PCNSA App-ID and Content-ID Practice Question
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit. Application Command Center Name: myapp Category: business-systems Subcategory: file-sharing Technology: peer-to-peer Risk: 4 Characteristics: evasive-behavior, used-by-malware, excessive-bandwidth Security Policy Rule: Source: any Destination: any Application: myapp Action: allow Profile: default Logs show traffic matching this rule is being denied with action 'reset-both'.
What is the most likely reason the traffic is being denied?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to assume traffic is denied due to a misconfiguration of App-ID or a DoS policy, but the key clue is the 'evasive-behavior' characteristic, which directly points to a threat prevention profile action.
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
✓
A threat prevention profile is blocking the application due to its 'evasive-behavior' characteristic.
The question describes a scenario where traffic is denied despite the application being identified by App-ID. A threat prevention profile can block applications that exhibit 'evasive-behavior' characteristics, such as using non-standard ports or encryption to evade detection. This is a common security control in Palo Alto Networks firewalls to prevent malicious or evasive applications from bypassing policy.
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 application is not actually matching the rule.
Why it's wrong here
Logs show the rule is matched.
- ✓
A threat prevention profile is blocking the application due to its 'evasive-behavior' characteristic.
Why this is correct
Evasive applications are often blocked by default profiles.
- ✗
A DoS protection policy is blocking the traffic.
Why it's wrong here
DoS protection would not typically reset.
- ✗
App-ID is incorrectly identifying the traffic.
Why it's wrong here
The exhibit shows myapp is identified.
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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.