NSE7_SSE_AD-25 Fortinet NSE 7 - FortiSASE 25 Enterprise Administrator Questions and Answers

Based on the provided exhibits, the reason why the Win7-Pro endpoint can no longer access the internet through FortiSASE is due to exceeding the total vulnerability detected threshold. This threshold is used to determine if a device is compliant with the security requirements to access the network.

Endpoint Compliance:

FortiSASE monitors endpoint compliance by assessing various security parameters, including the number of vulnerabilities detected on the device.

The compliance status is indicated by the ZTNA tags and the vulnerabilities detected.

Vulnerability Threshold:

The exhibit shows that Win7-Pro has 176 vulnerabilities detected, whereas Win10-Pro has 140 vulnerabilities.

If the endpoint exceeds a predefined vulnerability threshold, it may be restricted from accessing the network to ensure overall network security.

Impact on Network Access:

Since Win7-Pro has exceeded the vulnerability threshold, it is marked as non-compliant and subsequently loses internet access through FortiSASE.

The FortiSASE endpoint profile enforces this compliance check to prevent potentially vulnerable devices from accessing the internet.

1. DLP Data Pattern

2. DLP Dictionary

3. DLP Sensor

4. DLP Profile

The FortiSASE Data Loss Prevention (DLP) framework follows a hierarchical object-oriented structure. When creating a custom DLP rule using Regular Expressions (Regex), the administrator must build the components from the most granular level upward to the policy level.

DLP Data Pattern: This is the first step where the actual Regex string is defined. The pattern specifies what specific data string (e.g., a specific credit card format or employee ID) the engine should look for.

DLP Dictionary: Once the pattern is created, it must be added to a Dictionary. The dictionary acts as a container that groups one or more data patterns together for easier management.

DLP Sensor: The dictionary is then linked to a DLP Sensor. Within the sensor, you define the "Rule" which specifies the dictionary to use and the action to take (such as block, log, or quarantine) when a match occurs.

DLP Profile: Finally, the sensor is applied to a DLP Profile. This profile is the high-level object that is ultimately selected within a FortiSASE Security Policy to inspect traffic for sensitive data.

According to the NSE7 SASE Enterprise Guide (Pages 64 & 153), FortiSASE utilizes an intelligent engine to manage connectivity to private resources through various selection methods:

Hub Health and Priority: FortiSASE incorporates a built-in SD-WAN engine for intelligent routing selection among established IPsec links. The health check IP address periodically receives performance metrics, including jitter, latency, and packet loss, for each service connection. In this mode, FortiSASE evaluates the available hubs and selects the one with the highest priority (the most preferred value) within each POP, provided that the hub meets the defined service-level agreement (SLA) requirements. For this configuration to function correctly, both FortiSASE and the SPA hub must use the same Autonomous System Number (ASN).

BGP Multiple Exit Discriminator (MED): This method leverages the standard BGP MED attribute, which allows an autonomous system to signal its preferred entry point to a peer. FortiSASE learns the MED values advertised by the configured hubs. The architecture is designed so that the lower the MED value, the more preferred the path is to the receiving router. Consistent with the "Zero Trust" and "Secure Access" principles, even when using BGP MED, the selection is gated by the health engine; therefore, the hub is only selected if it also satisfies the configured SLA thresholds.

While SLA thresholds can be configured, the primary logic for hub selection focuses on how priority and dynamic routing attributes (like MED) interact with the real-time health of the tunnel.

SSL deep inspection (DPI) is a critical security function that allows FortiSASE to decrypt and inspect the actual payload of encrypted traffic (such as HTTPS, SMTPS, and FTPS) to identify and block hidden threats.

The Role of the CA: For this process to occur, FortiSASE must act as a "man-in-the-middle" by intercepting the SSL session, decrypting it for inspection, and then re-encrypting it before sending it to the endpoint.2 To re-encrypt the traffic, FortiSASE acts as a Certificate Authority (CA) and signs a new certificate for the destination website on the fly.

