PCNSA Decryption and Monitoring Practice Question
A company has a decryption policy that decrypts all traffic except for traffic to financial sites. However, users report that some financial sites are still being decrypted. What should the admin check first?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume the issue is with certificates or logs, overlooking the fundamental first-match policy evaluation order that directly causes the described 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 decryption policy rule order
The decryption policy is evaluated in order from top to bottom, and the first matching rule is applied. If a rule that decrypts traffic is placed above the rule that excludes financial sites, traffic to those sites will be decrypted before reaching the exclusion rule. The admin should check the rule order to ensure the financial site exclusion rule is positioned above any decrypting rules.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The decryption policy rule order
Why this is correct
Decryption policy rules are evaluated top-down, so a broader decrypt rule placed above the financial-site no-decrypt rule matches first and decrypts that traffic. Checking rule order identifies this precedence conflict before investigating certificates or profiles.
- ✗
The firewall's system logs
Why it's wrong here
System logs record firewall events, not the URL-category or decryption-policy matching that determines whether financial sites bypass decryption. It tempts because logs are the usual first diagnostic stop, but the decryption policy rulebase itself must be inspected first.
- ✗
The certificate revocation status
Why it's wrong here
Certificate revocation status affects whether a decrypted session's certificate is trusted, not whether the decryption policy exempts financial sites. It tempts because revoked certificates cause TLS failures, which can resemble decryption problems, but the no-decrypt rule is the actual cause.
- ✗
The SSL/TLS service profile settings
Why it's wrong here
The SSL/TLS service profile governs protocol versions and cipher suites for decryption, not which traffic is exempted; decryption exceptions are defined by the decryption policy's URL category match criteria. It would be the right check when sessions fail to decrypt due to cipher or version mismatches.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSA 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 PCNSA exam.