralized and comprehensive view of the security posture of an organization, as well as detect and respond to threats. Configuring endpoints to forward logs to a SIEM is the recommended method for collecting security logs from multiple endpoints, as it reduces the network bandwidth and storage requirements, simplifies the log management process, and enables faster and more effective security analysis. Leveraging an EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) solution to request the logs from endpoints is not recommended, as it may cause performance issues on the endpoints, increase the network traffic, and create a dependency on the EDR solution. Connecting to the endpoints remotely and downloading the logs is not recommended, as it is a manual and time-consuming process, prone to errors and inconsistencies, and may expose the endpoints to unauthorized access. Building a script that pulls down the logs from all endpoints is not recommended, as it requires technical skills and maintenance, may not be compatible with different endpoint platforms, and may introduce security risks if the script is compromised or misconfigured. References:

Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician (PCCET) - Palo Alto Networks

Fundamentals of Security Operations Center (SOC)

10 Palo Alto Networks PCCET Exam Practice Questions - CBT Nuggets

Workload security in a Cloud Native Security Platform (CNSP) is designed to secure containers, VMs, and serverless functions throughout the entire application lifecycle — from development to runtime — by detecting and blocking vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and runtime threats.

Cybercriminals are attackers who act independently or as part of an unlawful organization, such as a crime syndicate or a hacker group. Their main motivation is to make money by exploiting vulnerabilities in systems, networks, or applications. They use various methods, such as ransomware, phishing, identity theft, fraud, or botnets, to steal data, extort victims, or disrupt services. Cybercriminals often target individuals, businesses, or institutions that have valuable or sensitive information, such as financial, personal, or health data. Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their techniques and tools to evade detection and countermeasures. They may also collaborate with other cybercriminals or hire hackers to perform specific tasks. References:

Cybersecurity Threats: Cybercriminals

Attackers Profile

Authorization is the component of the AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) framework that regulates user access and permissions to resources after identity has been verified. It determines what actions or resources a user is allowed to access.

The six pillars include:

1. Business (goals and outcomes)

2. People (who will perform the work)

3. Interfaces (external functions to help achieve goals)

4. Visibility (information needed to accomplish goals)

5. Technology (capabilities needed to provide visibility and enable people)

6. Processes (tactical steps required to execute on goals)

Identity and access management (IAM) is a software service or framework that allows organizations to define user or group identities within software environments, then associate permissions with them. The identities and permissions are usually spelled out in a text file, which is referred to as an IAM policy.

The Privilege Escalation tactic in the MITRE ATT&CK framework involves techniques used by attackers to gain higher-level permissions on a system or network, allowing greater access to internal servers and sensitive data.

An application allow list prevents malware from executing by only permitting approved applications to run on an endpoint. Any unauthorized or unknown software, including malicious programs, is automatically blocked from executing.

2G/2.5G: 2G connectivity remains a prevalent and viable IoT connectivity option due

to the low cost of 2G modules, relatively long battery life, and large installed base of

2G sensors and M2M applications.

○ 3G: IoT devices with 3G modules use either Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

(W-CDMA) or Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+ and Advanced HSPA+) to

achieve data transfer rates of 384Kbps to 168Mbps.

○ 4G/Long-Term Evolution (LTE): 4G/LTE networks enable real-time IoT use cases, such

as autonomous vehicles, with 4G LTE Advanced Pro delivering speeds in excess of

3Gbps and less than 2 milliseconds of latency.

○ 5G: 5G cellular technology provides significant enhancements compared to 4G/LTE

networks and is backed by ultra-low latency, massive connectivity and scalability for

IoT devices, more efficient use of the licensed spectrum, and network slicing for

application traffic prioritization.

In addition to local analysis, Cortex XDR can send unknown files to WildFire for discovery and deeper analysis to rapidly detect.

