HPE6-A78 Aruba Certified Network Security Associate Exam Questions and Answers

The ArubaOS firewall determines which rules to apply to a specific client's traffic based on the rules in policies associated with the client's user role. User roles are a fundamental part of ArubaOS and the firewall policies they encompass. These roles contain policies that dictate permissions and restrictions for network traffic. When a client authenticates, it is assigned a role, and the firewall enforces the rules defined within that role for the client's traffic.

References:

• ArubaOS firewall and user role configuration guides that explain the role-based access control and firewall policy enforcement.
• Industry best practices for network access control that advocate for role-based enforcement mechanisms.

In the context of an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC) configuration, a client will receive the default role assignment if they have passed 802.1X authentication and the authentication server did not send an Aruba-User-Role Vendor Specific Attribute (VSA). The default role is assigned by the MC when a client successfully authenticates but the authentication server provides no specific role instruction. This behavior ensures that a client is not left without any role assignment, which could potentially lead to a lack of network access or access control. This default role assignment mechanism is part of Aruba's role-based access control, as documented in the ArubaOS user guide and best practices.

An ArubaOS user role determines the firewall policies and bandwidth contracts that apply to the client’s traffic. When a user is authenticated, they are assigned a role, and this role has associated policies that govern network access rights, Quality of Service (QoS), Layer 2 forwarding, Layer 3 routing behaviors, and bandwidth contracts for users or devices.

References:

• Aruba Networks official documentation on user roles in ArubaOS.
• Technical guides that detail user role definitions and their impact on network policies.

When deploying ArubaOS-CX switches that tunnel client traffic to an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC), the licensing requirements typically involve Policy Enforcement Firewall (PEF) licenses. These licenses enable the MC to enforce firewall policies and perform deep packet inspection (DPI). Therefore, for each switch tunneling traffic to the MC, a PEF license would be necessary.

Setting up a packet capture on an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC) is particularly useful in scenarios where detailed analysis of network traffic is necessary to identify and address security concerns. Option B is the correct answer because it directly addresses the need to closely examine the traffic of a potentially malicious wireless endpoint. Packet capture on the MC allows the security team to collect and analyze traffic to/from specific endpoints in real-time, providing valuable insights into the nature of the traffic and potentially identifying harmful activities. This capability is essential for forensics and troubleshooting security incidents, enabling administrators to respond effectively to threats.

References:

• Aruba Mobility Controller Configuration Guide
• Aruba Networks Official Documentation

The Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain model describes the stages of a cyber attack. In the exploitation phase, the attacker uses vulnerabilities to gain access to the system. Following this, in the installation phase, the attacker installs a backdoor or other malicious software to ensure persistent access to the compromised system. This backdoor can then be used to control the system, steal data, or execute additional attacks.References:

• Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain framework.

In ArubaOS firewall policies, using network aliases allows administrators to manage groups of IP addresses more efficiently. By associating multiple IPs with a single alias, any changes made to the alias (like adding or removing IP addresses) are automatically reflected in all firewall rules that reference that alias. This significantly simplifies the management of complex rulesets and ensures consistency across security policies, reducing administrative overhead and minimizing the risk of errors.

When a device like Device A contacts a secure website and receives a certificate chain from the server, the browser's primary task is to validate the web server's certificate to ensure it is trustworthy. Part of this validation includes checking that the certificate contains a DNS Subject Alternative Name (SAN) that matches the domain name of the website being accessed—in this case, arubapedia.arubanetworks.com. This ensures that the certificate was indeed issued to the entity operating the domain and helps prevent man-in-the-middle attacks where an invalid certificate could be presented by an attacker. The DNS SAN check is critical because it directly ties the digital certificate to the domain it secures, confirming the authenticity of the website to the user's browser.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides guidelines on digital forensics, which include methodologies for properly collecting, examining, and analyzing digital evidence. This framework helps ensure that digital evidence is handled in a manner that preserves its integrity and maintains its admissibility in legal proceedings:

• Digital Forensics Process: This process involves steps to ensure that data collected from digital sources can be used reliably in investigations and court cases, addressing chain-of-custody issues, proper evidence handling, and detailed documentation of forensic procedures.

In the context of the ArubaOS Security Dashboard, if the goal is to find company clients that have connected to devices potentially operated by hackers, you would look for a client that is classified as 'Interfering' (indicating a security threat) while being connected to an 'AP Classification: Rogue'. A rogue AP is one that is not under the control of network administrators and is considered malicious or a security threat. Therefore, the client fitting this description is:

• MAC address: d8:50:e6:f3:70:ab; Client Classification: Interfering; AP Classification: Rogue

In the 802.1X network access control model, the roles of the authenticator and the authentication server are distinct yet complementary. The authenticator acts as a RADIUS client, which is a network device, like a switch or wireless access point, that directly interfaces with the client machine (supplicant). The authentication server, typically a RADIUS server, is responsible for verifying the credentials provided by the supplicant through the authenticator. This setup helps in separating the duties where the authenticator enforces authentication but does not decide on the validity of the credentials, which is the role of the authentication server.References:

• IEEE 802.1X standard for network access control.

