This 350-701 practice question tests your understanding of cloud security. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is connecting multiple VPCs in AWS to a shared services VPC using AWS Transit Gateway. They want to inspect east-west traffic between VPCs with a common security policy. Which design best achieves this using Cisco solutions?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Deploy a Cisco Firepower instance in each VPC
Why wrong: Redundant and harder to manage.
Use VPC peering with no inspection
Why wrong: No inspection, violates security requirements.
Direct Connect to on-premises Cisco ASA
Why wrong: Not for east-west VPC traffic.
Use AWS Transit Gateway with a centralized Cisco Firepower instance for inspection
Centralized inspection simplifies policy management.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use AWS Transit Gateway with a centralized Cisco Firepower instance for inspection
Option D is correct because AWS Transit Gateway allows you to route traffic between multiple VPCs through a centralized inspection VPC, where a Cisco Firepower instance can apply a consistent security policy to all east-west traffic. This design avoids deploying separate firewalls in each VPC and ensures that traffic between any two VPCs is inspected by a single, centrally managed policy engine.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Deploy a Cisco Firepower instance in each VPC
Why it's wrong here
Redundant and harder to manage.
Use VPC peering with no inspection
Why it's wrong here
No inspection, violates security requirements.
Direct Connect to on-premises Cisco ASA
Why it's wrong here
Not for east-west VPC traffic.
Use AWS Transit Gateway with a centralized Cisco Firepower instance for inspection
Why this is correct
Centralized inspection simplifies policy management.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Cisco often tests the misconception that deploying a firewall in each VPC (Option A) is the only way to inspect east-west traffic, but the trap here is that a centralized inspection model using Transit Gateway is more scalable and policy-consistent, and candidates may overlook the routing configuration required to force traffic through the inspection VPC.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS Transit Gateway uses a hub-and-spoke routing model where each VPC attachment is a separate route table entry; by placing a Cisco Firepower instance (e.g., Firepower Threat Defense or Firepower Management Center) in a dedicated inspection VPC and configuring the Transit Gateway route tables to send all inter-VPC traffic to that inspection VPC, you can enforce stateful inspection, intrusion prevention, and application visibility. This design leverages VPC endpoints or Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) for the Firepower instance, and traffic is routed via the Transit Gateway’s route propagation and static routes, ensuring that even traffic between two spoke VPCs is redirected through the central firewall without requiring changes to the spoke VPCs’ route tables.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the 350-701 exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Cloud Security — This question tests Cloud Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Use AWS Transit Gateway with a centralized Cisco Firepower instance for inspection — Option D is correct because AWS Transit Gateway allows you to route traffic between multiple VPCs through a centralized inspection VPC, where a Cisco Firepower instance can apply a consistent security policy to all east-west traffic. This design avoids deploying separate firewalls in each VPC and ensures that traffic between any two VPCs is inspected by a single, centrally managed policy engine.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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