Cisco CCNP Security Core (SCOR) 350-701Network SecurityHard

An organization is migrating its data center to a hybrid cloud environment. They need to ensure consistent security policies and visibility across both on-premises and cloud-based virtualized workloads. Traditional perimeter-based firewalls are proving inadequate for securing East-West traffic within the cloud. Which technology offers a centralized, programmable approach to enforce granular security policies across this hybrid infrastructure?

  1. AMultiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
  2. BNetwork Function Virtualization (NFV)
  3. CSoftware-Defined Networking (SDN)
  4. DContent Delivery Network (CDN)
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C. Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) provides a centralized, programmable control plane that decouples network control from forwarding functions. This allows for consistent and granular security policy enforcement across diverse, distributed environments like hybrid clouds, addressing the East-West traffic challenge.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. MPLS is a data-carrying mechanism for high-performance telecommunications networks, primarily used for efficient forwarding and traffic engineering, not for centralized security policy management.
  • B. NFV virtualizes network services but doesn't directly provide a centralized control plane for consistent security policy enforcement across hybrid environments.
  • D. A CDN primarily focuses on content delivery and caching to improve performance and availability, not on enforcing granular security policies for internal network traffic.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) for Security

SDN applies to security by providing a centralized, programmable control plane that enables dynamic, granular, and consistent security policy enforcement across diverse network environments, including hybrid clouds.

  • Decouples control plane from data plane.
  • Enables automation and orchestration of security policies.
  • Facilitates micro-segmentation and dynamic threat response.
  • Offers consistent policy across hybrid and multi-cloud.

Memory trick: SDN: software 'DEFINES' security in the cloud.

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