The primary reason for adding a "Log Settings" definition in the ArubaOS Diagnostics > System > Log Settings page is to configure the Syslog server settings for the server to which the Mobility Controller (MC) forwards logs for a particular category and level. This setting enables the MC to send detailed logs to a Syslog server for centralized logging and monitoring, which is essential for troubleshooting, security analysis, and compliance with various policies.References:

• ArubaOS documentation on log management and Syslog configuration.

Based on the exhibits which seem to show RADIUS authentication and CoA logs, one can determine that CPPM (ClearPass Policy Manager) initially assigned the client to a role meant for non-profiled devices and then sent a CoA to the network access device (authenticator) once the device was categorized. This is a common workflow in network access control, where a device is first given limited access until it can be properly identified, after which appropriate access policies are applied.

Referring to the exhibit, the ArubaOS Mobility Controller treats HTTPS packets based on the firewall rules applied to the client. The rule that allows svc-https service for destination IP range 10.1.0.0 255.255.0.0 would permit an HTTPS packet to 10.1.10.10 since this IP address falls within the specified range. There are no rules shown that would allow traffic to the IP address 203.0.13.5; hence, the packet to this address would be dropped.

References:

• ArubaOS firewall configuration guides detailing how firewall rules are interpreted and applied to traffic.
• Network security textbooks explaining firewall rule processing and packet filtering based on source and destination IP addresses.

When implementing wireless containment as a response to unauthorized devices, a company should consider the legal implications. Wireless containment might affect devices that are not part of the company's network and could be considered as a form of interference. This could have legal consequences, and therefore, such actions should be carefully reviewed and ideally should be performed in a targeted and controlled manner, reducing the risk of legal issues.

The primary purpose of an Initialization Vector (IV) in encryption is to ensure that the same plaintext encrypted with the same encryption key will produce different ciphertext each time it is encrypted. This variability is crucial for securing repetitive data patterns and preventing certain types of cryptographic attacks, such as replay or pattern analysis attacks. The IV adds randomness to the encryption process, making it more secure by ensuring that encrypted messages are unique, even if the plaintext and key remain unchanged. This prevents attackers from deducing patterns or inferring any useful information from repeated ciphertext.

With ArubaOS-CX switches, the use of ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) as a TACACS+ server for authentication is supported. The privilege levels assigned by CPPM will translate onto the switches, where the "manager" privilege level typically maps to administrative capabilities and the "operator" privilege level maps to more limited capabilities. ArubaOS-CX does support standard TACACS+ privilege levels, so administrators can be assigned appropriately. If the ClearPass policies are correctly configured, they will work for both ArubaOS-Switches and ArubaOS-CX switches. The distinction between the "administrators" and "operators" groups is inherent in the ArubaOS-CX role-based access control, and these default groups need to be appropriately mapped to the TACACS+ privilege levels assigned by CPPM.

To meet the requirements for configuring an ArubaOS-CX switch for integration with ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM), it is necessary to set the AAA authentication login method for SSH to use the “radius” server-group, with “local” as a backup. This ensures that when an admin attempts to SSH into the switch, the authentication request is first sent to CPPM via RADIUS. If CPPM is unavailable, the switch will fall back to using local authentication12.

Here’s why the other options are not correct:

• Option B is incorrect because configuring a CPPM username and password on the switch that matches a CPPM admin account is not required for SSH login; rather, the switch needs to be configured to communicate with CPPM for authentication.
• Option C is incorrect because while CPPM will send Aruba-Admin-Role Vendor-Specific Attributes (VSAs), the switch does not need to have port-access roles created with the same names; it needs to interpret the VSA to assign the correct role.
• Option D is incorrect because disabling SSH on the default VRF and enabling it on the mgmt VRF is not related to the authentication process with CPPM.

Therefore, the correct answer is A, as setting the AAA authentication login method for SSH to the “radius” server-group with “local” as backup is a key step in ensuring that the switch can authenticate admins through CPPM while providing a fallback method12.

