A security administrator is investigating a potential malware outbreak on the internal network protected by a Palo Alto Networks PA-Series firewall. They need to identify which users are accessing specific malicious URLs or downloading suspicious files. Which log types generated by the firewall are MOST relevant for this investigation, providing visibility into user activity, applications, and detected threats? (Select all that apply)
Correct Answer: A,B,C
Investigating user activity, application usage, and detected threats relies on specific firewall log types: - Option A (Correct): Traffic logs record details about every session flowing through the firewall that matches a logging-enabled security policy rule. They include source/destination IP/port, zones, application ID, user ID, action (allow/deny/drop), and session duration. This is fundamental for seeing who accessed what application. - Option B (Correct): Threat logs record all detected security threats, including malware, exploits, spyware, and command-and-control activity, based on the applied Threat Prevention, Antivirus, and WildFire profiles. These logs directly indicate malicious activity. - Option C (Correct): URL Filtering logs record details about URL access attempts, including the requested URL, the URL category, the configured action (allow/block/alert), the source user, and the destination IP. This is essential for tracking user access to specific websites, including known malicious ones. - Option D (Incorrect): Configuration logs track changes made to the firewall's configuration, which is not relevant for investigating traffic-related security incidents. - Option E (Incorrect): System logs record events related to the firewall's operation (e.g., interface status changes, daemon restarts, resource utilization) but not the details of user traffic or detected threats within those flows.