NSE7 Advanced Threat Protection Practice Question
A large enterprise uses FortiGate as their perimeter firewall with ATP features enabled. They have a mix of internal users and remote VPN users. Recently, several remote users reported that their machines became infected with ransomware after connecting to the VPN. The IT team suspects that the ransomware entered through the VPN tunnel. The FortiGate has an antivirus profile applied to the VPN policy with SSL inspection enabled for all traffic. However, the logs show that no malware was detected. Upon investigation, the team finds that the remote users' machines are not managed by the company and do not have any endpoint protection. The ransomware was delivered via a spear-phishing email that the users opened on their remote machines. The email traffic passed through the VPN tunnel to the corporate mail server first, then back to the user. The FortiGate antivirus profile is configured to scan SMTP traffic but the email was sent from an external source to the corporate mail server, and the mail server uses STARTTLS to receive emails. The FortiGate does not perform SSL inspection on the SMTP traffic because the SMTP service is not included in the SSL inspection profile. What action should the administrator take to prevent this in the future?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume the antivirus profile is sufficient because it is applied to the VPN policy and includes SMTP scanning, but they overlook that SSL inspection must be explicitly configured for the SMTP service to decrypt STARTTLS-encrypted traffic before scanning can occur.
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
✓
Add SMTP to the SSL inspection profile to decrypt and scan email traffic
The FortiGate's antivirus profile is configured to scan SMTP traffic, but the email was encrypted via STARTTLS, and SMTP is not included in the SSL inspection profile. By adding SMTP to the SSL inspection profile, the FortiGate can decrypt the SMTP traffic, allowing the antivirus engine to inspect the email content for malware, including ransomware delivered via spear-phishing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Disable STARTTLS on the corporate mail server to force plaintext SMTP
Why it's wrong here
This weakens security and is not a best practice.
- ✓
Add SMTP to the SSL inspection profile to decrypt and scan email traffic
Why this is correct
This allows the antivirus to inspect encrypted SMTP traffic and detect malware.
- ✗
Require remote users to install endpoint protection with FortiClient
Why it's wrong here
This is not directly enforceable via FortiGate configuration.
- ✗
Block all SMTP traffic from remote VPN users
Why it's wrong here
This would prevent legitimate email access and is too restrictive.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This NSE7 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Fortinet 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 NSE7 exam.