Certificate Types: This CA role can be fulfilled using the default self-signed certificate provided by Fortinet (typically Fortinet_CA_SSL) or a certificate issued by an organization's internal/private CA. Publicly trusted third-party CAs (like DigiCert or Let's Encrypt) do not sell CA-capable certificates that can be used for this type of inspection.

Client Machine Requirement: Because the endpoint’s browser or operating system will not natively trust a certificate signed by a private or self-signed CA, the root CA certificate must be imported into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store on all managed client machines. Failure to do so results in persistent certificate warnings or blocked connections for the end user.

Supported Features: Once enabled, SSL deep inspection provides the necessary visibility for high-level security features to function, including Antivirus, Web Filtering, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), File Filter, and Application Control.

When configuring FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) with SD-WAN integration, establishing a routing adjacency between FortiSASE and the FortiGate SD-WAN hub requires the use of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

BGP (Border Gateway Protocol):

BGP is widely used for establishing routing adjacencies between different networks, particularly in SD-WAN environments.

It provides scalability and flexibility in managing dynamic routing between FortiSASE and the FortiGate SD-WAN hub.

Routing Adjacency:

BGP enables the exchange of routing information between FortiSASE and the FortiGate SD-WAN hub.

This ensures optimal routing paths and efficient traffic management across the hybrid network.

There are two deployment methods used to connect a FortiExtender as a FortiSASE LAN extension:

Connect FortiExtender to FortiSASE using FortiZTP:

FortiZero Touch Provisioning (FortiZTP) simplifies the deployment process by allowing FortiExtender to automatically connect and configure itself with FortiSASE.

This method requires minimal manual configuration, making it efficient for large-scale deployments.

Enter the FortiSASE domain name in the FortiExtender GUI as a static discovery server:

Manually configuring the FortiSASE domain name in the FortiExtender GUI allows the extender to discover and connect to the FortiSASE infrastructure.

This static discovery method ensures that FortiExtender can establish a connection with FortiSASE using the provided domain name.

In FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) deployments, establishing a stable connection between the FortiSASE PoPs and the corporate FortiGate hub relies on two primary layers: the IPsec Tunnel and the BGP Peering.

Exhibit Analysis: The exhibit (image_577e17.jpg) shows the status of several Security PoPs (Singapore, Tokyo, Frankfurt, and San Jose) connected to an "FGT-Hub".

Tunnel Status vs. BGP Status: For all listed PoPs, the Health Check IP Status and Tunnel status are both shown with a green "Up" icon. This confirms that the underlying IPsec connectivity and the physical path between the SASE cloud and the hub are functioning correctly.

Identifying the Failure: The BGP Peering State is reported as Active. In BGP terminology, the "Active" state specifically indicates that the router is attempting to initiate a TCP connection with its peer but has not yet received a response. A fully functional and successful BGP connection must reach the Established state.

Root Cause Determination: Since the tunnel is up (eliminating Gateway or Authentication Method issues as the primary suspects) but the BGP state remains stuck in "Active," the most likely cause is a mismatch or misconfiguration in the BGP Peer IP or BGP neighbor settings. This prevents the exchange of routing information necessary for users to access private applications.

To resolve the connectivity problem, the administrator must ensure that the BGP neighbor IPs configured on the FortiGate hub match those assigned by the FortiSASE orchestration and that firewall policies on the hub allow BGP traffic (TCP port 179) across the tunnel.

In a FortiSASE environment, the ability of a remote user to establish a VPN tunnel is governed not only by their credentials and firewall policies but also by geographic access controls.

Geofencing Mechanism: FortiSASE includes a Geofencing feature (found under Configuration > Restrictions or Configuration > Geofencing in newer versions) that allows administrators to restrict or allow access to SASE services based on the geographic location of the endpoint's public IP address.