An encoded string is a common technique used by attackers to obfuscate their malicious code or data. By decoding the string, a security operations engineer can reveal the true nature and intent of the attacker, and potentially discover indicators of compromise (IOCs) such as IP addresses, domain names, file names, etc. Decoding the string can also help the engineer to determine the type and severity of the incident, and the appropriate response actions. Therefore, decoding the string and continuing the investigation is the best option among the given choices. Saving the string to a new file and running it in a sandbox may be risky, as it could execute the malicious code and cause further damage. Running the string against VirusTotal may not yield any useful results, as the string may not be recognized by any antivirus engines. Appending the string to the investigation notes but not altering it may not provide any additional insight into the incident, and may delay the response process. References:

1: SANS Digital Forensics and Incident Response Blog | Strings, Strings, Are Wonderful Things

2: 5 Minute Forensics: Decoding PowerShell Payloads - Tevora

3: Known plaintext analysis of encoded strings - SANS Institute

4: Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician - Palo Alto Networks

5: 10 Palo Alto Networks PCCET Exam Practice Questions - CBT Nuggets

Local organization security policies are the rules and guidelines that define how a SaaS application can be used by the employees, contractors, and partners of an organization. These policies cover aspects such as authentication, authorization, data access, data protection, data sharing, and compliance. Local organization security policies aim to ensure that the SaaS application is used in a secure, ethical, and legal manner, and that the organization’s data and assets are not compromised or misused123. References:

Securing SaaS tools for your organisation - GOV.UK

SaaS Security: A Complete Best Practices Guide - BetterCloud

Security policy document examples for B2B SaaS apps

Tunneling is a method of transporting data across a network using protocols that are not supported by that network. Tunneling works by encapsulating packets: wrapping packets inside of other packets. Tunneling within commonly used services is a technique that uses file sharing or an instant messenger client such as Meebo running over HTTP to bypass firewalls or other network restrictions. The data packets are encapsulated within HTTP packets and sent as normal web traffic. This way, the data packets can reach their destination without being blocked or detected by the network. References: What is tunneling? | Tunneling in networking | Cloudflare, What Is Network Tunneling & How Is It Used? | Traefik Labs, networking - What is HTTP tunneling? - Stack Overflow

In a host-based architecture, the server (host) handles all processing tasks, while the client mainly provides input/output. This centralizes control, processing, and data storage on the server, reducing the client’s role to that of a terminal.

SOAR stands for security orchestration, automation and response. It is a software solution that enables security teams to integrate and coordinate separate tools into streamlined threat response workflows. SOAR systems allow for accelerated incident response through the execution of standardized and automated playbooks that work upon inputs from security technology and other data flows. SOAR systems can also help ensure consistency, reduce human errors, and improve efficiency and scalability of security operations. References:

Security Operations Infrastructure from Palo Alto Networks

What is SOAR (security orchestration, automation and response)? from IBM

Security Operations Fundamentals (SOF) Flashcards from Quizlet

SOAR platforms are unique in their ability to automate incident response through the use of predefined workflows. These workflows allow repetitive security tasks to be executed automatically, improving response speed and efficiency.

A meddler-in-the-middle (MITM) attack is a type of Wi-Fi attack where the attacker intercepts and redirects the victim’s web traffic to serve content from a web server it controls. The attacker can use various techniques, such as ARP spoofing, DNS spoofing, or SSL stripping, to trick the victim into connecting to a rogue access point or a proxy server that acts as a middleman between the victim and the legitimate website. The attacker can then modify, inject, or drop the packets that are exchanged between the victim and the website, and perform malicious actions, such as stealing credentials, injecting malware, or displaying fake or misleading content. A MITM attack can compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the victim’s web traffic and expose them to various risks and threats. References:

What is a man-in-the-middle attack?

The 5 most dangerous Wi-Fi attacks, and how to fight them

What Are Sniffing Attacks, and How Can You Protect Yourself?

