Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Automation Engineer (PCSAE) Practice Exam

Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Automation Engineer (PCSAE) Practice Exam

The Palo Alto Networks Certified Security Automation Engineer (PCSAE) validates your knowledge and skills required to develop, analyze, and administer the Cortex XSOAR security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platform with native threat intelligence management (TIM). 

Who Should Take This Exam?

• Security Analysts: Automating repetitive tasks and enriching investigations with threat intelligence.
• Security Engineers: Building and implementing security automation playbooks within XSOAR.
• Security Orchestration and Automation (SOAR) Specialists: Specializing in XSOAR administration, customization, and integration.
• Incident Responders: Utilizing XSOAR to automate incident response workflows and improve response times.

Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites for taking the PCSAE exam. However, a strong foundation in the following areas is recommended:

• Understanding of Security Concepts: Familiarity with core security principles, network security concepts, and threat intelligence fundamentals.
• Basic Scripting Knowledge: Experience with scripting languages like Python or Bash can be helpful for customizing XSOAR playbooks.
• Palo Alto Networks Products (familiarity is a plus): Prior knowledge of Palo Alto Networks security products like firewalls can be beneficial, but not mandatory.

Roles and Responsibilities 

• Security Automation Engineers: Designing, developing, and maintaining security automation solutions using XSOAR.
• Security Operations Center (SOC) Analysts: Leveraging XSOAR automations to improve SOC efficiency.
• Security Architects: Integrating XSOAR into the overall security architecture for a holistic security posture.

Exam Details

• Format: Multiple-choice questions
• Delivery: Online proctored exam
• Duration: 70-80 Minutes
• Passing Score: around 65%
• Language: English

Course Outline 

Playbook Development

• Reference and manipulate context data to manage automation workflow
• Summarize inputs, outputs, and results for playbook tasks
• Configure Inputs and Outputs for Sub-playbooks Tasks
• Enable and Configure Looping on a Sub-playbook
• Differentiate among Playbook Task Types
• Manual
• Automated
• Conditional
• Data Collection
• Sub-Playbook
• Apply filters and transformers to manipulate data
• Apply the Playbook Debugger to Aid in Development Playbooks
• Summary of Key Ideas
• Incident Objects
• Configure Incident Types
• Identify the Role of an Incident Type within the Incident Lifecycle
• Configure an Incident Layout
• Fields and Buttons
• Tabs
• New/Edit and Close Forms
• Summarize the Function, Capabilities, and Purpose of Incident Fields
• Configure Classifier and Mappers
• Summary of Key Ideas

Automations, Integrations, and Related Concepts

• Define the Capabilities of Automation across XSOAR Functions
• Playbook Tasks
• War Room
• Layouts (Dynamic Sections, Buttons)
• Jobs
• Field Trigger Scripts
• Pre/Post-Processing
• Differentiate between Automations, Commands, and Scripts
• Interpret and Modify Automation Scripts
• Script Helper
• Script Settings
• Language Types
• Using Script to Create Widget for Dashboards
• Identify the Properties and Capabilities of the XSOAR Framework for Integration
• Configure and Manage Integration Instances
• Summary of Key Ideas

Content Management and Solution Architecture

• Apply Marketplace Concepts for the Management of Content
• Searching in Marketplace
• Installation and Updates
• Dependencies
• Version History
• Partner-supported Versus XSOAR-supported
• Submitting Content to the Marketplace
• Apply General Content Customization and Management Concepts
• Custom versus System Content
• Duplicating Content
• Importing/Exporting Custom Content
• Version Control
• Manage Local Changes in a Remote Repository (dev-prod) Configuration
• Describe the Components of the XSOAR System Architecture
• System Hardware Requirements
• Remote Repositories (dev-prod)
• Engines
• Multi Tenancy
• Elasticsearch/HA
• Docker
• Describe the Incident Lifecycle within XSOAR
• Define the Capabilities of RBAC
• Page Access
• Integration Permissions
• Incident Tabs (Layout Specification)
• Automation Permissions
• Incident Viewing Permission by Role
• Identify the Troubleshooting Tools Available to Obtain More Diagnostic Information
• Log Bundles
• Integration Testing
• Identify Options Available for Performance Tuning
• Ignore Output
• Quiet Mode
• Monitor System Health using the System Diagnostic Page

UI Workflow, Dashboards, and Reports

• Identify Methods for Querying Data
• Indicators
• Incidents
• Dashboards
• Global Search
• Summarize the Workflow Elements used during an Investigation
• Layouts
• War Room
• Work Plan
• Evidence Board
• Actions Menu
• Interact with Layouts for Incident Management
• Sections
• Fields
• Buttons
• Summarize Tools used for Managing Incidents
• Bulk Incident Actions
• Table View versus Summary View
• Table Settings
• Identify the Capabilities of Existing Dashboards and Reports
• Summarize what Information can be Created, Edited, or Shared within Dashboards and Reports
• Summarize the Capabilities of the Widget Builder

Threat Intel Management

• Identify the Parameters Available for Configuring Indicator Objects
• Layouts and Types
• Reputation Scripts and Command
• Expiration
• Generate Threat Intel Reports
• Describe the Features of the Threat Intel Page
• Unit 42 Intel Feature
• XSOAR Indicators
• Export/Import Capabilities
• Configure Threat Intel Feed Integrations
• Identify the Options Available to Auto Extract
• Exclusion List
• Playbook Auto Extract
• Regex for Auto Extract
• System Defaults
• Extraction Settings for Incident Types