Connection Failure vs. SSO Success: The scenario describes a situation where users can successfully authenticate via SSO to reach third-party SaaS apps like Office 365 (O365) or Salesforce (SFDC) but cannot connect to the SASE VPN. This occurs because the SSO authentication is handled directly by the Identity Provider (IdP) (e.g., Microsoft Entra ID), which may not have the same geographic restrictions. However, when the FortiClient attempts to establish the tunnel to the FortiSASE Point of Presence (PoP), the SASE gateway checks the Geofencing list. If the country the user is visiting is on the Deny list (or not on the Allow list), the connection is dropped at the "local-in" policy level on the SASE backend, preventing the tunnel from forming.

Verification and Resolution: To resolve this, the administrator must verify the Geofencing settings and ensure that the countries where the traveling users are located are permitted to connect. If the feature is enabled with a "Deny" list, the specific country must be removed from that list; if it uses an "Allow" list, the country must be added.

Analysis of Other Options:

Option A: Firewall policies govern traffic after the tunnel is established; they cannot resolve a failure to connect the tunnel itself.

Option B: Restarting the device is a general troubleshooting step but will not bypass a server-side geographic block.

Option D: While keeping clients updated is a best practice, the issue described (specific to overseas travel while other functions work) points to a configuration restriction rather than a software bug.

The exhibit (image_595357.jpg) illustrates the Sandbox configuration tab within a FortiSASE Endpoint Profile. This profile dictates how the managed FortiClient agent handles suspicious files and interacts with the sandbox service.

Profile-Based Enforcement: In the FortiSASE architecture, security features are not applied globally by default; they are enabled through specific profiles assigned to endpoints. Therefore, the sandbox inspection and remediation logic will only be active for endpoints that have been assigned a profile where the Sandbox feature is enabled.

Removable Media Protection: Under the File Submission Options in the exhibit, the setting All Files Executed from Removable Media is toggled on. This ensures that any file executed from a USB drive or other external storage is sent to the FortiSandbox for analysis before being permitted to run on the endpoint.

Sandbox Mode: The Sandbox Mode is set to FortiSASE, indicating that files are sent to the integrated cloud-native sandbox rather than an on-premises appliance. This makes Option A incorrect.

Quarantine Threshold: The Remediation Actions show that the Action is set to Quarantine for files meeting the Sandbox Detection Verdict Level of Medium. This acts as a minimum threshold; FortiClient will quarantine files identified as Medium, High, or Malicious. Option B is incorrect because it implies only medium-level files are quarantined, whereas higher-risk levels would also be blocked.

For a customer looking to upgrade their legacy on-premises proxy to a cloud-based proxy for a hybrid network, the combination of Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and Inline Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) features in FortiSASE will provide the necessary capabilities.

Secure Web Gateway (SWG):

SWG provides comprehensive web security by inspecting and filtering web traffic to protect against web-based threats.

It ensures that all web traffic, whether originating from on-premises or remote locations, is inspected and secured by the cloud-based proxy.

Inline Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB):

CASB enhances security by providing visibility and control over cloud applications and services.

Inline CASB integrates with SWG to enforce security policies for cloud application usage, preventing unauthorized access and data leakage.

In a default FortiSASE deployment, endpoints are typically onboarded using a shared invitation code sent via email. While this code simplifies deployment, it can represent a security risk if the code is leaked or intercepted, as any device with the code could potentially register with the SASE management service.

User Verification (SAML SSO): To mitigate this risk, administrators can enable user verification as an additional layer of security.3 When this feature is enforced, entering the invitation code is no longer sufficient to complete registration.

Authentication Workflow: After the end user enters the invitation code in FortiClient, they are prompted to provide their corporate credentials via a SAML SSO login.5 FortiSASE acts as the Service Provider (SP), while an external identity provider (IdP) such as Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, or FortiAuthenticator verifies the user's identity.

Security Benefit: This ensures that only authenticated users—not just anyone with a valid code—can successfully register an endpoint and receive the organization's security and VPN profiles. It prevents unauthorized "shadow" endpoints from joining the managed environment.