Wireshark is a network analysis tool that can capture packets from various network interfaces and protocols. It can display the captured packets in a human-readable format, as well as filter, analyze, and export them. Wireshark is widely used for network troubleshooting, security testing, and education purposes12. References: Wireshark · Go Deep, How to Use Wireshark to Capture, Filter and Inspect Packets, Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician

Prisma Cloud comprises four pillars:

● Visibility, governance, and compliance. Gain deep visibility into the security posture of

multicloud environments. Track everything that gets deployed with an automated asset

inventory, and maintain compliance with out-of-the-box governance policies that

enforce good behavior across your environments.

● Compute security. Secure hosts, containers, and serverless workloads throughout the

application lifecycle. Detect and prevent risks by integrating vulnerability intelligence into

your integrated development environment (IDE), software configuration management

(SCM), and CI/CD workflows. Enforce machine learning-based runtime protection to

protect applications and workloads in real time.

● Network protection. Continuously monitor network activity for anomalous behavior,

enforce microservice-aware micro-segmentation, and implement industry-leading

firewall protection. Protect the network perimeter and the connectivity between

containers and hosts.

● Identity security. Monitor and leverage user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) across

your environments to detect and block malicious actions. Gain visibility into and enforce

governance p

A directory service is a database that contains information about users, resources, and services in a network.

● Reduce the attack surface: Best-of-breed technologies that are natively integrated provide a prevention architecture that inherently reduces the attack surface. This type of architecture allows organizations to exert positive control based on applications, users, and content, with support for open communication, orchestration, and visibility.

● Prevent all known threats, fast: A coordinated security platform accounts for the full scope of an attack across the various security controls that compose the security posture, thus enabling organizations to quickly identify and block known threats.

● Detect and prevent new, unknown threats with automation: Security that simply detects

threats and requires a manual response is too little, too late. Automated creation and

delivery of near-real-time protections against new threats to the various security solutions in the organization’s environments enable dynamic policy updates. These updates are

designed to allow enterprises to scale defenses with technology, rather than people.

Multiple policies, no policy reconciliation tools: Sequential traffic analysis (stateful inspection, application control, intrusion prevention system (IPS), anti-malware, etc.) in traditional data center security solutions requires a corresponding security policy or profile, often using multiple management tools. The result is that your security policies become convoluted as you build and manage a firewall policy with source, destination, user, port, and action; an application control policy with similar rules; and any other threat prevention rules required. Multiple security policies that mix positive (firewall) and negative (application control, IPS, and anti-malware) control models can cause security holes by missing traffic and/or not identifying

"Remember that a trust zone is not intended to be a “pocket of trust” where systems (and therefore threats) within the zone can communicate freely and directly with each other. For a full Zero Trust implementation, the network would be configured to ensure that all communications traffic, including traffic between devices in the same zone, is intermediated by the corresponding Zero Trust Segmentation Platform."

A Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) is installed directly on an endpoint device (such as a server or workstation) and monitors local system activity, including processes, file access, and system calls, to detect and prevent malicious behavior.

According to the NIST definition of cloud computing, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a cloud service model that provides “the capability to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications” 1. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls) 1. In other words, IaaS gives the user access to cloud-hosted physical and virtual servers, storage, and networking, as stated in the question. References: 1: SP 800-145, The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing | CSRC 2

CaaS, or Containers-as-a-Service, is a cloud service that allows users to manage and deploy applications using containers and clusters. CaaS can be situated between IaaS and PaaS in the spread of cloud computing services, based on how much is managed by the vendor. IaaS, or Infrastructure-as-a-Service, provides the lowest level of abstraction, where users have to manage the servers, storage, network, and operating system. PaaS, or Platform-as-a-Service, provides a higher level of abstraction, where users only have to manage the application code and data. FaaS, or Function-as-a-Service, provides the highest level of abstraction, where users only have to manage the functions or logic of the application. CaaS falls in between IaaS and PaaS, as it provides users with more control over the container orchestration and configuration than PaaS, but also simplifies the infrastructure management and scaling than IaaS123. References:

