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Question 133

Which logs enable a firewall administrator to determine whether a session was decrypted?

    Correct Answer: C

    To determine whether a session was decrypted, you should refer to the Decryption logs. They provide comprehensive information on sessions that match a Decryption policy and include detailed diagnostics relevant to decryption. While Traffic logs can offer some insights, Decryption logs are specifically designed for this purpose, offering a more straightforward and accurate way to verify decryption status.

Discussion

17 comments
Daniel2020Option: A
Jan 26, 2021

A is the answer and not C. Yes in PAN-OS 10 the Decryption Log was introduced but that is more suited for troubleshooting where decryption broke the SSL/TLS session. It is far easier to check if a session was decrypted by checking the Traffic Log. It is clear here in the PAN-OS 10 Admin guide, section "Verify Decryption", that to check the Traffic Log to verify if decryption happened. Silly enough it also states in the very same document that you can check the decryption log (but, it seems to miss out that only for decryption failures). https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-0/pan-os-admin/decryption/verify-decryption.html Here is the link for Decryption Log, you will read that it only logs unsuccessful decryption attempts. https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-0/pan-os-admin/decryption/troubleshoot-and-monitor-decryption/decryption-logs.html#idb1b7e4a6-b48c-4ca7-8569-b785da780dd6 Now I am not running PAN-OS 10 in the real world so I can't say 100% but reading off the documentation, that is how I would answer the question.

CyberGOption: C
Feb 22, 2021

As of, August 17th, the Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE) and the Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Administrator (PCNSA) certification exams reflect changes based on PAN-OS 10.0. Correct Answer is C https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/certification-articles/pcnse-and-pcnsa-exam-changes-with-10-0/ta-p/344832

GohanF2
Feb 8, 2023

This is true. Answer is C. The new exam is evaluating version. 10.0

duckduckgooo
Mar 21, 2023

A You missed the key word, whether or not it was decrypted. Decryption log is used for troubleshooting if decryption was busted, NOT whether or not something was decrypted.

TAKUM1yOption: A
Oct 11, 2022

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-2/pan-os-admin/decryption/verify-decryption

PAUGURUOption: A
Dec 31, 2020

Palo Alto introduces questions on the new version when it gets to the X.1. So since now it is 10.0 the exam focuses on the 9.1 version, so correct answer is A, for the time being.

brah_brahOption: C
Oct 21, 2020

v10 answer is C https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-0/pan-os-admin/decryption/troubleshoot-and-monitor-decryption/decryption-logs.html

spydogOption: A
Sep 15, 2022

Although the newer version have dedicate log type for "Decryption", as others already pointed out, those logs can be used to troubleshoot decryption/negotiations issues. The question is asking how you can determine if session was decrypted - the best way to is still to check the details of the traffic log and see if the flag "decrypted" is checked. In addition, according to documentations by default only the unsuccessful decryption handshakes will be logged under "Decryption", which means if session is successfully decrypted, no log will be shown here and you might think that session was not decrypted.

dien1991Option: A
Apr 11, 2022

Traffic log can show status of decryption or not first.

javimOption: A
Jan 17, 2023

I think A, because it say "whether a session was decrypted". Decryption log is for traffic is already decrypted, but in Traffic log you can see if the traffic is decrypted or not.

Joey456Option: A
May 18, 2021

A is correct: Decryption logs are dependent on traffic logs being enabled. PAN-OS 10 doc cited here: The Decryption log learns each session’s App-ID from the Traffic log, so Traffic logs must be enabled to see the App-ID in the Decryption log. If Traffic logs are disabled, the App-ID shows as incomplete.

bmarksOption: A
Feb 9, 2021

Please keep in mind, the PCNSE 9 exam focuses only on PANOS 9.1 Answer = A Question is simply asking which log shows whether a session was decrypted.

BTSeeYaOption: A
Jul 20, 2024

Old question, probably before there even were Decryption logs. I'd still put Traffic though, just because you can filter by Decrypted column really easy.

MarshpillowzOption: A
Jan 24, 2024

A is correct

dogeatdogOption: C
Dec 26, 2022

C not A on 10.2 and 11.0

Jared28Option: A
Mar 23, 2022

If a security rule is logging it will always show if it was decrypted (and is the simplest thing to look at). By default, the decryption rules log only on unsuccessful SSL handshakes. If you're troubleshooting, this is the log to go look at but if all you want to do is figure out decrypted yes/no, traffic log even in 10.0+.

GivemeMoneyOption: C
Jan 16, 2022

There is now a decryption log: https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-1/pan-os-admin/decryption/troubleshoot-and-monitor-decryption/decryption-logs.html

GivemeMoney
Jan 16, 2022

Per reading the document Monitor>Logs>Traffic traffic logs seems to be right after all, i change to answer A.

frodo1791Option: A
Apr 19, 2021

The exam is based in panos 9.1 as far as I know, so answer should be A.

MS_NWOption: A
Nov 14, 2020

Answer is A. There´s no thing as Decryption log.

ricky69
Dec 2, 2020

Ans is C The Decryption Log (Monitor Logs Decryption ) provides comprehensive information about sessions that match a Decryption policy to help you gain context about that traffic so you can accurately and easily diagnose and resolve decryption issues. The firewall does not log traffic if the traffic does not match a Decryption policy.

Ali526
Dec 28, 2020

Correct, but starting Version 10, there IS a 'decryption log'. PA should fix this question.