When an authentication attempt for a user's Windows domain computer is failing on a WPA3-Enterprise WLAN and the Mobility Controller is receiving Access-Rejects, one place to look for deeper insight is the RADIUS events within the CPPM Event Viewer. ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) logs all RADIUS authentication events, and the Event Viewer would show detailed information about why a particular authentication attempt was rejected. This could include reasons such as incorrect credentials, expired certificates, or policy mismatches. The CPPM Event Viewer is an essential troubleshooting tool within ClearPass to diagnose authentication issues, as indicated in the ClearPass Policy Manager documentation.

Creating the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and the public/private keypair offline is recommended when deploying server certificates on multiple ArubaOS Mobility Controllers (MCs). This method enhances security by minimizing the exposure of private keys. By creating and handling these components offline, administrators can maintain better control over the keys and ensure their security before deploying them across multiple devices. This approach also simplifies the management of certificates on multiple controllers, as the same certificate can be installed more securely and efficiently.References:

• ArubaOS documentation on CSR creation and certificate management.

In SNMPv3, security is paramount and each SNMP entity (client or agent) needs to have a user with a security name (username) and optionally, a security level which determines whether authentication and encryption are used. When configuring SNMPv3 users on network infrastructure devices, it is essential to match the username, authentication (auth) algorithm, authentication key (auth key), privacy (priv) algorithm, and privacy key (priv key) exactly as they are configured on the SNMP server to ensure successful communication.

This is because the SNMPv3 security model relies on a combination of a username and a pair of keys (authentication and privacy keys) to uniquely identify and secure communication between the agent and the manager. The keys are used to verify the integrity (auth key) and confidentiality (priv key) of the messages. Using the same algorithms ensures that the messages can be properly encrypted and decrypted on both ends.

In the context of digital forensics, policy A is the most relevant. It defines which data should be logged, where logs should be forwarded for analysis or storage, and which logs should be archived for future forensic analysis or audit purposes. This ensures that evidence is preserved in a way that supports forensic activities.

Social engineering in the context of network security refers to the techniques used by hackers to manipulate individuals into breaking normal security procedures and best practices to gain unauthorized access to systems, networks, or physical locations, or for financial gain. Hackers use various forms of deception to trick employees into handing over confidential or personal information that can be used for fraudulent purposes. This definition encompasses phishing attacks, pretexting, baiting, and other manipulative techniques designed to exploit human psychology. Unlike other hacking methods that rely on technical means, social engineering targets the human element of security. References to social engineering, its methods, and defense strategies are commonly found in security training manuals, cybersecurity awareness programs, and authoritative resources like those from the SANS Institute or cybersecurity agencies.

A common method for hackers to perform a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack on a wireless network is by ARP poisoning. The attacker connects to the same network as the victim and sends false ARP messages over the network. This causes the victim's device to send traffic to the attacker's machine instead of the legitimate destination, allowing the attacker to intercept the traffic.

To enable managers to use certificates to log into the Web UI of an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC), where Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) acts as the external server for authentication, it is essential to ensure that the MC trusts the HTTPS certificate used by CPPM. This involves uploading a trusted CA certificate to the MC that matches the one used by CPPM. Additionally, configuring a username and password for CPPM on the MC might be necessary to secure and facilitate communication between the MC and CPPM. This setup ensures that certificate-based authentication is securely validated, maintaining secure access control for the Web UI.

References:

• Aruba Mobility Controller configuration guides that detail the process of setting up certificate-based authentication.
• Best practices for secure authentication and certificate management in enterprise network environments.

The correct use case for using the specified certificate file format is option B, using a PKCS12 file to install a certificate along with its private key on a device. PKCS12 is a binary format for storing a certificate chain and private key in a single encrypted file. PEM files are Base64 encoded certificate files and are typically used for storing certificates, not private keys, and PKCS7 is used for certificate chains without the private key.

These answers are based on general networking and security practices, specifically within the context of Aruba network device configurations. If you have questions specific to Oracle Database 12c SQL, please provide the relevant details or ask separate questions related to that topic.

ClearPass Onboard is part of the Aruba ClearPass suite and it provides a mechanism to deploy certificates to end-user devices, regardless of whether or not they are members of a Windows domain. ClearPass Onboard facilitates the configuration and provisioning of network settings and security, including the delivery and installation of certificates to ensure secure network access. This capability enables a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment where devices can be securely managed and provided with the necessary certificates for network authentication.

Based on the exhibit showing the firewall rules, the following traffic is permitted:

• Client 1 is allowed to send HTTPS traffic to any destination within the subnet 10.1.10.0/24 because there is a permit rule for the user to access svc-https to that subnet.
• Responses to initiated connections are typically allowed by stateful firewalls; hence, an HTTPS response from 10.1.10.10 to client 1 is expected to be permitted even though it is not explicitly mentioned in the firewall rules (assuming the stateful nature of the firewall).