What is CaaS? from Red Hat

Containers as a Service from Atlassian

Container as a Service (CaaS) from GeeksforGeeks

 A local area network (LAN) is a network that connects end-user devices such as personal computers, printers, scanners, and phones within a small geographic area, such as an office, school, or home. LANs allow users to share resources, such as files, applications, and internet access, among the connected devices. LANs typically use Ethernet or Wi-Fi as the communication medium and operate at high speeds with low error rates. LANs are usually owned and managed by a single person or organization. References: LANs, WANs, and Other Area Networks Explained, What is a LAN? Local Area Network, Types of area networks - LAN, MAN and WAN

A containerized architecture packages software along with its dependencies, libraries, and configuration into an isolated unit called a container. This ensures consistent behavior across environments and simplifies deployment and scaling.

A User Entity Behavior Analysis (UEBA) tool performs active monitoring by continuously analyzing the behavior of users and entities to detect anomalies that may indicate insider threats, compromised accounts, or malicious activity. It uses machine learning and analytics to identify unusual patterns in real time.

"Or split tunneling can be configured to allow internet traffic from the device to go directly to the internet, while other specific types of traffic route through the IPsec tunnel, for acceptable protection with much less performance degradation."

Endpoint antivirus software is a type of software designed to help detect, prevent, and eliminate malware on devices, such as laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets. Endpoint antivirus software can block viruses that are not seen and blocked by the perimeter firewall, which is a network security device that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined security rules. Perimeter firewall can block some known viruses, but it may not be able to detect and stop new or unknown viruses that use advanced techniques to evade detection. Endpoint antivirus software can provide an additional layer of protection by scanning the files and processes on the devices and using various methods, such as signatures, heuristics, behavior analysis, and cloud-based analysis, to identify and remove malicious code123. References:

What Is Endpoint Antivirus? Key Features & Solutions Explained - Trellix

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint | Microsoft Security

Download ESET Endpoint Antivirus | ESET

Prisma SaaS is a cloud access security broker (CASB) solution that helps secure and manage SaaS applications. It provides advanced capabilities in risk discovery, data loss prevention, compliance assurance, data governance, user behavior monitoring, and advanced threat prevention12. The three services that are part of Prisma SaaS are:

Data Loss Prevention: This service helps prevent the leakage or exposure of sensitive data stored in SaaS applications. It allows you to define data patterns, policies, and actions to protect your data from unauthorized access or sharing3.

Data Exposure Control: This service helps identify and remediate data exposure risks in SaaS applications. It scans your data at rest and classifies it based on its sensitivity and exposure level. It also provides recommendations and remediation actions to reduce the risk of data breaches4.

Threat Prevention: This service helps detect and block malicious activities and threats in SaaS applications. It leverages the WildFire and AutoFocus threat intelligence services to analyze user and file activity and identify indicators of compromise. It also provides alerts and response actions to mitigate the impact of threats5.

Prisma SaaS Overview

Prisma SaaS - Palo Alto Networks

Data Loss Prevention

Data Exposure Control

Threat Prevention

SIEM stands for security information and event management. It is a technology that collects, analyzes, and reports on security-related data from various sources within an organization’s network. The purpose of SIEM is to provide real-time monitoring and analysis of security events, such as user logins, file access, and changes to critical system files. SIEM helps security teams to detect and respond to potential threats, as well as to meet compliance requirements and improve their cybersecurity posture. References: What Is Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)? - Palo Alto Networks, What is a SIEM Solution? - Palo Alto Networks, Integrate IoT Security with SIEM - Palo Alto Networks

As containers grew in popularity and used diversified orchestrators such as Kubernetes (and its derivatives, such as OpenShift), Mesos, and Docker Swarm, it became increasingly important to deploy and operate containers at scale.

