NSE7_SSE_AD-25 Questions and Answers

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.

Based on the detailed analysis of the provided exhibits (image_65feb6.jpg), the connectivity failure is caused by a mismatch in the Hub firewall policy configuration.

Endpoint Analysis: The Network Diagram shows the FortiClient endpoint has an IP address of 100.65.80.2/20 and currently carries the FortiSASE-Compliant ZTNA tag.

FortiSASE Policy Validation: The Private access policy on FortiSASE shows an "Accept" rule for traffic originating from "FortiSASE-Compliant" sources destined for "All Private Access Traffic". This confirms the traffic is successfully leaving the FortiSASE PoP.

Routing Validation: The Learned BGP Routes on FortiSASE table shows the prefix 10.160.160.0/24 (the Server subnet) is correctly received via Next Hop 10.11.11.1. Routing is correctly established.

Hub Firewall Policy Error: Examining the Hub firewall policy (edit 7), the srcaddr is set to "SASE_Remote_Access". Looking at the address object definition for "SASE_Remote_Access," it is configured with the subnet 10.11.11.0 255.255.255.0.

The Conflict: The FortiClient's actual IP address (100.65.80.2) does not fall within the 10.11.11.0/24 range defined in the policy's source address. On a FortiGate hub, for traffic to be permitted through the tunnel to the internal server, the firewall policy must include the specific subnet assigned to the remote clients, not just the tunnel interface subnet. Because the FortiClient address range is missing from the hub's policy, the traffic is dropped at the hub.

The Digital Experience Monitor (DEM) feature in FortiSASE is a specialized monitoring tool integrated into the SASE cloud to ensure optimal application performance and user satisfaction.2

Purpose and Visibility: DEM is designed to provide end-to-end network visibility by monitoring the health and performance of the connections between the global FortiSASE security Points of Presence (PoPs) and specific SaaS applications (such as Microsoft 365, WebEx, or Dropbox).

Performance Metrics: It identifies and helps troubleshoot issues related to latency, jitter, and packet loss. By leveraging vantage points within the SASE infrastructure, administrators can determine if a performance bottleneck resides within the local network, the SASE backbone, or the SaaS provider's environment.

Integration: This feature is often powered by FortiMonitor, allowing for synthetic transaction monitoring (STM) to simulate user interactions and proactively spot performance issues before they impact the hybrid workforce.

Operational Efficiency: By providing comprehensive insights across users and PoPs, DEM reduces the time required to resolve "slowness" complaints, which are common in remote work scenarios.

Comparison of Other Features:

Option A: While FortiSASE monitors PoP health, DEM's primary value is the end-to-end path to the application.

Option B: Compliance checks are a function of Endpoint Profiles and ZTNA tagging rules, not the monitoring dashboard.

Option D: Vulnerability management is handled by the Vulnerability Scan feature within the managed FortiClient settings.

The unified FortiClient component of FortiSASE facilitates the always-on security measure required for ensuring that all remote user endpoints are always connected and protected.

Unified FortiClient:

FortiClient is a comprehensive endpoint security solution that integrates with FortiSASE to provide continuous protection for remote user endpoints.

It ensures that endpoints are always connected to the FortiSASE infrastructure, even when users are off the corporate network.

Always-On Security:

The unified FortiClient maintains a persistent connection to FortiSASE, enforcing security policies and protecting endpoints against threats at all times.

This ensures compliance with the cybersecurity policy requiring constant connectivity and protection for remote users.

The reason for the ping failures is due to the quick mode selectors restricting the subnet. Quick mode selectors define the IP ranges and protocols that are allowed through the VPN tunnel, and if they are not configured correctly, traffic to certain subnets can be blocked.

Quick Mode Selectors:

Quick mode selectors specify the source and destination subnets that are allowed to communicate through the VPN tunnel.

If the selectors do not include the subnet of the webserver (192.168.10.0/24), then the traffic will be restricted, and the ping will fail.