Incorrect Options:

Option A: Security posture tags are used after registration to determine if an endpoint is compliant (e.g., checking if an antivirus is active); they do not secure the registration process itself.

Option C and D: Device identification and application inventory are monitoring and visibility features that occur once the endpoint is already managed.

Refer to the exhibit. Based on the configuration shown in image_595357.jpg, FortiSASE will process sessions requiring FortiSandbox inspection in the following two ways:

A. Only endpoints assigned a profile for sandbox detection will be processed by the sandbox feature.

C. All files executed on a USB drive will be sent to FortiSandbox for analysis.

Answer: A, C

The provided exhibit displays an Endpoint Profile configuration specifically for the Sandbox module. This profile controls how the FortiClient agent on remote endpoints interacts with the integrated FortiSASE cloud sandbox engine.

Profile Assignment (A): In the FortiSASE architecture, security and endpoint settings are organized into profiles that must be explicitly assigned to users or user groups via endpoint policies. Consequently, the sandbox detection and remediation features are active only on those endpoints that have been assigned this specific endpoint profile. If an endpoint is not assigned a profile with sandbox enabled, it will not submit files for analysis.

Removable Media Analysis (C): Under the File Submission Options, the toggle for All Files Executed from Removable Media is enabled (shown in blue). Since USB drives are the most common form of removable media, this configuration ensures that any file executed from a USB drive is intercepted by FortiClient and submitted to the FortiSASE sandbox for behavioral analysis before being allowed to run, protecting the endpoint from offline-delivered threats.

Understanding Verdict Levels (B): The exhibit shows the Action is set to Quarantine and the Sandbox Detection Verdict Level is set to Medium. This configuration functions as a threshold; FortiClient will quarantine any file that receives a verdict of Medium or higher (including High and Malicious). Option B is incorrect because it claims only medium-level files are quarantined, which ignores the high-risk and malicious files that would also be blocked.

Sandbox Mode (D): The Sandbox Mode is clearly set to FortiSASE, which utilizes the built-in cloud-native sandbox. This contradicts Option D, which suggests the use of an on-premises or standalone sandbox appliance.

In the Fortinet SASE architecture, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) tags (which have been renamed to Security Posture Tags starting with FortiClient/EMS 7.4.0) play a critical role in continuous posture assessment. These tags are dynamic metadata assign8ed to an endpoint based on specific conditions or "tagging rules" defined in the FortiSASE Endpoint Management Service (EMS).

Posture Determination: The FortiClient agent, installed on the endpoint, monitors the device for various security attributes—such as whether an antivirus is running, the presence of specific registry keys, OS version, or the absence of critical vulnerabilities.

SIA (Secure Internet Access) Use Case: In SIA scenarios, FortiSASE uses these tags within security policies to control internet access. For example, a policy may allow full internet access only to endpoints tagged as "Compliant" while redirecting "Non-Compliant" devices to a restricted remediation portal.

SPA (Secure Private Access) Use Case: In SPA (specifically ZTNA Proxy mode), the tags are synchronized from FortiSASE to the corporate FortiGate (acting as the ZTNA Access Proxy).12 When a user attempts to access a private application, the FortiGate checks the endpoint's client certificate and its synchronized ZTNA tags.13 If the endpoint does not meet the required posture (e.g., it is missing a required "Domain-Joined" tag), access is denied at the session level.

According to the FortiSASE 25 Enterprise Administrator Study Guide, ZTNA tags are fundamental to the "Zero Trust" principle because they move beyond static identity (username/password) to verify the real-time security state of the device before granting access to either the internet or internal private resources.

To enable the Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) feature on FortiSASE, the administrative framework must be established outside of the local SASE instance within the broader FortiCloud ecosystem.

