Explanation:

This question tests your understanding of FortiSASE initial provisioning requirements, specifically how many security Points of Presence must be configured during setup. Starting with FortiSASE 24.2, support was added for provisioning instances with fewer security PoPs, removing the previous restriction to select four security PoPs. The minimum requirement changed based on license type and version, making this a critical detail for the NSE7 exam.

✅ Correct Answer: D - 1
During initial provisioning, administrators can select fewer security sites than the maximum they are entitled to, and Comprehensive licenses are entitled to only 1 PoP. This flexibility allows organizations to start with minimal infrastructure and scale as needed. A single security PoP provides all necessary security services including firewall, secure web gateway, and threat intelligence for remote users to begin using FortiSASE immediately. One PoP is sufficient to get started with FortiSASE, providing the necessary security services and connectivity for users Fortinet. Organizations can add additional PoPs post-deployment for redundancy and geographic coverage.

❌ Incorrect Answer: A - 3
Three PoPs is not a FortiSASE requirement during initial provisioning. While having three locations might provide good geographic distribution, FortiSASE doesn't mandate this specific number. The platform is designed to be flexible, allowing administrators to provision based on their license entitlement and business needs rather than arbitrary fixed numbers. The confusion might arise from older deployment best practices, but the actual minimum requirement is one PoP, not three.

❌ Incorrect Answer: B - 4
Four PoPs was historically shown in older provisioning interfaces but has never been a mandatory minimum. The provisioning screen might display "0/4" during setup, indicating you can choose up to 4 PoPs, but this represents the maximum for certain license types, not the minimum required. Earlier FortiSASE versions encouraged selecting four locations for optimal coverage, but version 24.2 explicitly removed any such restriction, making it clear that four is not required.

❌ Incorrect Answer: C - 2
Two PoPs appears in documentation specifically for redundancy recommendations but is not the baseline provisioning requirement. Some older documentation stated that Standard and Advanced licenses should provision two to four data centers for redundancy purposes, but this was guidance rather than a hard requirement. The actual minimum you need to configure during provisioning is one PoP. Two PoPs would provide failover capability, but it's not mandatory to complete initial setup.

Explanation:

To enable secure internet access for FortiClient endpoints via FortiSASE, traffic is inspected and controlled using a Secure Web Gateway (SWG) policy. This policy enforces web filtering, malware inspection, and other security controls on internet-bound traffic before it exits to the public internet.

✅ Correct Answer:

D. Secure Web Gateway (SWG) policy
The Secure Web Gateway (SWG) policy in FortiSASE governs how internet-bound traffic from FortiClient endpoints is handled. It applies security services such as URL filtering, antivirus scanning, sandboxing, and application control to protect users accessing the internet. This policy is essential for enforcing secure internet access when endpoints are off the corporate network and routing traffic through FortiSASE’s cloud-delivered security stack.

❌ Incorrect Answers:

A. VPN policy
While a VPN policy defines how endpoints establish secure tunnels to FortiSASE or other gateways, it does not control or inspect internet-bound traffic. Its role is limited to tunnel establishment and routing, not content inspection or web security enforcement.

B. Thin edge policy
This is not a standard policy type in FortiSASE. Fortinet documentation does not reference “thin edge policy” as a valid configuration object for traffic control between FortiClient and FortiSASE, making this option invalid.

C. Private access policy
Private Access policies in FortiSASE are used to control access to internal private applications (e.g., SaaS or on-premises apps) via ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access). They do not apply to general internet traffic or secure web browsing scenarios.