Diagnostic Output:

The diagnostic output shows the VPN configuration details, but it is important to check the quick mode selectors to ensure that the necessary subnets are included.

If the quick mode selectors are too restrictive, they will prevent traffic to and from the specified subnets.

Configuration Check:

Verify the quick mode selectors on both the FortiSASE and FortiGate hub to ensure they match and include the subnet of the webserver.

Adjust the selectors to allow the necessary subnets for successful communication.

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.

FortiSASE hides user information when viewing and analyzing logs by hashing data using salt. This approach ensures that sensitive user information is obfuscated, enhancing privacy and security.

Hashing Data with Salt:

Hashing data involves converting it into a fixed-size string of characters, which is typically a hash value.

Salting adds random data to the input of the hash function, ensuring that even identical inputs produce different hash values.

This method provides enhanced security by making it more difficult to reverse-engineer the original data from the hash value.

Security and Privacy:

Using salted hashes ensures that user information remains secure and private when stored or analyzed in logs.

This technique is widely used in security systems to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access.

FortiSASE supports zero trust network access (ZTNA) principles by identifying attributes on the endpoint for security posture checks. ZTNA principles require continuous verification of user and device credentials, as well as their security posture, before granting access to network resources.

Security Posture Check:

FortiSASE can evaluate the security posture of endpoints by checking for compliance with security policies, such as antivirus status, patch levels, and configuration settings.

This ensures that only compliant and secure devices are granted access to the network.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA):

ZTNA is based on the principle of "never trust, always verify," which requires continuous assessment of user and device trustworthiness.

FortiSASE plays a crucial role in implementing ZTNA by performing these security posture checks and enforcing access control policies.

FortiSASE brings the following advantages to businesses with multiple branch offices:

Centralized Management for Simplified Administration:

FortiSASE provides a centralized management platform that allows administrators to manage security policies, configurations, and monitoring from a single interface.

This simplifies the administration and reduces the complexity of managing multiple branch offices.

Eliminates the Need for On-Premises Firewalls:

FortiSASE enables secure access to the internet and cloud applications without requiring dedicated on-premises firewalls at each branch office.

This reduces hardware costs and simplifies network architecture, as security functions are handled by the cloud-based FortiSASE solution.

To enable remote users to access internal applications located behind an existing FortiGate SD-WAN hub, the customer must license the FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) add-on.

Secure Private Access (SPA) Use Case: This specific add-on is designed to extend the Fortinet Security Fabric into the SASE cloud, allowing for a hub-and-spoke architecture where the FortiSASE PoPs act as spokes and the customer's on-premises FortiGate acts as the hub.

Licensing Requirements: The SPA add-on is a per-hub (per service connection) license. It provides the necessary entitlements to establish IPsec tunnels and BGP peering between the SASE infrastructure and the corporate FortiGate.

Feature Enablement: Once the SPA license is applied, the Configuration > Private Access menu becomes available in the FortiSASE portal. This allows administrators to define "Service Connections" to their private data centers or cloud VPCs.

Analysis of Other Options:

Option A: The Global add-on is typically related to expanding the geographic reach or performance of the SASE PoPs, not specifically for private resource routing.

Option B: The Branch On-Ramp refers to connecting physical office locations (Thin Edge) to SASE, rather than the specific licensing for private application access for remote users.

Option D: Dedicated Public IP Address is used for source IP anchoring (SIA) to ensure remote users egress with a consistent IP for third-party SaaS IP-whitelisting.

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.

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.

The Secure Web Gateway (SWG) policy is used to control traffic between the FortiClient endpoint and FortiSASE for secure internet access. SWG provides comprehensive web security by enforcing policies that manage and monitor user access to the internet.

Secure Web Gateway (SWG) Policy:

SWG policies are designed to protect users from web-based threats and enforce acceptable use policies.