https://www.dynatrace.com/news/blog/kubernetes-vs-docker/

 A sanctioned application is an application that is approved by the IT department and meets the security and compliance requirements of the organization. Sanctioned applications are allowed to access the organization’s network and data and are monitored and protected by the IT department. Examples of sanctioned applications are Office 365, Salesforce, and Zoom. Sanctioned applications are different from unsanctioned, prohibited, and tolerated applications, which are not approved by the IT department and may pose security risks to the organization. Unsanctioned applications are applications that are used by the employees without the IT department’s knowledge or consent, such as Dropbox, Gmail, or Facebook. Prohibited applications are applications that are explicitly forbidden by the IT department, such as BitTorrent, Tor, or malware. Tolerated applications are applications that are not approved by the IT department, but are not blocked or restricted, such as Skype, Spotify, or YouTube. References: Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician (PCCET), Cloud Security Fundamentals - Module 4: Cloud Security Best Practices, Application Visibility and Control

DNS tunneling is an attack technique where data packets are disguised as DNS queries and sent to a remote server. That server, often under the attacker's control, responds with additional data or instructions, effectively creating a covert command-and-control (C2) channel over DNS.

Heap spray attacks exploit memory management vulnerabilities by injecting malicious code into a program’s heap to manipulate execution flow. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) platforms monitor memory and process behavior on endpoints, enabling the detection of such memory-based exploits through anomaly and behavior analysis. Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XDR equips SOC teams with the tools to detect, analyze, and respond to heap spray and other in-memory attacks on company laptops in real time. EDR’s endpoint-centric visibility is crucial since heap spray attacks operate below network layers and often bypass traditional perimeter defenses.

When you enable URL Filtering, all web traffic is compared against the URL Filtering database, PAN-DB, which contains millions of URLs that have been grouped into about 65 categories.

"In serverless apps, the developer uploads only the app package itself, without a full container image or any OS components. The platform dynamically packages it into an image, runs the image in a container, and (if needed) instantiates the underlying host OS and VM and the hardware required to run them."

In anti-malware, a false positive incorrectly identifies a legitimate file or application as malware. A false negative incorrectly identifies malware as a legitimate file or application. In intrusion detection, a false positive incorrectly identifies legitimate traffic as a threat, and a false negative incorrectly identifies a threat as legitimate traffic.

Static routing is a form of routing that occurs when a router uses a manually-configured routing entry, rather than information from dynamic routing traffic 1. Static routing has some advantages, such as simplicity, low overhead, and full control, but it also has some disadvantages, such as:

•Manual reconfiguration: Static routes require manual effort to configure and maintain. This can be time-consuming and error-prone, especially in large networks with many routes. If there is a change in the network topology or a link failure, the static routes need to be updated manually by the network administrator 23.

•Single point of failure: Static routing is not fault tolerant. This means that if the path used by the static route stops working, the traffic will not be rerouted automatically. The network will be unreachable until the failure is repaired or the static route is changed manually. Dynamic routing, on the other hand, can adapt to network changes and find alternative paths 23.

Morphing code, also known as polymorphism, allows advanced malware to change its code structure with each iteration or infection. This makes it extremely difficult for traditional signature-based detection tools to recognize and block the malware consistently.

Prisma Access provides firewall as a service (FWaaS) that protects branch offices from threats while also providing the security services expected from a next-generation firewall. The full spectrum of FWaaS includes threat prevention, URL filtering, sandboxing, and more.

Local systems can eliminate vulnerabilities by patching systems and software effectively and continuously. Patching is the process of applying updates or fixes to software or hardware components that have known vulnerabilities or bugs. Patching can prevent attackers from exploiting these vulnerabilities and compromising the security or functionality of the systems. Patching should be done regularly and promptly, as new vulnerabilities are constantly discovered and exploited by cybercriminals. Patching should also be done effectively, meaning that the patches are tested and verified before deployment, and that they do not introduce new vulnerabilities or issues. Patching should also be done continuously, meaning that the systems are monitored for new vulnerabilities and patches are applied as soon as they are available. Continuous patching can reduce the window of opportunity for attackers to exploit unpatched vulnerabilities and cause damage or data breaches. References:

•1: What is Patch Management? | Palo Alto Networks

•2: Patch Management Best Practices: How to Keep Your Systems Secure | Snyk

•3: Vulnerability Remediation Process - 4 Steps to Remediation | Snyk

SOAR tools ingest aggregated alerts from detection sources (such as SIEMs, network security tools, and mailboxes) before executing automatable, process-driven playbooks to enrich and respond to these alerts.