Reference:
Fortinet official documentation - FortiSASE

Explanation:

When remote users connected to FortiSASE access internal resources on Branch-2, FortiSASE's SD-WAN capabilities evaluate hub priority settings shown in the exhibit. HUB-1 (Ashburn-Virginia-USA) has the highest priority (P1), while HUB-2 has lower priority (P2). FortiSASE selects the highest priority hub meeting SLA requirements to forward traffic through established connections to Branch-2.​

✅ Correct Answer: C
FortiSASE leverages SD-WAN intelligence to select HUB-1 due to its highest priority (P1) designation in the exhibit. The topology shows both HUB-1 and HUB-2 connected to Branch-2, but priority-based selection favors HUB-1 first. Traffic from remote users tunnels to the selected FortiSASE PoP, then forwards to HUB-1, which routes to Branch-2 via its established connection, optimizing path selection.​

❌ Incorrect answer: A
HUB-2 has lower priority (P2) compared to HUB-1 (P1) in the priority settings exhibit. FortiSASE SD-WAN follows strict priority ordering, selecting highest priority hubs first when SLA thresholds are met. Only if HUB-1 fails health checks would HUB-2 be considered, making this incorrect for primary traffic flow.​

❌ Incorrect answer: B
AD VPN (Auto-Discovery VPN) provides direct spoke-to-spoke connectivity between branches, not remote user-to-branch connectivity through FortiSASE. Remote users connect via FortiSASE clients/agents to PoPs first, then SD-WAN selects optimal hub paths. Direct Branch-2 routing bypasses FortiSASE hub architecture shown in topology.​

❌ Incorrect answer: D
Traffic doesn't route directly to Branch-2 from FortiSASE; it follows hub-based architecture where SD-WAN selects appropriate hubs first. AD VPN dynamic routes apply to branch-to-branch communication, not remote user access patterns through FortiSASE PoPs and priority-based hub selection.​

Reference:
Fortinet FortiSASE Documentation - Secure Private Access Hub Selection and SD-WAN Integration

Explanation:

Summary:
When only one user reports connectivity issues in FortiSASE while others are unaffected, the problem is likely endpoint-specific (e.g., local network, device performance, or last-mile to PoP). Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) provides targeted visibility into that single remote user's metrics—CPU, memory, bandwidth, RTT, packet loss, and end-to-end traces from device to PoP to SaaS—making it the ideal tool for quick, precise troubleshooting of isolated cases.

✅ Correct Answer: B. Digital experience monitoring (DEM) to evaluate the performance metrics of the remote computer.
FortiSASE's DEM is explicitly designed to help administrators troubleshoot remote user connectivity issues, especially isolated ones. With a DEM agent on the endpoint (via FortiClient), admins can view real-time device metrics (bandwidth, CPU, memory, disk usage) and run end-to-end traces showing latency, packet loss, and hop-by-hop performance from the user's device through the FortiSASE PoP to applications. This granular, per-user data quickly identifies if the issue is local (e.g., high resource usage) or network-related, without affecting or involving other users. (92 words – slightly over; can trim if needed)

❌ Incorrect answer: A. Mobile device management (MDM) service to troubleshoot the connectivity issue.
MDM in Fortinet ecosystems focuses on device enrollment, compliance enforcement, app management, and security policies for mobile fleets. It does not provide detailed real-time performance metrics, end-to-end network traces, or endpoint-to-PoP diagnostics needed for connectivity troubleshooting. Using MDM here would miss critical visibility into bandwidth, latency, or device resource issues causing the single-user problem.

❌ Incorrect answer: C. Forensics service to obtain detailed information about the user's remote computer performance.
FortiGuard Forensics Analysis is for investigating security incidents—malware detection, compromise evidence, and threat hunting on endpoints. It delivers post-incident reports (often taking days) focused on threats, not real-time or performance-based connectivity diagnostics like RTT, packet loss, or device metrics. It's overkill and mismatched for a routine, non-security-related connectivity complaint from one user.

❌ Incorrect answer: D. SOC-as-a-Service (SOCaaS) to get information about the user's remote computer.
SOCaaS provides 24/7 expert monitoring, threat detection, event correlation, and response—primarily for security operations and alerting on anomalies across the environment. It does not offer immediate, granular, endpoint-specific performance troubleshooting tools for connectivity (e.g., per-user traces or device metrics). Escalating an isolated connectivity issue to SOCaaS would be inefficient compared to using built-in DEM.