These policies control and monitor user traffic to and from the internet, ensuring that security protocols are followed.

Traffic Control:

The SWG policy intercepts all web traffic, inspects it, and applies security rules before allowing or blocking access.

This policy type is crucial for providing secure internet access to users connecting through FortiSASE.

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.

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.

To configure a Secure Private Access (SPA) solution to share endpoint information between FortiSASE and a corporate FortiGate, you need to take the following steps:

Add the FortiGate IP address in the secure private access configuration on FortiSASE:

This step allows FortiSASE to recognize and establish a connection with the corporate FortiGate.

Use the FortiClient EMS cloud connector on the corporate FortiGate to connect to FortiSASE:

The EMS (Endpoint Management Server) cloud connector facilitates the integration between FortiClient endpoints and FortiSASE, enabling seamless sharing of endpoint information.

Register FortiGate and FortiSASE under the same FortiCloud account:

By registering both FortiGate and FortiSASE under the same FortiCloud account, you ensure centralized management and synchronization of configurations and policies.

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.

To implement Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) where a FortiGate hub enforces device posture and processes traffic directly, specific architectural and configuration steps are required on the FortiGate appliance.

ZTNA Access Proxy (B): The FortiGate must be configured as a ZTNA access proxy. In this role, the FortiGate acts as a secure gateway that mediates connections between remote users and internal applications. This setup ensures that all TCP traffic is intercepted and processed by the FortiGate, providing a direct, shortest-path connection that bypasses the FortiSASE cloud PoPs for the data plane.

ZTNA Servers and Policies (C): Within the FortiGate configuration, administrators must define ZTNA servers (which identify the protected applications or resources) and ZTNA policies. ZTNA policies are the enforcement rules that check for valid client certificates and specific ZTNA tags (synchronized from FortiSASE) before allowing access to a resource. This configuration allows the FortiGate to perform continuous posture checks on every session.

Posture Check Mechanism: While ZTNA tags are used, they are generally synchronized from the FortiSASE Endpoint Management Service (EMS) rather than manually configured on the FortiGate itself. This synchronization ensures the FortiGate has real-time visibility into the security posture (e.g., AV compliance, OS version) of the endpoints as reported by FortiClient.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

Option A: Creating ZTNA tags manually on a FortiGate is technically possible but is not the recommended "setup" in a FortiSASE deployment, as tags are meant to be dynamically assigned by EMS and synced to the fabric.

Option D: "Private access policies on FortiSASE" refers to the SD-WAN Secure Private Access (SPA) use case. In the SD-WAN SPA model, traffic is steered through the FortiSASE PoP first, whereas the requirement specifically asks for TCP traffic to be processed by the FortiGate using ZTNA.

In the context of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), security posture tagging is the fundamental mechanism used to enforce compliance and security standards before granting access to protected resources.

Granular Access Control: The primary purpose of tagging is to provide granular access control.3 Instead of relying solely on static credentials, ZTNA uses these dynamic tags to determine if a device or user meets specific security requirements at the moment of the connection request.

Compliance-Based Enforcement: Tags are assigned based on the compliance status of the endpoint. For example, the FortiSASE Endpoint Management Service (EMS) can verify if a device has an active antivirus, is running a specific OS version, or is joined to the corporate domain.5 If the device fails any of these checks, the "Compliant" tag is removed, and access is automatically revoked.

Dynamic and Continuous Assessment: Unlike traditional VPNs that check posture only at login, ZTNA posture tagging allows for continuous assessment. If a device's security posture changes—for instance, if the user disables their firewall—the tag is updated in real-time across the Security Fabric, and the ZTNA policy will immediately deny further access.8

Integration with Policies: On the FortiGate (acting as a ZTNA proxy) or within FortiSASE, these tags are used as source criteria in ZTNA policies.9 Only traffic originating from endpoints with the required tags (e.g., "EMS-Tag: Corporate-Managed") is permitted to reach the protected application.