Free Practice Questions for CheckPoint 156-590 Exam

Answer : B

The correct answer is B. snd. In Check Point performance architecture, SND means Secure Network Distributor. It is the CoreXL component that receives traffic from network interfaces, performs SecureXL acceleration where possible, and distributes non-accelerated traffic to CoreXL Firewall instances for deeper inspection. Check Point's Performance Tuning documentation describes CoreXL SND as responsible for processing incoming traffic, securely accelerating authorized packets when SecureXL is enabled, and distributing non-accelerated packets between Firewall kernel instances.

This explains why SND is the correct answer for SecureXL full acceleration. The accelerated path is handled before the traffic is passed into a full firewall inspection path. IRQ is an interrupt mechanism, not the logical acceleration component. A CPU core provides processing capacity, but it is not the named SecureXL acceleration component. The dynamic dispatcher is related to distributing traffic among CoreXL Firewall instances based on load; it is not where SecureXL full acceleration is performed. This distinction matters heavily in performance troubleshooting: high SND utilization, traffic falling to F2F, or excessive PXL/FWK handling can indicate that Threat Prevention inspection is preventing full acceleration. Reference topics: SecureXL, CoreXL SND, accelerated path, dynamic dispatcher, F2F/PXL performance analysis.

Answer : D

The correct answer is D. The Threat Prevention Policy is only applied after traffic is accepted by Access Control Policy. Threat Prevention is a follow-up inspection framework for traffic that has already passed the access decision. The Access Control policy determines whether a connection is allowed, rejected, or dropped. Only traffic that is allowed by Access Control can proceed into Threat Prevention evaluation for IPS, Anti-Bot, Anti-Virus, Threat Emulation, and related blades. Check Point's policy workflow separates Access Control and Threat Prevention, and the Threat Prevention guide describes the Threat Prevention rulebase as the policy used to activate needed protections and prevent attacks against accepted traffic flows.

Options B and C are incorrect because Threat Prevention does not resurrect or override a connection that Access Control has already dropped or rejected. The inspection chain is sequential from an enforcement perspective: blocked traffic does not continue to malware or IPS inspection as an accepted connection. Option A is also incorrect because a gateway is assigned policy through its policy package and Threat Prevention policy structure, not by stacking multiple independent Threat Prevention policies on the same target as competing enforcement policies. Reference topics: Threat Prevention Policy workflow, Access Control then Threat Prevention sequence, policy package enforcement, accepted-traffic inspection.

Answer : D

The correct answer is D. Communicate forensics data collected to Government Agencies. The Forensics tracking option exists to enrich Threat Prevention logs with deeper technical context for analysis and troubleshooting. Check Point documentation states that the Forensics option adds fields to Threat Prevention logs and that the additional information gives a deeper understanding of an attack. The Monitoring Threat Prevention guidance also explains that Advanced Forensics Details can include protocol-specific details for DNS, FTP, SMTP, HTTP, and HTTPS, and that this information is used by Check Point researchers to analyze attacks.

The purpose is security analysis, incident investigation, and support-quality evidence collection, not government reporting. Options A and B accurately describe the function of Forensics tracking. Option C reflects the broader idea that forensic and diagnostic details may include gateway-related technical data for Check Point analysis, depending on configuration and feature behavior. Option D is the false statement because Check Point Threat Prevention Forensics is not defined as a mechanism for transmitting collected forensic data to government agencies. In production, enabling Forensics should be treated as a deliberate logging and privacy decision because it may add protocol and transaction context to logs. Reference topics: Threat Prevention Track Options, Forensics tracking, Advanced Forensics Details, Logs & Monitor, attack analysis.

Answer : C

The correct answer is C. Install the Threat Prevention Policy. IPS Core Protections are part of the Threat Prevention policy domain, so changing them in SmartConsole is not enough by itself. The updated configuration must be compiled and installed to the relevant Security Gateways through the Threat Prevention Policy installation process. Check Point's IPS Protections documentation shows the workflow for editing core protections: go to Security Policies > Threat Prevention > Custom Policy Tools > IPS Protections, filter for Type Core, edit the required core protection settings, and then Install the Threat Prevention policy.

This directly eliminates the other options. The setting is not immediately active because gateways enforce installed policy, not merely edited management configuration. Install Database updates the management database but does not push enforcement logic to the Security Gateway. Install Access Control Policy applies firewall/access-layer logic, but IPS Core Protections belong to the Threat Prevention policy. In operational terms, this separation allows administrators to install Threat Prevention changes without necessarily reinstalling Access Control, reducing disruption and keeping blade changes scoped to the correct policy package. Reference topics: IPS Protections, Core IPS Protections, Custom Policy Tools, Threat Prevention Policy installation, enforcement lifecycle.

Answer : D

The correct answer is D. Ordered. Threat Prevention policy uses ordered policy layers. Check Point documentation states that you can create a Threat Prevention Rule Base with multiple Ordered Layers, and that Ordered Layers help organize the Rule Base according to organizational needs, such as services or networks. Each Policy Layer calculates its action separately from other layers, and when there is one layer in the policy package, the first matched rule is enforced.

This is a core certification distinction. Access Control can use ordered and inline layers, but Threat Prevention is treated as an ordered layer policy model. The policy evaluates rules in order and applies the appropriate Threat Prevention profile, blades, protection behavior, and tracking according to rule matching. Option C describes when Threat Prevention is applied in the traffic flow---after Access Control accepts the connection---but it does not answer the question about the layer type. Option A is incorrect because Threat Prevention is not both ordered and inline in this context. Option B is incorrect because inline layers are not the Threat Prevention layer type being tested here. Reference topics: Threat Prevention Policy Layers, Ordered Layers, first-match behavior, policy-layer calculation, Threat Prevention Rule Base.