Master the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security exam with our comprehensive Q&A collection. Review questions by topic, understand explanations, and build confidence for exam day.
Strategies to help you tackle Cisco Certified Network Professional Security exam questions effectively
Allocate roughly 1-2 minutes per question. Flag difficult questions and return to them later.
Pay attention to keywords like 'MOST', 'LEAST', 'NOT', and 'EXCEPT' in questions.
Use elimination to narrow down choices. Often 1-2 options can be quickly ruled out.
Focus on understanding why answers are correct, not just memorizing facts.
Practice with real exam-style questions for Cisco Certified Network Professional Security
Symmetric encryption uses a single shared key for both encryption and decryption operations, while asymmetric encryption uses a mathematically related key pair (public and private keys). Symmetric encryption is actually faster than asymmetric encryption, making option B incorrect. Option C reverses the definitions, and option D is incorrect because asymmetric encryption is typically used for smaller data amounts due to computational overhead.
SSL/TLS proxy with certificate re-signing (SSL decryption/inspection) is the correct approach. The proxy terminates the SSL connection, inspects the decrypted traffic, then re-encrypts it with a trusted certificate. Deep packet inspection cannot inspect encrypted payloads without decryption. Port mirroring and NetFlow can only analyze metadata, not the actual encrypted content, making them insufficient for malware detection within encrypted streams.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) places the most security responsibility on the customer. In IaaS, the customer is responsible for securing the operating system, applications, data, runtime, and middleware, while the provider only secures the physical infrastructure, hypervisor, and network. SaaS has the least customer responsibility, PaaS is in the middle, and FaaS (a subset of PaaS) also has less customer responsibility than IaaS.
Trajectory and retrospective detection is the correct answer. This AMP feature maintains a historical record of file activity across the organization and can retrospectively identify files that were initially deemed safe but later found to be malicious. When threat intelligence is updated, AMP can trace back and identify all systems that encountered the file. File sandboxing analyzes unknown files, behavioral analysis monitors execution patterns, and signature-based detection identifies known threats, but none provide the historical tracking capability described.
The RADIUS server acts as the authentication server in an 802.1X deployment. The supplicant is the client device requesting access, the authenticator is the network access device (switch or wireless controller) that enforces access control, and the RADIUS server validates credentials and provides authorization information. While TACACS+ is used for device administration, 802.1X typically uses RADIUS for network access authentication.
Review Q&A organized by exam domains to focus your study
25% of exam • 3 questions
What is the primary purpose of Security Concepts in Cybersecurity?
Security Concepts serves as a fundamental component in Cybersecurity, providing essential capabilities for managing, configuring, and optimizing Cisco solutions. Understanding this domain is crucial for the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security certification.
Which best practice should be followed when implementing Security Concepts?
When implementing Security Concepts, follow the principle of least privilege, ensure proper documentation, implement monitoring and logging, and regularly review configurations. These practices help maintain security and operational excellence.
How does Security Concepts integrate with other Cisco services?
Security Concepts integrates seamlessly with other Cisco services through APIs, shared authentication, and native connectors. This integration enables comprehensive solutions that leverage multiple services for optimal results.
20% of exam • 3 questions
What is the primary purpose of Network Security in Cybersecurity?
Network Security serves as a fundamental component in Cybersecurity, providing essential capabilities for managing, configuring, and optimizing Cisco solutions. Understanding this domain is crucial for the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security certification.
Which best practice should be followed when implementing Network Security?
When implementing Network Security, follow the principle of least privilege, ensure proper documentation, implement monitoring and logging, and regularly review configurations. These practices help maintain security and operational excellence.
How does Network Security integrate with other Cisco services?
Network Security integrates seamlessly with other Cisco services through APIs, shared authentication, and native connectors. This integration enables comprehensive solutions that leverage multiple services for optimal results.
15% of exam • 3 questions
What is the primary purpose of Securing the Cloud and Content in Cybersecurity?
