300-710 SNCF Securing Networks with Cisco Firewalls Study Guide (eBook)

Anand Vemula (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
90 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-097251-4 (ISBN)

Infos

The Cisco 300-710 SNCF exam focuses on securing networks using Cisco Firepower devices and associated technologies. It covers the architecture, deployment, and management of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD), a unified firewall solution that integrates advanced threat protection features such as intrusion prevention, URL filtering, malware defense, and SSL decryption. The study guide details the deployment modes-routed and transparent-and explains inline and passive configurations to optimize network security without impacting performance.

Central to managing Firepower devices is the Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC), which provides centralized policy creation, device monitoring, logging, and reporting. The guide elaborates on policy management, including Access Control Policies, Intrusion Policies using Snort rules, File and Malware Policies leveraging Cisco AMP, and Network Analysis Policies. It also emphasizes SSL decryption for inspecting encrypted traffic, along with certificate management and troubleshooting.

Network Address Translation (NAT) concepts and configurations are explained, including manual and auto-NAT, identity NAT, and Twice NAT. Identity and network discovery policies integrate with Active Directory and Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) to enable user-based security enforcement.

The guide addresses Security Intelligence for real-time threat blocking using global and custom intelligence feeds and delves into VPN configuration for secure remote access and site-to-site connections.

Logging, monitoring, and troubleshooting techniques-including packet capture, traffic analysis, backup, and restore-are thoroughly covered to ensure administrators can maintain operational integrity. Overall, the guide prepares candidates for comprehensive understanding and practical skills to secure enterprise networks with Cisco Firepower solutions.

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Cisco Firepower Architecture

Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) is a unified software image that combines Cisco’s ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) firewall capabilities with the FirePOWER services, such as next-generation intrusion prevention system (NGIPS), advanced malware protection (AMP), and application visibility and control (AVC). This integration creates a robust platform that provides comprehensive network security.

The architecture of Cisco Firepower is designed around modular components to deliver multiple security functions in one device or virtual instance. Key components include:

1. FTD Software Image:
   FTD runs as a single software image that consolidates ASA and FirePOWER capabilities, simplifying management and deployment.
2. Security Intelligence (SI):
   SI feeds provide real-time threat information gathered from Cisco Talos intelligence and other sources. This enables dynamic blocking of malicious IPs and URLs.
3. Intrusion Prevention System (IPS):
   Powered by Snort rules, the IPS engine inspects traffic inline and can detect and prevent a variety of attacks by signature, anomaly, and behavior-based methods.
4. Advanced Malware Protection (AMP):
   AMP integrates with the Firepower platform to detect, block, and remediate malware threats using file reputation, sandboxing, and retrospective analysis.
5. Application Visibility and Control (AVC):
   AVC identifies and controls thousands of applications regardless of port or protocol, enabling granular policy enforcement.
6. URL Filtering:
   Integrated URL filtering categorizes web traffic and allows blocking or monitoring based on URL categories.
7. Management Options:
   Firepower devices are managed by Firepower Management Center (FMC), Firepower Device Manager (FDM), or Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO) in cloud deployments, depending on scale and complexity.

The modularity and integrated services allow Firepower to provide layered security inspection and enforcement from Layer 2 up to Layer 7.

Deployment Scenarios

Cisco Firepower Threat Defense supports flexible deployment options that cater to various network architectures and security requirements:

1. Routed Mode (Layer 3):
   In this mode, the FTD device acts as a traditional routed firewall. It routes traffic between different interfaces/subnets, performing stateful inspection and security policy enforcement at Layer 3 and above. This is the most common deployment mode for perimeter firewalls and segmentation firewalls.
2. Transparent Mode (Layer 2):
   Here, FTD acts like a Layer 2 bridge or bump-in-the-wire. It inspects traffic passing through without routing it, making it ideal for deployments where IP addressing cannot be changed or in network taps where routing is managed elsewhere. This mode is used for inline deployments without requiring IP address reconfiguration.
3. Inline Tap Mode:
   In this passive deployment, the device monitors traffic by tapping into a network segment and sends traffic copies to the Firepower device for analysis without actively blocking traffic. This mode is used primarily for intrusion detection system (IDS) capabilities and network visibility without affecting network flow.
4. Cluster and High Availability (HA):
   Firepower devices support Active/Standby HA for redundancy and Active/Active clustering for load balancing. HA ensures continuous protection with automatic failover in case of device or path failure. Clustering allows multiple devices to share traffic load while maintaining stateful inspection.
5. Virtual Deployments:
   Firepower Threat Defense is also available as a virtual appliance (FTDv) that runs on hypervisors such as VMware ESXi, KVM, and others. Virtual deployments enable cloud and data center security without dedicated physical hardware.
6. Cloud Managed Deployments:
   Cisco Defense Orchestrator allows managing Firepower devices deployed across multiple sites or cloud environments from a central cloud-based platform, streamlining policy consistency and device lifecycle.
7. VPN Gateway Deployment:
   FTD devices also act as VPN gateways for site-to-site or remote access VPNs, integrating secure tunneling alongside next-gen firewall capabilities.

