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
Rules are evaluated top-down; a decrypt rule above the no-decrypt rule will match first.
- ✗
The firewall's system logs
Why it's wrong here
System logs may show errors but are not the first place to check for policy matching issues.
- ✗
The certificate revocation status
Why it's wrong here
CRL status does not affect policy matching.
- ✗
The SSL/TLS service profile settings
Why it's wrong here
Service profiles define decryption behavior (e.g., allowed certificates) but not which traffic is decrypted.
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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.