Reference:
Only official Fortinet sources:
🔹 FortiSASE Administration Guide → Digital Experience Monitoring section
🔹 FortiSASE Mature Administration Guide → Digital experience (diagnosing connectivity and network issues for remote users)

Explanation:

This question tests the fundamentals of how FortiSASE performs SSL deep inspection on encrypted traffic. The key concepts are certificate authority behavior, trust requirements on client endpoints, and the purpose of SSL inspection within the Fortinet SSE stack. To decrypt and inspect HTTPS traffic, FortiSASE must be trusted by endpoints as a certificate issuer so it can transparently re-sign server certificates.

✅ Correct Answer: D
FortiSASE performs SSL deep inspection by acting as a certificate authority (CA). It dynamically re-signs server certificates using a self-signed or internal CA certificate. For clients to trust these re-signed certificates and avoid browser warnings, the FortiSASE root CA certificate must be imported into client machines. This trust relationship is mandatory for decrypting, inspecting, and re-encrypting HTTPS traffic.

❌ Incorrect Answer: A
This option is incorrect because FortiSASE cannot inspect encrypted traffic using a third-party CA unless the root certificate is trusted by client devices. Additionally, SSL deep inspection in FortiSASE is not limited to web filtering and application control. It supports multiple security services, including antivirus, IPS, DLP, and file inspection, making this statement technically inaccurate.

❌ Incorrect Answer: B
FortiSASE cannot inspect SSL traffic without a certificate. Acting as a CA inherently requires a certificate to sign re-issued server certificates. Furthermore, SSL deep inspection is not related to split DNS or video filtering. Those functions operate independently of TLS decryption, making both parts of this statement incorrect.

❌ Incorrect Answer: C
This statement is incorrect because FortiSASE does not require an external CA to issue certificates to client machines. It can use its own internal or self-signed CA. Also, SSL deep inspection is not limited to antivirus and file filtering. It enables a full set of security inspections, including web filtering, IPS, and application control.

Reference
Fortinet FortiSASE Administration Guide – SSL Inspection
Fortinet FortiClient Administration Guide – Certificate Deployment
Fortinet Secure Web Gateway and SSL Deep Inspection Documentation

Explanation:

The Digital Experience Monitor (DEM) in FortiSASE is a visibility and diagnostics tool focused on measuring and reporting the real-world user experience when accessing applications, particularly SaaS, over the secure internet.

✅ Correct Answer:

C. It provides end-to-end network visibility from all the FortiSASE security PoPs to a specific SaaS application.
This is the core function of DEM. It proactively monitors and measures network performance metrics (like latency, jitter, packet loss) and web application performance from the perspective of FortiSASE's global Points of Presence (PoPs). This provides IT teams with an "outside-in" view of the end-to-end path between the SASE cloud and critical destinations (like Microsoft 365 or Salesforce), helping to isolate whether performance issues are within the corporate network, the internet, or the SaaS application itself.

❌ Incorrect Answers:

A. It monitors the FortiSASE POP health based on ping probes.
While DEM uses probes for measurements, its primary purpose is not internal PoP health monitoring for Fortinet's operations. PoP health is managed by Fortinet's infrastructure teams. DEM is a customer-facing tool designed to measure the experience from those PoPs to external applications, not the health of the PoPs themselves.

B. It is used for performing device compliance checks on endpoints.
Device compliance checks are a function of Endpoint Posture within Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) or specific NAC features. DEM is a monitoring and visibility tool, not an enforcement engine for checking device security state, OS version, or installed software against policy.

D. It gathers all the vulnerability information from all the FortiClient endpoints.
Vulnerability information is gathered by FortiClient's Vulnerability Scan feature and reported to the EMS (Endpoint Management Server) or, in the SASE context, to the cloud-based FortiClient Cloud Management. This data feeds into risk scoring and ZTNA tagging. DEM does not collect vulnerability data; it collects network and application performance telemetry.

Reference:
Fortinet Documentation Library: FortiSASE Administration Guide, specifically the section titled "Digital Experience Monitor (DEM)," which describes its function of monitoring application and network performance from FortiSASE PoPs to cloud and on-premises applications.

Explanation:

The exhibit compares two endpoints, WiMO-Pro and Win7-Pro, under the Managed Endpoints dashboard. FortiSASE uses Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) tagging rules to continuously monitor an endpoint's security posture. If an endpoint fails to meet predefined compliance criteria—such as exceeding a specific count of critical vulnerabilities—it is tagged as non-compliant. This change in posture triggers a policy block that prevents the device from accessing the internet through the FortiSASE gateway to protect the network from potential threats.

