PK0-005 Practice Question: Basics of IT Infrastructure and IT Project Management
A project involves integrating an on-premises IT infrastructure with a public cloud provider. The project team must ensure secure connectivity. Which of the following should be implemented?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse VPN with VLAN, thinking both provide secure segmentation, but VLANs only isolate traffic within a local network and offer no encryption or protection across the internet.
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
✓
VPN
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is the correct choice because it creates an encrypted tunnel over the public internet between the on-premises infrastructure and the public cloud provider, ensuring secure connectivity. Technologies like IPsec or TLS-based VPNs authenticate both endpoints and encrypt all traffic, preventing eavesdropping and tampering during transit.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
DNS
Why it's wrong here
DNS resolves names to addresses and carries no encryption, authentication or tunnelling, so it cannot secure the link between on-premises infrastructure and the cloud provider. It is tempting because hybrid integration always requires name resolution, and DNS would be correct for resolving cloud service endpoints from on-premises hosts.
- ✓
VPN
Why this is correct
A site-to-site VPN builds an encrypted IPsec tunnel over the public internet between the on-premises gateway and the cloud provider, satisfying the secure connectivity requirement without dedicated circuits. It encrypts traffic in transit, so data crossing untrusted networks stays confidential and integrity-protected.
- ✗
NAT
Why it's wrong here
NAT translates addresses for outbound internet access or overlapping RFC1918 ranges; it provides no encryption or authentication, so traffic between the on-premises network and the public cloud remains readable. It is tempting because NAT is commonly deployed at cloud boundaries, and it would be correct for giving private subnets outbound connectivity.
- ✗
VLAN
Why it's wrong here
A VLAN segments layer-2 broadcast domains within a single site; it does not extend across the public internet or encrypt traffic to the cloud provider. It is tempting because VLANs are a standard segmentation control, and one would be correct for isolating on-premises server, management or guest traffic on shared switching.
Quick reference
VPN Protocol Comparison
| Protocol | Port | Encryption | Authentication | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IKEv2 / IPsec | UDP 500 / 4500 | AES-256 | Certificates / PSK | Site-to-site & remote access |
| SSL / TLS VPN | TCP 443 | TLS 1.3 | Certificates / MFA | Clientless remote access |
| L2TP / IPsec | UDP 1701 | AES (IPsec) | PSK / Certificates | Legacy remote access |
| WireGuard | UDP 51820 | ChaCha20 | Public keys | Modern high-performance VPN |
| PPTP | TCP 1723 | MPPE (weak) | MS-CHAPv2 | Legacy — avoid in production |
PPTP is considered insecure. IKEv2/IPsec and SSL VPN are the current recommended options.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PK0-005 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 PK0-005 exam.