HPE6-A78 Aruba Certified Network Security Associate Exam Questions and Answers

To maintain a digital chain of custody in a network, a crucial practice is to ensure that all network infrastructure devices receive a valid clock using authenticated Network Time Protocol (NTP). Accurate and synchronized time stamps are essential for creating reliable and legally defensible logs. Authenticated NTP ensures that the time being set on devices is accurate and that the time source is verified, which is necessary for correlating logs from different devices and for forensic analysis.

References:

• Digital forensics and network security protocols that underscore the importance of accurate timekeeping for maintaining a digital chain of custody.
• NTP configuration guidelines for network devices, emphasizing the use of authentication to prevent tampering with clock settings.

For securing management access to the ArubaOS Web UI of an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC), it is a best practice to install a certificate signed by a Certificate Authority (CA). This ensures that communications between administrators and the MC are secured with trusted encryption, which greatly reduces the risk of man-in-the-middle attacks. Using a CA-signed certificate enhances the trustworthiness of the connection over self-signed certificates, which do not offer the same level of assurance.References:

• ArubaOS documentation on management access security.

In WPA3-Enterprise, the Pairwise Master Key (PMK) is indeed unique for each session and is derived using a process called Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE). SAE is a new handshake protocol available in WPA3 that provides better security than the Pre-Shared Key (PSK) used in WPA2. This handshake process strengthens user privacy in open networks and provides forward secrecy. The information on SAE and its use in generating a unique PMK can be found in the Wi-Fi Alliance's WPA3 specifications and related technical documentation.

The main distinction between a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack and a traditional Denial of Service (DoS) attack is that a DDoS attack is launched from multiple devices, whereas a DoS attack originates from a single device. This distinction is critical because the distributed nature of a DDoS attack makes it more difficult to mitigate. Multiple attacking sources can generate a higher volume of malicious traffic, overwhelming the target more effectively than a single source, as seen in a DoS attack. DDoS attacks exploit a variety of devices across the internet, often coordinated using botnets, to flood targets with excessive requests, leading to service degradation or complete service denial.

References:

• Cybersecurity texts and resources that differentiate between types of denial of service attacks.
• Technical documentation and analysis of DDoS tactics, which illustrate how botnets and other distributed systems are employed to execute attacks.

The use case for Transport Layer Security (TLS) is to enable a client and a server to establish secure communications for another protocol. TLS is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide secure communication over a computer network. It is widely used for web browsers and other applications that require data to be securely exchanged over a network, such as file transfers, VPN connections, and voice-over-IP (VoIP). TLS operates between the transport layer and the application layer of the Internet Protocol Suite and is used to secure various other protocols like HTTP (resulting in HTTPS), SMTP, IMAP, and more. This protocol ensures privacy and data integrity between two communicating applications. Detailed information about TLS and its use cases can be found in IETF RFC 5246, which outlines the specifications for TLS 1.2, and in subsequent RFCs that define TLS 1.3.

When configuring ArubaOS-CX switches to tunnel client traffic to an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC), securing the control channel communications is crucial to prevent unauthorized access and ensure data integrity. Option B is the correct answer as it involves configuring a long, random PAPI security key that matches on both the switches and the MC. The PAPI (Policy Access Point Interface) protocol is used for secure communication between Aruba devices, and employing a robust, randomized security key significantly enhances the security of the control channel. This setup prevents potential interception or manipulation of the control traffic between the devices.

References:

• ArubaOS-CX Security Configuration Guide
• Aruba Networks Official Documentation

The primary reason for adding a "Log Settings" definition in the ArubaOS Diagnostics > System > Log Settings page is to configure the Syslog server settings for the server to which the Mobility Controller (MC) forwards logs for a particular category and level. This setting enables the MC to send detailed logs to a Syslog server for centralized logging and monitoring, which is essential for troubleshooting, security analysis, and compliance with various policies.References:

• ArubaOS documentation on log management and Syslog configuration.

The ArubaOS firewall is a stateful firewall, meaning that it can track the state of active sessions and can make decisions based on the context of the traffic. This stateful inspection capability allows it to automatically allow return traffic for sessions that it has permitted, thereby enabling seamless two-way communication for authorized users while maintaining the security posture of the network.References:

• ArubaOS firewall documentation.

WPA3-Enterprise enhances network security over WPA2-Enterprise through several improvements, one of which is the ability to operate in CNSA (Commercial National Security Algorithm) mode. This mode mandates the use of secure cryptographic algorithms during the 802.11 association process, ensuring that all communications are highly secure. The CNSA suite provides stronger encryption standards designed to protect sensitive government, military, and industrial communications. Unlike WPA2, WPA3's CNSA mode uses stronger cryptographic primitives, such as AES-256 in Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) for encryption and SHA-384 for hashing, which are not standard in WPA2-Enterprise.

