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

Which type of traffic can be secured by a physical appliance?

1. North-south

2. East-west

3. Unknown

4. Cloud

The correct answer is: North-south

Securing north-south traffic involves monitoring and controlling the flow of data entering and exiting a network, typically between an internal network and external sources such as the internet. A physical appliance, such as a firewall or intrusion prevention system, is specifically designed to handle this type of traffic. These appliances can analyze, filter, and enforce security policies on the data that passes through them, providing a robust defense against external threats. In contrast, east-west traffic refers to data flow within the same data center or between servers in a cloud environment. While some physical appliances can also protect east-west traffic, specialized solutions like micro-segmentation or virtual firewalls are often more effective in such scenarios. The option labeled "unknown" does not represent any tangible traffic direction or data flow type that can be secured, while "cloud" refers to services and environments that can be either public or private but is not a type of traffic in the same defined manner as north-south and east-west. Therefore, the best answer is that physical appliances specifically secure north-south traffic.