Fortinet Updated NSE7_SSE_AD-25 Exam Questions and Answers by mikhail

In FortiSASE, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) tags—also known as security posture tags—are used to dynamically grant or deny access based on the real-time security state of an endpoint. This mechanism ensures that only devices meeting specific compliance requirements can access protected resources or the internet.

Endpoint Analysis: The Managed Endpoints exhibit shows that while Jumpbox only has the FortiSASE-Compliant tag, the Windows-AD endpoint has been assigned both FortiSASE-Compliant and FortiSASE-Non-Compliant tags. This indicates that a security posture check on the Windows-AD device has failed, triggering a rule that applies the non-compliant tag.

Policy Evaluation: The Secure Internet Access Policy table shows two custom policies. The first policy, named Non-compliant, uses the FortiSASE-Non-Compliant tag as its source and has the action set to Deny. The second policy, Web Traffic, allows access for FortiSASE-Compliant users.

Root Cause of Outage: Because FortiSASE (powered by FortiOS) processes security policies in a top-down sequence, the "Non-compliant" policy is evaluated first. Since Windows-AD matches the source criteria for this "Deny" policy, its traffic is blocked before it can reach the "Accept" policy.

Although the exhibit shows a warning icon for the FortiClient version on Windows-AD, the direct cause of the internet outage is the explicit Deny policy triggered by the change in the device's security posture (the application of the Non-Compliant tag).

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.

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.

The core of the issue shown in the exhibits is the lack of visibility into encrypted traffic.

HTTPS Encryption: The eicar.org website uses the HTTPS protocol for its downloads. This means the data payload, including the test malware file, is encrypted as it traverses the network.

SSL Inspection Modes: As seen in the Security profile group exhibit (image_5705fc.jpg), the SSL inspection mode is explicitly set to Certificate inspection mode.

Visibility Gap: Certificate inspection only analyzes the initial SSL handshake, such as the server certificate and SNI (Server Name Indication). It does not decrypt the traffic payload. Consequently, the antivirus engine in FortiSASE cannot "see" or scan the eicar.com-zip file hidden within the encrypted session.

Resolution Requirement: To detect and block malicious files over HTTPS, SSL Deep Inspection must be enabled. Deep inspection allows FortiSASE to act as a proxy, decrypting the traffic for full content scanning by the antivirus and IPS engines before re-encrypting it for the endpoint.

Log Analysis: While the web filtering logs (image_5704e5.jpg) show the traffic is "Allowed" because the URL is not blocked by a web filter category, this is only the first step of inspection. The antivirus engine is present but ineffective because it is blind to the encrypted content due to the lack of deep inspection.