In a WLAN setup that uses 802.1X for authentication, the role assigned to a user is determined by the result of the authentication process. When a user successfully authenticates via 802.1X, the RADIUS server may include a Vendor-Specific Attribute (VSA), such as the Aruba-User-Role, in the Access-Accept message. This attribute specifies the role that should be assigned to the user. If the RADIUS Access-Accept message includes an Aruba-User-Role VSA set to "employee1", the client should be assigned the "employee1" role, as per the VSA, and not the default "guest" role. The "guest" role would typically be a fallback if no other role is specified or if the authentication fails.

For following Aruba best security practices, the setting you should change is to disable local authentication. When integrating with an external RADIUS server like ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) for authenticating administrative access to the Mobility Controller (MC), it is a best practice to rely on the external server rather than the local user database. This practice not only centralizes the management of user roles and access but also enhances security by leveraging CPPM's advanced authentication mechanisms.

References:

• Aruba Networks official best practice documentation, which recommends centralized authentication for administrative access.
• Security standards and guidelines that promote the use of external RADIUS servers for authentication purposes.

When dealing with a failed 802.1X authentication attempt to a WLAN enforced by Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) where no record of the attempt is seen in ClearPass Access Tracker, a good next troubleshooting step is to check the CPPM Event Viewer. Since you are able to successfully ping from the Mobility Controller to CPPM, this indicates that there is network connectivity between these two devices. The lack of a record in Access Tracker suggests that the issue may not be with the RADIUS/EAP certificate or user credentials, but possibly with the ClearPass service itself or its reception of authentication requests. The Event Viewer can provide detailed logs that might reveal internal errors or misconfigurations within CPPM that could prevent it from processing authentication attempts properly.

To prevent users from exploiting Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) on a network with ArubaOS-Switches, the correct approach would be to enable DHCP snooping globally and on VLAN 201 before enabling ARP protection, as stated in option C. DHCP snooping acts as a foundation by tracking and securing the association of IP addresses to MAC addresses. This allows ARP protection to function effectively by ensuring that only valid ARP requests and responses are processed, thus preventing ARP spoofing attacks. Trusting ports that connect to employee devices directly could lead to bypassing ARP protection if those devices are compromised.

The company’s goal is to prevent internal users from exploiting ARP within their ArubaOS-Switch network. Let’s break down the options:

• Option A (Incorrect): Enabling ARP protection globally on Switch-1 and all VLANs is not the best approach. ARP protection should be selectively applied where needed, not globally. It’s also not clear why Switch-1 is mentioned when the exhibit focuses on Switch-2.
• Option B (Incorrect): Making ports connected to employee devices trusted for ARP protection is a good practice, but it’s not sufficient by itself. Trusted ports allow ARP traffic, but we need an additional layer of security.
• Option C (Correct): This is the recommended approach. Here’s why:
• Option D (Incorrect): While static ARP bindings can enhance security, they are cumbersome to manage and don’t dynamically adapt to changes in the network.

References:

• ArubaOS-Switch Management and Configuration Guide for WB_16_10 - Chapter 15: IP Routing Features
• Aruba Security Guide

The recommended approach for preventing users in the "user_group1" role from using gaming and peer-to-peer applications in an ArubaOS environment is to enable Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and add application rules that specifically deny access to these types of applications for the role. DPI allows the network system to analyze the content of network traffic in real time and apply policies based on what it detects, including blocking specific applications like gaming and peer-to-peer sharing. This capability is essential for effectively managing application usage on the network and ensuring compliance with organizational policies. Application-specific rules provide precise control over the network traffic by identifying the application regardless of the network port used, making it a more effective method than blocking based on ports or IP addresses.

The AP is classified as a rogue because it is connected to your LAN and is transmitting wireless traffic with your network's default gateway's MAC address as a source MAC. In this scenario, the 'Match method = Exact match' and 'Match type = Eth-GW-wired-Mac-Table' indicates that the rogue AP has been detected by matching the Ethernet gateway's MAC address, which is on the wired network, implying that the rogue AP is connected to the corporate LAN. Since the AP does not belong to the company, its presence on the network is unauthorized and is thus classified as a rogue AP.

References:

• ArubaOS documentation on rogue AP detection and classification.
• Wireless security best practices that explain how the presence of unauthorized APs on the LAN constitutes a security threat.

The Match method 'Eth-Wired-Mac-Table' suggests that the BSSID of the rogue AP has been found in the Ethernet (wired) MAC address table of the network infrastructure. This means the AP is physically connected to the LAN. If the BSSID does not match the company's authorized APs, it implies the AP is unauthorized and hence classified as a rogue.

An example of a social engineering attack is described in option A, where an email is used to impersonate a bank and deceive users into entering their bank login information on a counterfeit website. Social engineering attacks exploit human psychology rather than technical hacking techniques to gain access to systems, data, or personal information. These attacks often involve tricking people into breaking normal security procedures. The other options describe different types of technical attacks that do not primarily rely on manipulating individuals through deceptive personal interactions.