FortiCloud IAM Integration: The FortiSASE MSSP portal relies on FortiCloud Identity & Access Management (IAM) to define the scope of management for internal teams. Administrators do not create local "MSSP users" within the SASE portal itself; instead, they must use the FortiCloud IAM portal to assign specific Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to IAM users.

Permissions and Scope: These RBAC settings determine which customer tenants (Organizational Units or OUs) an MSSP administrator can view, configure, or monitor. Without the proper role assignment in the IAM portal, the MSSP portal and its multi-tenant viewing capabilities will not be accessible to the user, even if the account has the necessary licenses.

Hierarchical Management: Once RBAC is correctly assigned, the MSSP administrator can leverage the FortiCloud Organizations service to manage multiple customer accounts from a single pane of glass. This centralized approach ensures that security policies and configurations can be standardized across the entire customer base while maintaining strict data isolation between tenants.

According to the FortiSASE 25 Multitenant Deployment Guide, configuring the IAM portal is the primary prerequisite that grants an MSSP internal team the permissions necessary to perform operations on customer FortiSASE tenants.

In FortiSASE, the Software Installations page (located under Network > Managed Endpoints) provides a centralized view of all software inventory reported by the FortiClient agents. This feature is essential for administrators to maintain visibility into the environment and identify potentially unwanted applications (PUA) or unauthorized software installed on remote devices.

Software Inventory Reporting: FortiClient sends the endpoint's software inventory to FortiSASE upon initial registration and updates the portal whenever a change—such as an installation, update, or removal—occurs on the endpoint.

Available Information (Vendor): When viewing the global list of applications, the portal displays detailed metadata for each software entry. This includes the Vendor of the software and its specific version, allowing administrators to differentiate between reputable enterprise applications and suspicious third-party utilities.

Available Information (Endpoint Association): The interface includes an Endpoint Count field that indicates how many devices have a specific application installed. By selecting a specific application and using the View Endpoints action, the administrator can see a list of every individual endpoint where that software is currently active.

Incorrect Options: While license management is a general feature of the ecosystem, the Software Installations page itself does not track the license status of individual third-party applications (Option B). Similarly, while FortiSASE monitors traffic, the Software Installations inventory page does not report on the usage frequency (how often a user opens or uses the app) of the installed binaries (Option D).

By leveraging this inventory, administrators can proactively manage risk by identifying endpoints that possess high-risk software and taking remediation steps or applying ZTNA posture tags based on the presence of specific unauthorized software.

When providing Secure Private Access (SPA) to external contractors who may not be using managed corporate devices, FortiSASE offers specific methods to ensure security while maintaining ease of use.

Bookmark Portal (Clientless Access): For web-based resources like a web server, the recommended and most efficient method for contractors is to use the ZTNA portal (bookmark portal). This allows for clientless access, meaning the contractor does not need to install the FortiClient agent or any specific software on their personal machine.

Workflow: The administrator publishes the web server URL as a bookmark within the FortiSASE portal. Contractors simply log into the secure SASE web portal via their browser, authenticate, and click the bookmark to access the internal server.

Security Benefits: This method leverages the FortiSASE ZTNA access proxy to mediate the connection. It ensures that the contractor is authenticated and that the traffic is inspected without exposing the internal network directly to the contractor's device.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

Option A: TCP forwarding rules require the FortiClient agent to be installed and managed on the endpoint. Contractors often use unmanaged devices where installing agents is restricted or undesirable.

Option C: Updating a PAC (Proxy Auto-Configuration) file is part of a Secure Web Gateway (SWG) deployment for internet access, not for routing traffic to private internal web servers via an SPA hub.1

Option D: Manually updating DNS records on a contractor's endpoint is an unscalable, insecure, and administratively heavy task that does not provide the session-level security required by ZTNA.

In FortiSASE, the accuracy of application usage reports depends on two primary factors: the ability to identify the application (visibility) and the configuration to log that data (reporting).