✅ Correct Answer:

Option D: Based on the dashboard data, Win7-Pro has accumulated a high number of vulnerabilities (176 total), specifically exceeding the organization's vulnerability detection threshold configured in the FortiSASE endpoint profile. When a device crosses this threshold, it is automatically assigned a "Non-Compliant" or "High Risk" ZTNA tag. Since the FortiSASE internet access policy is configured to only allow traffic from "Compliant" devices, Win7-Pro is denied access, whereas WiMO-Pro (with fewer vulnerabilities) remains below the threshold and maintains connectivity.

❌ Incorrect Answers:

Option A: While it is technically true that the device posture has changed, this is a broad description of the outcome rather than the specific root cause shown in the exhibit. In the context of the NSE7_SSE_AD-25 exam, the answer requires identifying the specific metric (vulnerability count) that caused the posture change. "Device posture" is the result; the "exceeded threshold" is the reason for that result.

Option B: The exhibit shows that the Win7-Pro endpoint is still "Managed," which implies it is successfully communicating with the FortiSASE management plane. If it could not reach the SSL VPN gateway at all, it would likely appear as "Offline" or "Unreachable" in the status column rather than simply having its traffic blocked by a security policy based on its current health status.

Option C: A version mismatch would typically prevent the endpoint from registering or connecting initially, or it would trigger a specific "Incompatible Version" status. The exhibit focuses on the security metrics of registered devices; if the FortiClient version were the issue, both devices (if running the same outdated version) or a specific version warning icon would be the primary focus of the visual data provided.

Reference:
Official Fortinet Documentation: FortiSASE - Monitoring Managed Endpoints
Official Fortinet Documentation: Endpoint Compliance with ZTNA Tags

Explanation:

This question evaluates your knowledge of FortiSASE secure private access deployment models and their suitability for specific use cases. Remote users need secure access to TCP-based applications hosted on private web servers Fortinet, requiring a solution that balances security with operational efficiency. Understanding the strengths of each deployment option helps you architect the right solution for remote workforce requirements.

✅ Correct Answer: C - Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) private access
ZTNA allows agent-based remote users to securely access private TCP-based applications, offering a direct (shortest) path to private resources and per-session user authentication thus offering greater performance and security. This approach eliminates network-level access by creating application-specific tunnels, meaning users only reach the specific TCP application they're authorized for, not the entire network. FortiClient managed by FortiSASE Endpoint Management Service discovers endpoint device information, logged-on user information, and security posture, requesting client certificates for identity verification. The FortiGate ZTNA access proxy verifies client certificates and enforces granular access control based on ZTNA tags, providing continuous trust verification throughout each session. This zero trust model is the most secure and efficient for day-to-day TCP application access.

❌ Incorrect Answer: A - SD-WAN private access
SD-WAN private access provides broader and seamless access to privately hosted TCP and UDP-based applications, but it's architecturally different from what the question requires. SD-WAN SPA is designed for organizations with existing FortiGate SD-WAN deployments who want to extend network connectivity to remote users through IPsec tunnels and BGP routing. This creates full network-level access rather than application-specific access, which violates zero trust principles and is less efficient for simple TCP application access. SD-WAN SPA excels when you need comprehensive network integration across multiple sites, not targeted access to a single private web server for remote users.

❌ Incorrect Answer: B - inline-CASB
Inline CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) is designed for monitoring and securing SaaS applications like Microsoft 365, Salesforce, or Google Workspace, not private on-premises web servers. CASB sits between users and cloud services to enforce data loss prevention policies, detect anomalies, and control shadow IT. The question asks about accessing a private TCP-based application, which is completely outside CASB's scope. CASB wouldn't even see traffic destined for private internal servers since it focuses on internet-bound traffic to sanctioned and unsanctioned cloud applications. Using CASB here demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology.

