Cloud-Security-Engineer Cloud Workload Protection Practice Question
During incident response, a security analyst notices that a Prisma Cloud Host Defender has generated an alert for an unknown binary execution, but the process was not blocked. What is the reason for this behavior?
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
✓
The runtime defense rule associated with the process was set to 'Alert' mode instead of 'Prevent' mode.
Prisma Cloud runtime rules can be configured in either 'Prevent' (block) or 'Alert' (audit/log only) mode. If an alert is generated without blocking, the rule mode is set to audit/alert.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Prisma Cloud Console lost connection to the defender, causing it to fall back to logging mode.
Why it's wrong here
Loss of console connection maintains the last known local enforcement policy.
- ✗
The Host Defender was operating in unprivileged mode, stripping its ability to enforce process termination.
Why it's wrong here
Defenders require full privileges; if unprivileged, they fail to function entirely rather than silently alerting.
- ✗
The process execution bypassed the kernel module because it used a static Go binary.
Why it's wrong here
Language compilation does not bypass kernel-level process monitoring.
- ✓
The runtime defense rule associated with the process was set to 'Alert' mode instead of 'Prevent' mode.
Why this is correct
Alert mode logs suspicious events without terminating or blocking execution.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official Palo Alto Networks exam blueprint
This Cloud-Security-Engineer practice question is part of Courseiva's free Palo Alto Networks 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 Cloud-Security-Engineer exam.