To ensure secure transmission of log data over the network, particularly when dealing with sensitive or critical information, using TLS (Transport Layer Security) for encrypted communication between network devices and syslog servers is necessary:

• Secure Logging Setup: When configuring an ArubaOS-CX switch to send logs securely to a Syslog server, specifying the server with the TLS option ensures that all transmitted log data is encrypted. Additionally, the switch must have a valid certificate to establish a trusted connection, preventing potential eavesdropping or tampering with the logs in transit.
• Other Options:

For deploying Aruba ClearPass Device Insight effectively, especially in environments with multiple sites, it is recommended to deploy a pair of Device Insight Collectors at the headquarters or the central data center. This deployment strategy helps in centralizing the data collection and analysis, which simplifies management and enhances performance by reducing the data load on the WAN links connecting different sites. Centralizing the collectors at a major site or data center allows for better scalability and reliability of the network management system. This configuration also aids in achieving a more consistent and comprehensive monitoring and analysis of the devices across the network, ensuring that the security and management policies are uniformly applied. This recommendation is based on best practices for network architecture design, particularly those discussed in Aruba’s deployment guides and network management strategies.

Control Plane Policing (CoPP) on Aruba switches is used to mitigate Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on the switch. CoPP allows network administrators to restrict the impact of control plane traffic on the switch's CPU, thereby protecting network stability and integrity. By setting rate limits and specifying allowed traffic types, administrators can prevent malicious or malformed packets from overwhelming the switch's control plane, which could otherwise lead to a DoS condition and potentially disrupt network operations. This use case of CoPP is detailed in Aruba's network management documentation, where best practices and configurations to protect against DoS attacks are discussed.

A common method for hackers to perform a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack on a wireless network is by ARP poisoning. The attacker connects to the same network as the victim and sends false ARP messages over the network. This causes the victim's device to send traffic to the attacker's machine instead of the legitimate destination, allowing the attacker to intercept the traffic.

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack where an attacker impersonates a trusted entity to deceive people into providing sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. An example of phishing is when an attacker sends emails posing as a service team member or a legitimate organization with the intention of getting users to disclose their passwords or other confidential information. These emails often contain links to fake websites that look remarkably similar to legitimate ones, tricking users into entering their details.References:

• Cybersecurity guidelines on identifying and preventing phishing attacks.

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) can indeed be exploited to conduct various types of attacks, most notably ARP spoofing/poisoning. Gratuitous ARP is a special kind of ARP message which is used by an IP node to announce or update its IP to MAC mapping to the entire network. A hacker can abuse this by sending out gratuitous ARP messages pretending to associate the IP address of the router (default gateway) with their own MAC address. This results in traffic that was supposed to go to the router being sent to the attacker instead, thus potentially enabling the attacker to intercept, modify, or block traffic.

EST (Enrollment over Secure Transport) is a protocol designed to streamline the certificate management process. It enables automated and secure enrollment, renewal, and revocation of digital certificates, which significantly reduces the management overhead typically associated with digital certificates. With EST, administrators can more easily manage certificates' lifecycle, ensuring that expired certificates are promptly replaced or renewed without significant manual intervention.

WPA3-Personal enhances security over WPA2-Personal by implementing individualized data encryption. This feature, known as Wi-Fi Enhanced Open, provides each user's session with a unique encryption key, even if they are using the same network passphrase. This prevents an authenticated user from eavesdropping on the traffic of other users on the same network, thus enhancing privacy and security.References:

• Wi-Fi Alliance WPA3-Personal security improvements documentation

Tunneling traffic between an Aruba switch and an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC) allows for the centralized application of firewall policies and deep packet inspection to wired clients. By directing traffic through the MC, network administrators can implement a consistent set of security policies across both wired and wireless segments of the network, enhancing overall network security posture.

RadSec (RADIUS over TLS) is a protocol for transporting RADIUS messages over TLS-encrypted TCP/IP networks. The primary use case for implementing RadSec instead of traditional RADIUS is to protect RADIUS communications, particularly when those messages must travel across an untrusted network, such as the internet. RadSec provides confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for RADIUS traffic between clients and servers which may not be within a single secure network. In the case of a school district that wants to ensure the security of messages sent between RADIUS clients and servers over potentially insecure networks, RadSec would be the appropriate choice.

Referring to the exhibit, the ArubaOS Mobility Controller treats HTTPS packets based on the firewall rules applied to the client. The rule that allows svc-https service for destination IP range 10.1.0.0 255.255.0.0 would permit an HTTPS packet to 10.1.10.10 since this IP address falls within the specified range. There are no rules shown that would allow traffic to the IP address 203.0.13.5; hence, the packet to this address would be dropped.

References:

• ArubaOS firewall configuration guides detailing how firewall rules are interpreted and applied to traffic.
• Network security textbooks explaining firewall rule processing and packet filtering based on source and destination IP addresses.