300-740 Designing and Implementing Secure Cloud Access for Users and Endpoints (SCAZT) Questions and Answers

According to the MITRE ATT&CK framework and the SCAZT documentation, one of the most effective mitigation techniques against exploitation is to keep systems updated with the latest patches. Exploitation typically targets known vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications. Timely patching significantly reduces the risk of successful exploitation, especially zero-day vulnerabilities once disclosed.

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Based on the alert of “Geographically Unusual Remote Access” from Secure Cloud Analytics and the SSH logs from foreign IPs, this device (linux-gcp-east-4c) has likely been compromised. According to SCAZT Section 6: Threat Response (Pages 114–117):

B: Isolating/quarantining the host is an immediate incident response step to prevent lateral movement and data exfiltration.

E: A firewall rule blocking inbound SSH to the GCP VM from external sources would be the appropriate access control response to prevent recurrence.

Options A and C (reinstallation) may be used later during recovery but are not immediate containment steps. Blocking outgoing SSH (Option D) is less relevant than restricting inbound SSH in this scenario.

The JSON configuration shown is missing a specific Layer 4 parameter definition for port 25 (SMTP). Although the protocol (proto: 6, which is TCP) is defined, without specifying the actual port in the l4_params array, traffic filtering will not trigger on SMTP. Therefore, the engineer must add "port": [25, 25] to the l4_params section to ensure traffic on port 25 is blocked.

To preserve the user for investigation while immediately revoking access, the correct approach is to disable the user in the Duo Admin Panel. This action blocks authentication without deleting logs or user data. Simultaneously, resetting the password from Active Directory ensures any potentially compromised credentials are revoked.

According to SCAZT (Section 2: User and Device Security, Pages 40–44), disabling user accounts in Duo offers secure containment during security incidents while maintaining data for forensic review.

The Cisco SAFE architecture uses the concept of Secure Domains as foundational blocks. These domains represent areas of the network (e.g., Branch, Data Center, Cloud, Edge) that require specific security controls. Each domain aligns with controls across visibility, segmentation, threat protection, and identity services.

Rule 3 denies all DNS traffic from the subnet 10.1.0.0/30, which includes the client at 10.1.0.6. Since DNS resolution is required to resolve www.salesforce.com, this DNS deny rule is preventing the client from obtaining the IP address needed for HTTPS connection. Removing Rule 3 allows DNS traffic from the client, while Rule 4 permits it specifically for the 4.4.4.4 DNS server.

As per SCAZT Section 3: Network and Cloud Security (Pages 70–73), DNS resolution must be allowed before HTTPS connectivity is attempted. Rule priority and traffic dependency should always be considered in firewall design.

The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) uses TCP port 3389. Cisco Umbrella includes a cloud-delivered firewall that can be used to block outbound traffic by port. In this case, since the RDP communication needs to be prevented regardless of application name resolution, the best approach is to use a Firewall policy in Umbrella to block port 3389 traffic across the tunnel.

When integrating Cisco ISE with Azure AD using SAML SSO:

B: The Azure AD metadata must be uploaded into ISE to establish trust and allow token validation.

D: External Identity Sources settings must be configured in ISE to recognize and process authentication requests via SAML-based identity providers like Azure AD.

These are mandatory steps for enabling browser-based SSO authentication in ISE as explained in SCAZT Section 2 (User and Device Security, Pages 42–44), which describes federated identity integration.

Note: Option A is already completed as stated in the prompt. Options C and E are not essential to the authentication flow in this SAML context.

Rule 3 allows all traffic (including SSH) from 10.1.0.0/30 during the hours of 18:00–08:00, which directly conflicts with Rule 1 that is intended to deny SSH at those same hours. Since firewall rules are evaluated top-down and Rule 3 allows traffic during the exact period where SSH should be blocked, deleting Rule 3 will allow Rule 1 to apply correctly.

This behavior is explained in SCAZT Section 3 (Network and Cloud Security, Pages 72–75), where rule precedence and time-based evaluation logic are discussed.

The Secure Cloud Analytics alert log shows multiple SSH connections on port 22 from diverse and geographically distributed IP addresses targeting a single GCP instance (www-gcp-east-4c). According to the Cloud Analytics alert logic described in SCAZT (Section 6: Threat Response, Pages 113–116), this behavior indicates “Geographically Unusual Remote Access.” It typically triggers when a host receives connections from countries not normally associated with the network’s usage profile. This is often linked to reconnaissance or brute-force SSH attempts.

Cisco Talos is Cisco’s threat intelligence organization, delivering real-time threat intelligence and malware analytics to help organizations detect and prevent threats before they impact the network. According to the SCAZT guide, Talos provides comprehensive coverage of threat data including signatures, indicators of compromise, and context-driven analytics. This intelligence feeds into Cisco security platforms such as Cisco SecureX and Cisco Secure Endpoint to enhance detection, investigation, and response capabilities. Talos is explicitly referenced in the Threat Response section as the primary source of threat intelligence and malware analytics that supports cloud and endpoint security frameworks.

The provided JSON-like policy structure shows a segmentation rule with action "BLOCK" and filters referencing the HTTPS Consumer and HTTPS Provider. However, to block HTTP, you must define the protocol explicitly in the parameters. The attribute “l4_params” is currently empty. According to Cisco Secure Workload best practices (SCAZT Section 4: Application and Data Security, Pages 88–91), Layer 4 parameters (l4_params) must be used to specify protocols such as HTTP or port 80. Without defining HTTP here, the policy does not apply to HTTP traffic.