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CAS-004 Practice Question: During a merger, two companies need to integrate…

During a merger, two companies need to integrate their networks securely. Company A uses RFC 1918 addresses (10.0.0.0/8) and Company B also uses 10.0.0.0/8. Which architectural solution prevents routing conflicts and maintains security?

⚠ Common exam trap

Test-takers frequently assume a site-to-site VPN (Option A) inherently resolves overlapping IPs, but VPNs only encrypt traffic—they do not translate addresses, so routing conflicts persist without NAT or renumbering.

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

Deploy network address translation (NAT) on the border routers to translate one company's addresses to a unique range

Both companies use the same RFC 1918 address space (10.0.0.0/8), which would cause routing conflicts if directly connected. Deploying NAT on the border routers translates one company's overlapping addresses to a unique range (e.g., 172.16.0.0/12 or a public IP block), eliminating IP collisions while maintaining security through stateful inspection or ACLs. This allows the merged networks to communicate without renumbering either company's internal infrastructure.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

  • Configure a site-to-site VPN with no address translation

    Why it's wrong here

    VPN without NAT will have routing conflicts due to overlapping IPs.

  • Enable direct BGP peering between the two networks

    Why it's wrong here

    Direct peering with overlapping subnets will cause routing issues.

  • Implement a firewall between the networks and allow all traffic

    Why it's wrong here

    Firewall alone does not solve IP overlap; traffic may not reach the correct host.

  • Deploy network address translation (NAT) on the border routers to translate one company's addresses to a unique range

    Why this is correct

    NAT resolves IP overlap and allows secure communication.

Visual reference

Inside (Private) PC-A 10.0.0.1 PC-B 10.0.0.2 NAT Router Outside (Public) 203.0.113.1 Inside Global Server PAT: many private IPs share one public IP via unique port numbers

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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security

Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva

This CAS-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CAS-005 exam.