Deep Inspection Requirement (D): Modern applications frequently use encryption (SSL/TLS) and dynamic ports. Without Deep Inspection (SSL decryption), the FortiSASE security engine cannot see the application payload and is limited to inspecting headers or SNI. This results in many applications being identified only by their generic protocol (e.g., "SSL" or "HTTPS") and subsequently appearing as Unknown in reports because the specific Layer 7 application signature cannot be matched.

Application Control Monitor Setting (B): Even when an application is correctly identified, it must be properly logged to appear accurately in the "Daily report for application usage". In the inline-CASB (Application Control) profile, categories are assigned actions such as "Allow", "Block", or "Monitor". If categories are set to "Allow" instead of Monitor, the traffic is permitted but granular session details—including the specific application category—may not be logged for reporting purposes, causing them to be grouped into an "Unknown" or "Uncategorized" bucket in high-level summaries.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

Option A: While certificate inspection provides more visibility than no inspection, it is still insufficient for many applications that require deep packet inspection for identification. Therefore, the lack of Deep inspection (Option D) is the more accurate technical explanation for "Unknown" results.

Option C: ZTNA tags are used for access control and posture-based policy enforcement; they do not impact the application identification engine's ability to categorize traffic flows.

According to the NSE7 SASE Enterprise Guide (Pages 46 & 61), deploying Secure Private Access (SPA) with SD-WAN provides advanced security and networking capabilities by routing traffic through global Points of Presence (PoPs).

Inline Security Inspection (D): A major advantage of this approach is that traffic is routed through FortiSASE PoPs before it reaches private applications. This enables inline security inspection, providing robust protection against threats by applying the full SASE security stack—including antivirus, intrusion prevention, and deep packet inspection—to private access traffic.

Support for TCP and UDP (B): Organizations with existing FortiGate SD-WAN deployments benefit from broader and seamless access to privately hosted applications. The SD-WAN SPA use case explicitly supports both TCP- and UDP-based applications, ensuring that legacy or specialized services that rely on UDP function correctly over the secure tunnel.

SD-WAN Optimization: This method leverages the benefits of SD-WAN to optimize traffic flow between the SASE PoP and the corporate SD-WAN hub or data center FortiGate. It is particularly useful for mission-critical applications that require an extra layer of security combined with path optimization.

Architecture: In this configuration, the FortiSASE Security PoPs act as spokes in the organization’s SD-WAN network, relying on IPsec VPN overlays and BGP for secure dynamic routing.

While ZTNA posture checks are a feature of the broader ecosystem, the NSE7 Guide specifically highlights inline inspection and application support (TCP/UDP) as primary advantages of the SD-WAN integrated SPA approach.

In a FortiSASE environment, log management is governed by a cloud-native storage policy that prioritizes performance and resource availability.

Retention Policy Framework: All FortiSASE instances come with log retention enabled by default. The standard log retention period is 30 days, though administrators can customize this policy to any duration between 2 and 30 days. This policy applies across all log types, including traffic, security, and event logs.

Automatic Deletion (A): When logs exceed the configured retention threshold, FortiSASE automatically deletes the older logs from the platform.2 This automatic purging is necessary to free up storage space on the cloud infrastructure and maintain compliance with the organization's data lifecycle settings.

Persistence and Recovery: Once logs are deleted due to the expiration of the retention period, they are generally unrecoverable from the FortiSASE platform.

Long-Term Storage Solutions: Because FortiSASE is not designed as a long-term archival solution, customers who need to store logs for months or years for regulatory compliance should configure log forwarding to an external server, such as a FortiAnalyzer or a remote Syslog server.

Analysis of Incorrect Options: * Option B and D: While traditional FortiAnalyzer deployments use SQL indexing and separate "Archive" (raw/compressed) vs. "Analytics" (SQL) tiers, FortiSASE uses a simplified cloud storage model where data is purged rather than archived or tier-shifted upon expiry.

Option C: While FortiSASE is part of the FortiCloud ecosystem, it does not automatically "back up" expired logs to another FortiCloud service; the deletion is final unless external forwarding is active.