❌ Incorrect Answer: D - Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)
While NGFWs provide comprehensive security services like IPS, application control, and web filtering, they're not a deployment model for remote user access to private applications. An NGFW is a security device that inspects traffic but doesn't inherently provide remote access capabilities. You'd still need VPN or another remote access technology layered on top of the NGFW. The question specifically asks for the deployment use case, not the underlying security inspection technology. NGFW capabilities are embedded within both ZTNA and SD-WAN solutions, but NGFW alone doesn't answer how remote users efficiently and securely connect to private applications.

Explanation:

To block all video and audio applications while allowing exceptions—such as videos from CNN—an Exempt action must be configured in the Application Control profile with Inline-CASB. This ensures that the specific allowed traffic bypasses the broader block rule without disabling security inspection entirely.

✅ Correct Answer:

D. Exempt
In FortiSASE (and Fortinet’s broader security platform), the Exempt action in Application Control allows specific traffic to bypass application-based blocking rules while still being subject to other security policies (e.g., SWG, antivirus). When an organization blocks all video/audio applications but needs to permit CNN video content, configuring an override with the Exempt action for CNN’s domain or application ensures it is excluded from the block rule, maintaining both compliance and user productivity.

❌ Incorrect Answers:

A. Allow
The “Allow” action is not a standard application control override action in FortiSASE’s Inline-CASB context. While “allow” may appear in general firewall policies, it does not function as a precise override mechanism in Application Control profiles for granular exceptions like this scenario.

B. Pass
“Pass” typically implies that traffic is forwarded without deep inspection, which contradicts the goal of secure web access. In Application Control with Inline-CASB, “Pass” is not a valid override action and would not correctly integrate with URL- or domain-based exception logic for trusted sites like CNN.

C. Permit
“Permit” is not a recognized action in Fortinet’s Application Control policy configuration. Fortinet uses terms like “Block,” “Monitor,” and “Exempt” for application control actions; “Permit” is either ambiguous or incorrect in this context and does not align with official documentation.

Reference:
Fortinet official documentation - FortiSASE

Explanation:

In FortiSASE endpoint profiles, on-net detection identifies when an endpoint is inside the corporate network (e.g., via a known public IP from NAT). However, detection alone does not prevent auto-connect to the FortiSASE VPN tunnel. The explicit "Exempt endpoint from FortiSASE auto-connect when endpoint is on-net" toggle must be enabled in the profile's On/off-net Settings to suppress the tunnel when on-net is confirmed. If disabled, auto-connect continues regardless of detection, causing the reported issue despite correct IP matching and traffic confirmation.

✅ Correct Answer: C. Exempt endpoint from FortiSASE auto-connect is disabled when it should be enabled.
The root cause is that the "Exempt endpoint from FortiSASE auto-connect when endpoint is on-net" option is disabled in the profile. Official FortiSASE documentation requires explicitly enabling this toggle alongside on-net detection and rule set configuration. When enabled, FortiClient suppresses automatic tunnel initiation/maintenance upon matching an on-net condition (here, the company's public IP). Leaving it disabled means the on-net detection runs but has no impact on auto-connect behavior, allowing the VPN to connect even inside the corporate network. Enabling it resolves the problem by honoring the on-net status.

❌ Incorrect answer: A. The On-net rule set configuration is incorrect.
The rule set ("CERT-PUBLIC-IP") uses "Connects with a known public IP" and points to the company's public IP. The customer confirmed traffic exits with the correct IP, proving the detection condition triggers successfully. The issue is not in the rule logic or IP mismatch—it's that detection alone doesn't suppress auto-connect without the exemption enabled. This option is incorrect because the configuration matches official public-IP on-net examples.

❌ Incorrect answer: B. Allow local LAN access when endpoint is on-net is disabled when it should be enabled.
This toggle controls whether local LAN resources (e.g., printers, internal servers) remain accessible while the endpoint is on-net. It affects local breakout/split tunneling after connection but has no bearing on whether the FortiSASE VPN auto-connects in the first place. The problem is tunnel initiation, not post-connection LAN access, so this setting is unrelated to the auto-connect persistence.

