Pass PSE-Strata Exam Guide

The command show mlav cloud-status is used to verify that the machine learning-based antivirus (MLAV) for portable executable (PE) files is functioning correctly within the Palo Alto Networks WildFire environment. This command provides the status of the machine learning model updates and their integration with the antivirus profile. If the model is working properly, this command will return information indicating that the MLAV service is active and synchronized with the cloud-based threat intelligence. This ensures that the firewall is effectively leveraging machine learning to identify and block malicious PE files.

Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) offer advanced features that are not typically found in legacy firewall products, including:

Policy Match is Based on Application: Unlike legacy firewalls that base policies primarily on IP addresses, ports, and protocols, Palo Alto Networks NGFWs can create policies based on specific applications (App-ID). This allows for more precise control over network traffic, ensuring that only legitimate application traffic is allowed while blocking unwanted or malicious applications.

Identification of Application is Possible on Any Port: Traditional firewalls often rely on static port numbers to identify traffic, which can be easily bypassed by applications using non-standard ports. Palo Alto Networks NGFWs can identify applications regardless of the port they use, providing more accurate application identification and better security enforcement.

These features enhance the ability to manage and secure network traffic effectively, providing superior protection compared to legacy firewall solutions.

Decryption Broker on a Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) provides two primary benefits:

Offloading SSL decryption: The NGFW decrypts traffic once and then forwards it to multiple security devices for inspection, avoiding the need to decrypt and re-encrypt traffic multiple times, thus improving efficiency.

Reducing third-party devices: By handling SSL decryption within the NGFW, the need for separate, dedicated SSL decryption devices is eliminated, reducing the complexity and number of devices required for network security.

These features streamline traffic analysis and enforcement while maintaining robust security.

References: Palo Alto Networks Decryption Broker documentation.

Palo Alto Networks Single Pass Parallel Processing (SP3) architecture is designed to handle traffic efficiently and securely. The key aspect of SP3 is:

Single Pass Processing (C): This means that all traffic is processed in a single pass through the firewall, regardless of the number of security features enabled. There is no additional performance impact for each feature because the firewall processes all security functions (such as threat prevention, URL filtering, and application control) simultaneously in a single pass. This architecture ensures high performance and low latency while maintaining robust security.

References:

Palo Alto Networks, Single Pass Parallel Processing (SP3) Whitepaper.

Palo Alto Networks, Firewall Performance and Architecture Documentation.