 A zero-day threat is an attack that takes advantage of a security vulnerability that does not have a fix in place. It is referred to as a “zero-day” threat because once the flaw is eventually discovered, the developer or organization has “zero days” to then come up with a solution. A zero-day threat can compromise a system or network by exploiting the unknown vulnerability, and can cause data loss, unauthorized access, or other damages. Zero-day threats are difficult to detect and prevent, and require advanced security solutions and practices to mitigate them. References:

Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician (PCCET)

Zero-day (computing) - Wikipedia

What is a zero-day exploit? | Zero-day threats | Cloudflare

Short-range wireless:

● Adaptive Network Technology+ (ANT+): ANT+ is a proprietary multicast wireless sensor

network technology primarily used in personal wearables, such as sports and fitness sensors.

● Bluetooth/Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE): Bluetooth is a low-power, short-range

communications technology primarily designed for point-to-point communications between wireless devices in a hub-and-spoke topology. BLE (also known as Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth 4.0+) devices consume significantly less power than Bluetooth devices and can access the internet directly through 6LoWPAN connectivity.

● Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks

(6LoWPAN): 6LoWPAN allows IPv6 traffic to be carried over low-power wireless mesh

networks. 6LoWPAN is designed for nodes and applications that require wireless internet

connectivity at relatively low data rates in small form factors, such as smart light bulbs

and smart meters.

● Wi-Fi/802.11: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) defines the 802

LAN protocol standards. 802.11 is the set of standards used for Wi-Fi networks typically

operating in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands. The most common implementations

today include:

‒ 802.11n (labeled Wi-Fi 4 by the Wi-Fi Alliance), which operates on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz

bands at ranges from 54Mbps to 600Mbps

‒ 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), which operates on the 5GHz band at ranges from 433Mbps to 3.46

Gbps

‒ 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), which operates on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands (and all bands between 1 and 6GHz, when they become available for 802.11 use) at ranges up to 11Gbps

● Z-Wave: Z-Wave is a low-energy wireless mesh network protocol primarily used for home

automation applications such as smart appliances, lighting control, security systems,

smart thermostats, windows and locks, and garage doors.

● Zigbee/802.14: Zigbee is a low-cost, low-power wireless mesh network protocol based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Zigbee is the dominant protocol in the low-power networking market, with a large installed base in industrial environments and smart home products.

Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms are designed to automate the remediation of confirmed cybersecurity breaches by executing predefined response playbooks, reducing response time and manual effort during incidents.

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is a cloud computing model that delivers on-demand infrastructure resources to organizations via the cloud, such as compute, storage, networking, and virtualization1. Customers do not have to manage, maintain, or update their own data center infrastructure, but are responsible for the operating system, middleware, virtual machines, and any apps or data1. Therefore, IaaS gives customers full control over the operating system(s) running on their cloud computing platform, as well as the flexibility to customize and configure their infrastructure according to their needs2. References: What are the different types of cloud computing? | Google Cloud, PaaS vs IaaS vs SaaS: What’s the difference? | Google Cloud

According to the NIST definition of cloud computing1, there are three service models for cloud computing: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). In the SaaS model, the cloud provider delivers the software applications over the internet, and the users access them from various devices through a web browser or a program interface. The cloud provider manages the underlying infrastructure, including the servers, databases, and code of the applications. The users do not need to install, update, or maintain the software, and they only pay for the service they use. The scenario described in the question is an example of the SaaS model, as the user is provided access over the internet to an application running on a cloud infrastructure, and the vendor hosts and maintains the servers, databases, and code of that application. References:

SP 800-145, The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing | CSRC

Final Version of NIST Cloud Computing Definition Published

NIST Cloud Computing Program - NCCP | NIST

SaaS - User responsible for only the data, vendor responsible for rest

SOAR tools ingest aggregated alerts from detection sources (such as SIEMs, network security tools, and mailboxes) before executing automatable, process-driven playbooks to enrich and respond to these alerts.

https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/security-operations-automation

Lateral movement is a key stage where the attacker moves across the network to find valuable targets.