❌ Incorrect answer: D. Is connected to a known DNS server should be enabled and configured.
This is an alternative on-net detection method (probing an internal DNS server). The customer chose and successfully uses the public IP method instead, with verification that the IP matches. Switching detection methods is unnecessary since the current one works correctly—the failure lies in not exempting auto-connect when on-net is detected. Official docs support multiple methods; public IP is valid here.

Reference:
Only official Fortinet sources:
FortiSASE Administration Guide → Profile / Connection tab sections
FortiSASE Administration Guide → Tunnel Settings and On/off-net detection
Fortinet Community Technical Tip: How to exempt endpoint from FortiSASE auto-connect when endpoint is on-net using Public IP

Explanation:

FortiSASE Secure Private Access (SPA) supports up to 12 service connections (SPA hubs) in enterprise deployments. This limit accommodates multiple branch offices, data centers, and cloud locations while maintaining optimal performance and management simplicity. The 12-hub limit balances redundancy, geographical distribution, and SD-WAN path selection capabilities.

✅ Correct Answer: B
FortiSASE SPA architecture supports exactly 12 service connections (hubs) per tenant, enabling connectivity to multiple enterprise locations. This capacity supports comprehensive hybrid work environments with branch offices, headquarters, and cloud workloads. Each hub requires individual SPA licensing and maintains IPSec tunnels to FortiSASE PoPs for secure private application access.

❌ Incorrect answer: A
8 hubs represent a legacy or limited deployment capacity, insufficient for large enterprises requiring extensive geographical coverage. Modern FortiSASE SPA deployments need capacity for 12 hubs to support diverse branch networks and high availability configurations across multiple regions.

❌ Incorrect answer: C
4 hubs provide minimal redundancy and coverage, suitable only for small organizations. Enterprise SPA deployments require significantly higher hub capacity to ensure business continuity, geographical diversity, and failover capabilities across distributed locations.

❌ Incorrect answer: D
16 exceeds FortiSASE SPA service connection limits. The platform caps at 12 hubs to maintain optimal SD-WAN performance, hub selection efficiency, and management scalability. Exceeding this limit requires multiple FortiSASE tenants or alternative architectural approaches.

Reference:
Fortinet FortiSASE Documentation - Secure Private Access Service Connection Limits

Explanation:

This question checks understanding of FortiSASE logging and identity visibility. The exhibit shows a user name displayed as a random hash-like value instead of a readable username. This behavior is tied to privacy controls in FortiSASE logging. To troubleshoot user activity, administrators must know when and why FortiSASE anonymizes user identities and how to disable that behavior when clear attribution is required.

✅ Correct Answer: A. Turn off log anonymization on FortiSASE
FortiSASE anonymizes user identities in logs when log anonymization is enabled, replacing usernames with hashed or random-looking values. This is done for privacy and compliance reasons. To display proper usernames in the User Connection Monitor, the administrator must disable log anonymization. Once disabled, FortiSASE logs and monitoring views will show actual authenticated user identities instead of obfuscated strings.

❌ Incorrect Answer: B. Add more endpoint licenses on FortiSASE
Endpoint licensing has no impact on how usernames are displayed in logs or monitoring dashboards. Even with insufficient licenses, FortiSASE would not replace usernames with random characters. Licensing affects connectivity and feature availability, not identity visibility. This option misunderstands the root cause, which is privacy configuration rather than capacity or entitlement.

❌ Incorrect Answer: C. Configure the username using FortiSASE naming convention
FortiSASE does not require a special naming convention to display usernames correctly. Usernames are learned directly from the authentication source such as SAML, LDAP, or VPN authentication. Random-looking usernames indicate anonymization, not misnaming. Changing naming conventions would not reverse hashing or obfuscation applied by FortiSASE logging policies.

❌ Incorrect Answer: D. Change the deployment type from SWG to VPN
Deployment type (SWG vs VPN) does not control whether usernames are anonymized in logs. Both deployment models use the same logging and privacy controls. The exhibit already shows a VPN authentication method, proving that VPN mode alone does not guarantee readable usernames. This option confuses access method with logging behavior.

Reference
Fortinet FortiSASE Administration Guide – Logging and Monitoring
Fortinet FortiSASE Privacy and Log Anonymization Documentation