NSE7_SSE_AD-25 Exam Dumps - Fortinet Network Security Expert Questions and Answers

In FortiSASE, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) tags—also known as security posture tags—are used to dynamically grant or deny access based on the real-time security state of an endpoint. This mechanism ensures that only devices meeting specific compliance requirements can access protected resources or the internet.

Endpoint Analysis: The Managed Endpoints exhibit shows that while Jumpbox only has the FortiSASE-Compliant tag, the Windows-AD endpoint has been assigned both FortiSASE-Compliant and FortiSASE-Non-Compliant tags. This indicates that a security posture check on the Windows-AD device has failed, triggering a rule that applies the non-compliant tag.

Policy Evaluation: The Secure Internet Access Policy table shows two custom policies. The first policy, named Non-compliant, uses the FortiSASE-Non-Compliant tag as its source and has the action set to Deny. The second policy, Web Traffic, allows access for FortiSASE-Compliant users.

Root Cause of Outage: Because FortiSASE (powered by FortiOS) processes security policies in a top-down sequence, the "Non-compliant" policy is evaluated first. Since Windows-AD matches the source criteria for this "Deny" policy, its traffic is blocked before it can reach the "Accept" policy.

Although the exhibit shows a warning icon for the FortiClient version on Windows-AD, the direct cause of the internet outage is the explicit Deny policy triggered by the change in the device's security posture (the application of the Non-Compliant tag).

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is the FortiSASE feature that ensures least-privileged user access to all applications. ZTNA operates on the principle of "never trust, always verify," providing secure access based on the identity of users and devices, regardless of their location.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA):

ZTNA ensures that only authenticated and authorized users and devices can access applications.

It applies the principle of least privilege by granting access only to the resources required by the user, minimizing the potential for unauthorized access.

Implementation:

ZTNA continuously verifies user and device trustworthiness and enforces granular access control policies.

This approach enhances security by reducing the attack surface and limiting lateral movement within the network.

FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) provides flexible connectivity to internal corporate resources using a hub-and-spoke architecture where FortiSASE PoPs act as spokes to an organization's FortiGate hub.

Flow from Agent-based users to Private Resources (C): This is the core functionality of SPA. Remote users running FortiClient (agent-based) connect to the nearest FortiSASE PoP. The PoP, integrated into the corporate SD-WAN fabric, uses IPsec and BGP to route traffic to the private applications located behind the FortiGate hub or associated spokes.

Flow from Thin Branches/Branch On-ramp to Private Resources (E): FortiSASE extends its security and connectivity to physical locations through "Thin Edge" (e.g., FortiExtender, FortiAP) or "Branch On-ramp" (e.g., branch FortiGates). These sites form tunnels to the FortiSASE PoP, which then provides them with access to the same private resources in the SD-WAN network as the remote agent-based users.

Flow from Private Resources to Agent-based users (A): The SPA architecture is designed for bidirectional communication. Documentation confirms that traffic can be initiated from the FortiGate hub (or local networks behind it) to the remote VPN agents. This "Server-to-Client" flow is essential for administrative tasks, log forwarding, or real-time communication applications like VoIP.

Incorrect Options:

Option B: Traffic from private resources to the internet is handled via Secure Internet Access (SIA) or local gateway policies, not the SPA use case, which is dedicated to internal private application access.

Option D: While FortiSASE can facilitate branch-to-branch communication via ADVPN shortcuts, the term "SPA" specifically refers to the access layer for users and is not used to describe resource-to-resource or hub-to-hub traffic.

In FortiSASE, the requirement to redirect specific traffic away from the secure tunnel and through the local physical interface is achieved through Steering Bypass (commonly referred to as split tunneling).

Steering Bypass Destinations: This feature is configured within the Endpoint Profile settings. When an administrator adds a destination (such as the Google Maps URL or FQDN) to the Steering Bypass table, the FortiClient agent updates the local routing table on the endpoint.

Traffic Redirection: Traffic matching these bypass rules is explicitly excluded from the FortiSASE VPN tunnel and instead sent directly out of the device's local internet gateway (physical interface). This is ideal for optimizing bandwidth and reducing latency for trusted, high-volume applications like mapping services or video conferencing.

Analysis of Other Options:

Option A: ZTNA TCP access proxy rules are designed for secure access to private applications, not for managing how internet-bound traffic is routed.

Option B: While it uses the term "steering bypass," there is no "tunnel firewall policy" configuration for this purpose; the configuration is done at the endpoint profile level.

Option C: Exempting a URL in the Web Filter profile only instructs FortiSASE to skip security scanning (AV, DLP, etc.) for that traffic. The traffic would still be encapsulated in the tunnel and sent to FortiSASE, which does not meet the requirement to redirect it to the physical interface.

By configuring the Google Maps URL as a steering bypass destination, the organization ensures the traffic never enters the SASE tunnel, fulfilling the requirement for both traffic inspection (for all other traffic) and local redirection (for Google Maps).