Privilege escalation involves gaining higher access rights to expand control within the compromised environment.

Communication with covert channels is a tactic used during persistence or exfiltration, while deletion of critical data is not a standard APT lifecycle stage — it’s more characteristic of destructive attacks.

 A static route is a manually configured route that specifies the destination network and the next hop IP address or interface to reach it. A static route does not depend on any routing protocol and remains in the routing table until it is removed or overridden. Static routes are useful for defining default routes, reaching stub networks, or providing backup routes in case of link failures. To configure a static route in a virtual router on a Palo Alto Networks firewall, you need to specify the name, destination, interface, and next hop IP address or virtual router of the route. References: Configure a Static Route in Virtual Routers, Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician (PCCET), FREE Cybersecurity Education Courses

 A cloud native security platform (CNSP) is a set of security practices and technologies designed specifically for applications built and deployed in cloud environments. It involves a shift in mindset from traditional security approaches, which often rely on network-based protections, to a more application-focused approach that emphasizes identity and access management, container security and workload security, and continuous monitoring and response. A CNSP offers three main benefits for cloud native applications:

Agility: A CNSP enables faster and more frequent delivery of software updates, as security is built into the application and infrastructure from the ground up, rather than added on as an afterthought. This allows for seamless integration of security controls into the continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, reducing the risk of security gaps or delays. A CNSP also leverages automation and orchestration to simplify and streamline security operations, such as configuration, patching, scanning, and remediation.

Digital transformation: A CNSP supports the adoption of cloud native technologies, such as microservices, containers, serverless, and platform as a service (PaaS), which enable greater scalability, deployability, manageability, and performance of cloud applications. These technologies also allow for more innovation and experimentation, as developers can easily create, test, and deploy new features and functionalities. A CNSP helps to protect these cloud native architectures from threats and vulnerabilities, while also ensuring compliance with regulations and standards.

Flexibility: A CNSP provides consistent and comprehensive security across different cloud environments, such as public, private, and multi-cloud. It also allows for customization and adaptation of security policies and controls to suit the specific needs and preferences of each application and organization. A CNSP can also integrate with other security tools and platforms, such as firewalls, endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and security information and event management (SIEM), to provide a holistic and unified view of the security posture and risk level of cloud applications.

What Is a Cloud Native Security Platform?

What Is Cloud-Native Security?

All You Need to Know About Cloud Native Security

Top Five Benefits of Cloud Native Application Security

 A rootkit is a type of malware that enables cyber criminals to gain access to and infiltrate data from machines without being detected. It covers software toolboxes designed to infect computers, give the attacker remote control, and remain hidden for a long period of time1 One of the most prominent characteristics of a rootkit is that it cannot be detected by antivirus because of its masking techniques. A rootkit may be able to subvert the software that is intended to find it, such as by hooking system calls, modifying kernel objects, or tampering with the registry2 Another prominent characteristic of a rootkit is that it takes control of the operating system. A rootkit may install itself in the kernel or the firmware of the device, giving it the highest level of privilege and access. A rootkit may also replace the bootloader or the BIOS of the machine, making it difficult to remove. A rootkit can use its control over the operating system to launch other malware, such as ransomware, bots, keyloggers, or trojans34 References:

1: What Is a Rootkit? How to Defend and Stop Them? | Fortinet

2: Rootkit - Wikipedia

3: What Is a Rootkit? – Microsoft 365

4: What is Rootkit? Attack Definition & Examples - CrowdStrike