Securing the Cloud and Content serves as a fundamental component in Cybersecurity, providing essential capabilities for managing, configuring, and optimizing Cisco solutions. Understanding this domain is crucial for the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security certification.
Which best practice should be followed when implementing Securing the Cloud and Content?
When implementing Securing the Cloud and Content, follow the principle of least privilege, ensure proper documentation, implement monitoring and logging, and regularly review configurations. These practices help maintain security and operational excellence.
How does Securing the Cloud and Content integrate with other Cisco services?
Securing the Cloud and Content integrates seamlessly with other Cisco services through APIs, shared authentication, and native connectors. This integration enables comprehensive solutions that leverage multiple services for optimal results.
15% of exam • 3 questions
What is the primary purpose of Endpoint Protection and Detection in Cybersecurity?
Endpoint Protection and Detection serves as a fundamental component in Cybersecurity, providing essential capabilities for managing, configuring, and optimizing Cisco solutions. Understanding this domain is crucial for the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security certification.
Which best practice should be followed when implementing Endpoint Protection and Detection?
When implementing Endpoint Protection and Detection, follow the principle of least privilege, ensure proper documentation, implement monitoring and logging, and regularly review configurations. These practices help maintain security and operational excellence.
How does Endpoint Protection and Detection integrate with other Cisco services?
Endpoint Protection and Detection integrates seamlessly with other Cisco services through APIs, shared authentication, and native connectors. This integration enables comprehensive solutions that leverage multiple services for optimal results.
15% of exam • 3 questions
What is the primary purpose of Secure Network Access in Cybersecurity?
Secure Network Access serves as a fundamental component in Cybersecurity, providing essential capabilities for managing, configuring, and optimizing Cisco solutions. Understanding this domain is crucial for the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security certification.
Which best practice should be followed when implementing Secure Network Access?
When implementing Secure Network Access, follow the principle of least privilege, ensure proper documentation, implement monitoring and logging, and regularly review configurations. These practices help maintain security and operational excellence.
How does Secure Network Access integrate with other Cisco services?
Secure Network Access integrates seamlessly with other Cisco services through APIs, shared authentication, and native connectors. This integration enables comprehensive solutions that leverage multiple services for optimal results.
10% of exam • 3 questions
What is the primary purpose of Visibility and Enforcement in Cybersecurity?
Visibility and Enforcement serves as a fundamental component in Cybersecurity, providing essential capabilities for managing, configuring, and optimizing Cisco solutions. Understanding this domain is crucial for the Cisco Certified Network Professional Security certification.
Which best practice should be followed when implementing Visibility and Enforcement?
When implementing Visibility and Enforcement, follow the principle of least privilege, ensure proper documentation, implement monitoring and logging, and regularly review configurations. These practices help maintain security and operational excellence.
How does Visibility and Enforcement integrate with other Cisco services?
Visibility and Enforcement integrates seamlessly with other Cisco services through APIs, shared authentication, and native connectors. This integration enables comprehensive solutions that leverage multiple services for optimal results.
After reviewing these questions and answers, challenge yourself with our interactive practice exams. Track your progress and identify areas for improvement.
Common questions about the exam format and questions
The Cisco Certified Network Professional Security exam typically contains 50-65 questions. The exact number may vary, and not all questions may be scored as some are used for statistical purposes.
The exam includes multiple choice (single answer), multiple response (multiple correct answers), and scenario-based questions. Some questions may include diagrams or code snippets that you need to analyze.
Questions are weighted based on the exam domain weights. Topics with higher percentages have more questions. Focus your study time proportionally on domains with higher weights.
Yes, most certification exams allow you to flag questions for review and return to them before submitting. Use this feature strategically for difficult questions.
Practice questions are designed to match the style, difficulty, and topic coverage of the real exam. While exact questions won't appear, the concepts and question formats will be similar.
Explore more Cisco Certified Network Professional Security study resources