The choice of deployment depends on network design, performance needs, existing infrastructure, and security goals.

Licensing and Smart Licensing

Cisco Firepower Threat Defense licensing follows Cisco’s Smart Licensing model, which is a cloud-based, flexible licensing mechanism that simplifies license management and compliance.

Types of Licenses for FTD:

1. Base License:
   The base license typically covers core firewall capabilities including stateful inspection and basic access control policies.
2. Threat License:
   Enables advanced security features like Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), Advanced Malware Protection (AMP), and URL Filtering. This is essential for leveraging Firepower’s next-gen capabilities.
3. VPN License:
   Required for site-to-site and remote access VPN functionalities on Firepower devices.
4. Other Add-ons:
   Depending on deployment, other licenses may be required for clustering, higher throughput, or specific hardware modules.

Smart Licensing:

• Overview:
  Smart Licensing eliminates traditional paper license keys and manual activation. Instead, devices register with Cisco’s Smart Software Manager (SSM) portal via the internet and report usage and compliance automatically.
• Benefits:

• Simplifies tracking and management of licenses across multiple devices and locations.
• Enables pooling of licenses for flexible usage.
• Allows real-time visibility into license consumption and alerts for compliance.
• Supports automated provisioning and easier upgrades.

• Registration:
  Firepower devices connect securely to the Cisco cloud to register licenses, report usage, and receive entitlements. Devices can be manually or automatically registered.
• Offline Licensing:
  For environments without internet access, offline licensing processes allow license requests and activations via Cisco’s portal and manual transfer.
• License Enforcement:
  Smart Licensing enforces compliance by limiting features if licenses expire or are removed, helping organizations stay within legal use.

Cisco Smart Licensing is part of Cisco’s broader move towards subscription-based, software-centric models.

Features of Firepower Threat Defense (FTD)

Cisco Firepower Threat Defense integrates multiple security technologies into a single platform to provide comprehensive threat protection:

1. Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW):
   FTD supports traditional firewall functions (stateful inspection, NAT, VPNs) along with next-generation capabilities like application awareness and control, identity-based access policies, and threat prevention.
2. Intrusion Prevention System (IPS):
   Powered by Snort, one of the industry’s leading open-source IDS/IPS engines, FTD’s IPS detects known and unknown threats through signature-based, behavioral, and anomaly detection. This allows inline blocking of sophisticated attacks and exploits.
3. Advanced Malware Protection (AMP):
   AMP for Networks integrates seamlessly with FTD, providing continuous analysis and retrospective detection of malware. It tracks file behavior over time, enabling detection even after initial delivery, and offers quarantine and remediation options.
4. Application Visibility and Control (AVC):
   FTD identifies thousands of applications regardless of port or protocol, enabling granular control. Policies can allow, block, or limit bandwidth per application category, user, or device.
5. URL Filtering:
   Integrated URL filtering categorizes web traffic into predefined categories (e.g., gambling, social media, malware sites). Administrators can create policies to block, allow, or monitor access based on URL categories or custom lists.
6. Identity-Based Policies:
   Integration with Active Directory, LDAP, and Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) allows policies based on user or group identity instead of just IP addresses, enabling user-centric security.
7. SSL/TLS Decryption:
   FTD supports SSL decryption for inbound and outbound traffic, enabling inspection of encrypted sessions for threats. This includes certificate management and policies to exclude sensitive traffic.
8. Flexible Management:

• Firepower Management Center (FMC) provides centralized policy, device, and event management with detailed reporting and forensics.
• Firepower Device Manager (FDM) offers local device-level management for smaller deployments or initial setup.
• Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO) supports cloud-based management of multiple devices.

1. High Availability and Scalability:
   FTD supports Active/Standby HA for failover and clustering for load sharing and scalability, ensuring reliability and consistent security.
2. VPN and Remote Access:
   FTD supports multiple VPN technologies including site-to-site IPsec VPN and remote access VPNs via AnyConnect, integrating secure connectivity with firewall and threat defense.
3. Comprehensive Logging and Reporting:
   FTD can log events locally or send them to FMC, syslog servers, or SIEM platforms, providing...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 4.6.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
• ISBN-10: 0-00-097251-7 / 0000972517
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-097251-4 / 9780000972514