Based on the settings shown in the provided exhibits, the vulnerability remediation workflow is determined by the Endpoint Profile and the Vulnerability Dashboard.

Endpoint Profile Evaluation: The top exhibit displays the Scan for Vulnerabilities settings. The toggle for Automatically patch vulnerabilities is explicitly set to Disabled. Consequently, the system will not perform automated remediation when a scan completes.

Manual Patching Requirement: The Vulnerability Dashboard (bottom exhibit) lists several application vulnerabilities with a Patching status of Manual patching required. In a FortiSASE environment, "Manual" indicates that the vulnerability cannot be handled by the client's autonomous update process and requires a direct instruction from the management plane.

Administrative Intervention: The dashboard includes a Patch endpoints action button. Since auto-patching is disabled in the profile, an administrator must manually select the vulnerabilities and click the "Patch endpoints" button to remotely trigger the patching sequence on the managed endpoints via the FortiSASE cloud service.

Workflow Logic: While FortiClient acts as the "conductor" on the local machine to facilitate the download and installation, the trigger for this specific scenario is the administrator's remote action within the portal. This differentiates it from Option D (which is disabled) and Option C (which would involve a user manually browsing a website outside the managed SASE workflow).

FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) offers two distinct architectural methods for connecting remote users to private applications: SD-WAN-based SPA and ZTNA-based SPA. Each utilizes a different traffic flow to balance security and performance requirements.

SD-WAN Private Access (Hub-and-Spoke): In this model, the FortiSASE Security Points of Presence (PoPs) act as spokes in a traditional hub-and-spoke VPN topology. When a remote user attempts to access a private network, the traffic is first steered to the closest FortiSASE PoP. The PoP then routes that traffic over a persistent IPsec tunnel to the corporate FortiGate hub (or SPA hub). This ensures that all traffic, regardless of protocol (TCP/UDP), can be inspected by the SASE security stack before entering the private network.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Unlike the SD-WAN approach, ZTNA is designed for a "shortest path" connection. While FortiSASE manages the endpoint's posture and issues certificates, the actual application traffic (the data plane) bypasses the FortiSASE PoP. Instead, the FortiClient agent on the endpoint establishes a direct HTTPS or TCP-forwarding connection to the ZTNA Access Proxy configured on the corporate FortiGate. This significantly reduces latency and is ideal for high-performance TCP-based applications.

According to the FortiSASE 25 Secure Internet Access Architecture Guide, "In FortiSASE, ZTNA refers to traffic that is destined directly to private resources using the FortiGate ZTNA access proxy traffic flow," whereas for SD-WAN SPA, the PoPs "rely on IPsec overlays... to secure and route traffic between PoPs and the networks behind an organization’s SD-WAN hubs."

Based on the provided exhibits and the logic of FortiSASE On/off-net detection, the endpoint's behavior is determined by its network environment relative to the configured rules.

Subnet Matching and Detection: The On-net rule set (named "On-Premises") is configured to identify a trusted location when the endpoint "Connects from a known local subnet". The administrator has defined the known subnet as $192.168.13.0/24$. Since the endpoint's IP address is $192.168.13.101$, it falls within this range. Consequently, FortiClient detects the endpoint as being on-net (on-fabric).

Action Logic (Exemption): In a FortiSASE Endpoint Profile, when On/off-net detection is enabled and an endpoint matches an "On-net" rule, the standard behavior is to exempt the endpoint from auto-connecting to the FortiSASE VPN tunnel. This design assumes the endpoint is already in a secured office environment where the corporate firewall (FortiGate) provides the necessary protection, making the SASE tunnel redundant.

Comparison of Other Options: * Option B: Incorrect, because the IP matches the defined "known local subnet" rule for on-net detection.

Option D: Incorrect, as auto-connect only triggers when the endpoint is detected as off-net to ensure remote security.