Pass the Checkpoint CCSE R81 156-315.81 Questions and answers with CertsForce

 The correct upgrade method for upgrading from R80.40 to R81.20 without any downtime is the Multi-Version Cluster Upgrade (MVC). MVC is a new feature in R80.40 that replaces the deprecated Connectivity Upgrade (CU). MVC allows you to upgrade cluster members to a newer version without losing connectivity and test the new version on some of the cluster members before you decide to upgrade the rest of the cluster members. MVC synchronizes connections between cluster members that run different versions and ensures that the cluster remains operational during the upgrade process. MVC is intended only to test the current configuration in the newer version and not to change the security policy and install it on cluster members with different software versions. MVC is disabled by default and can be enabled on each cluster member individually. MVC has some limitations, such as not supporting VSX clusters, IPS blade, or SecureXL acceleration.

References:

Multi-Version Cluster (MVC) replaces Connectivity Upgrade (CU) in R80.40

Multi-Version Cluster (MVC) Upgrade

Configuring the Multi-Version Cluster Mechanism

 The default port for the Gaia WebUI Portal is HTTPS 443. This is the standard port for secure web communication over SSL/TLS. Changing the port may cause inconsistency with the settings on the SmartConsole and is not recommended unless necessary. To change the port, you can use the CLISH command set web ssl-port  and save the configuration. References: 13

The true statement about the API server on R81.20 is: By default, the API server is active on management servers with 4 GB of RAM (or more) and on stand-alone servers with 8GB of RAM (or more). The API server is a web service that allows external applications to interact with the Check Point management server using standard methods such as HTTP(S) requests and JSON objects. The API server is enabled by default on R81.20 management servers that have at least 4 GB of RAM, and on stand-alone servers that have at least 8 GB of RAM. The API server can also be manually enabled or disabled from the WebUI or the CLI. 

Running the command fw unloadlocal on the Security Management Server will remove the installed Security Policy from the local firewall module. This command is useful for troubleshooting purposes when there is a problem with the policy installation or enforcement. However, it will also expose the Security Management Server to potential attacks, so it should be used with caution. References: Training & Certification | Check Point Software, R81 CCSA & CCSE exams released featuring Promo for… - Check Point …

The R81 SmartConsole, SmartEvent GUI client, and SmartView Web Application consolidate billions of logs and show them as prioritized security events. The SmartView Web Application is a web-based interface that allows you to access the SmartEvent Server from any browser. You can use the SmartView Web Application to view and analyze security events, generate reports, and configure SmartEvent settings12.

References: 1: Check Point R81 SmartConsole User Guide - Check Point Software, page 10 2: Check Point R81 SmartEvent Administration Guide - Check Point Software, page 9

 The statement that is most correct regarding about “CoreXL Dynamic Dispatcher” is: The CoreXL FW instances assignment mechanism is based on the utilization of CPU cores. CoreXL Dynamic Dispatcher is a feature that allows the Security Gateway to dynamically assign connections to the most available CoreXL FW instance, based on the CPU core utilization. This improves the performance and load balancing of the Security Gateway, especially when handling connections with different processing requirements. The other statements are either incorrect or describe the CoreXL Static Dispatcher mechanism, which assigns connections based on a hash function of the Source IP, Destination IP, and IP Protocol type.

 The command that would be used to enable the Penalty Box feature is sim erdos -e 1. Penalty Box is a feature that protects the Security Gateway from DDoS attacks by dropping packets from sources that send excessive traffic. Sim erdos is a command that allows administrators to configure and manage the Penalty Box feature. Sim erdos -e 1 enables the Penalty Box feature on the Security Gateway. The other options are either invalid or perform different functions. 

Once a certificate is revoked from the Security Gateway by the Security Management Server, the certificate information is stored on the Certificate Revocation List (CRL). The CRL is a list of certificates that have been revoked by the Internal Certificate Authority (ICA) and are no longer valid for Secure Internal Communication (SIC). The CRL is signed by the ICA and issued to all the managed Security Gateways the next time a SIC connection is made12. The CRL helps to prevent unauthorized access to the Security Management Server by revoked Security Gateways.

References: 1: How to renew SIC after changing IP Address of Security Management Server - Check Point Software, Solution ID: sk43784 2: Check Point R81 Security Engineering Guide - Check Point Software, page 162

Identity Awareness maps usernames to IP addresses by collecting Windows Security Events from Active Directory Domain Controllers. These events include Account Logon, Kerberos Ticket Requested, and Kerberos Ticket Renewed. These events indicate that a user has successfully authenticated to the domain and obtained a Kerberos ticket for accessing network resources. Identity Awareness can use these events to associate the username with the source IP address of the authentication request.

However, Kerberos Ticket Timed Out is not a Windows Security Event that Identity Awareness can use to map usernames to IP addresses. This event indicates that a user’s Kerberos ticket has expired and needs to be renewed. This event does not contain the source IP address of the user, only the username and the ticket information. Therefore, Identity Awareness cannot use this event to map a username to an IP address.

References:

1, Training & Certification | Check Point Software, section “Security Expert R81.20 (CCSE) Core Training”

2, Certified Security Expert (CCSE) R81.20 Course Overview, page 1

3, Check Point Certified Security Expert R81, page 5

5, Identity Awareness Administration Guide R81, section “How Identity Awareness Collects Identities”

The default port used by the AMON server when using CPSTAT is 18192. CPSTAT is a command-line tool that allows administrators to monitor various statistics and status information about Check Point products and components, such as CPU usage, memory usage, policy installation, cluster state, etc. CPSTAT uses AMON (Advanced Monitoring) protocol to communicate with AMON server, which is a daemon that runs on Security Gateways or Management Servers and collects and provides AMON data. By default, AMON server listens on TCP port 18192 for incoming CPSTAT requests.

 For packets that do not pass Firewall Kernel Inspection and are rejected by the rule definition, packets are dropped with logs and without sending a negative acknowledgment. Firewall Kernel Inspection is the process of applying security policies and rules to network traffic by the Firewall kernel module. If a packet does not match any rule or matches a rule with an action of Drop or Reject, the packet is dropped by the Firewall kernel module. The difference between Drop and Reject is that Drop silently discards the packet without informing the sender, while Reject discards the packet and sends a negative acknowledgment (such as an ICMP message) to the sender. However, both Drop and Reject actions generate logs that record the details of the dropped packets, such as source, destination, protocol, port, rule number, etc. The other options are either incorrect or describe different scenarios.

 The first thing that must be done if “fwm sic_reset” could not be completed is to change internal CA via cpconfig. Fwm sic_reset is a command that allows administrators to reset Secure Internal Communication (SIC) between Security Management Server and Security Gateways or other Check Point modules. SIC is a mechanism that ensures secure and authenticated communication between Check Point components by using certificates issued by an internal Certificate Authority (ICA). If fwm sic_reset fails, it means that there is a problem with the ICA or the certificates that prevents SIC from being reset. To resolve this problem, administrators need to change internal CA via cpconfig, which is a command that allows administrators to configure various settings on Security Gateways or Management Servers, including the ICA. Changing internal CA via cpconfig will create a new ICA with a new certificate, and allow SIC to be reset with the new certificate.

References:

The Software Container is a logical component in the Software Blade Architecture. There are three types of Software Containers: Security Management, Security Gateway, and Endpoint Security. The container enables the server functionality, and defines its purpose – e.g, management or gateway. https://downloads.checkpoint.com/dc/download.htm?ID=11608