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

Which statement about private clouds is incorrect?

1. You need to secure east-west traffic only in a private cloud.

2. Compute clusters allow virtual machines to move freely while preserving compute, storage, networking, and security configurations.

3. North-south traffic refers to data packets moving in and out of a virtualized environment.

4. You can combine multiple physical hosts into one computer cluster.

The correct answer is: You need to secure east-west traffic only in a private cloud.

The statement regarding the need to secure only east-west traffic in a private cloud is incorrect because, in a private cloud environment, both east-west and north-south traffic must be secured. East-west traffic refers to communication that occurs between virtual machines within the same data center, while north-south traffic refers to data packets entering or leaving the cloud environment. It is crucial to secure both types of traffic to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the data being transferred and to protect against potential threats that could exploit either communication pathway. In more detail, securing east-west traffic is essential to prevent lateral movement by attackers who may have breached one part of the cloud environment. However, failing to secure north-south traffic poses a risk as it could expose sensitive data being transferred to and from external sources, such as users or other external applications. Therefore, effective cybersecurity measures should encompass the protection of both east-west and north-south traffic to provide comprehensive security within a private cloud infrastructure.