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Mastering Policy Flexibility: Understanding Configuration Scope in Strata Cloud Manager (SCM)
CyberSecurity Featured

Mastering Policy Flexibility: Understanding Configuration Scope in Strata Cloud Manager (SCM)

In today's dynamic security landscape, managing security policies across diverse environments – from physical firewalls in data centers to cloud-based instances and remote access users – demands a platform that offers both broad control and granular flexibility. Palo Alto Networks' Strata Cloud Manager (SCM) addresses this challenge with its
21 May 2025 4 min read
Unlocking the Power of Palo Alto Networks Cloud-Delivered Security Services
CyberSecurity

Unlocking the Power of Palo Alto Networks Cloud-Delivered Security Services

As cybersecurity threats become more advanced and pervasive, traditional on-premise defences are no longer sufficient. Organisations need scalable, intelligent, and adaptive security solutions that keep up with today’s dynamic threat landscape. This is where Palo Alto Networks Cloud-Delivered Security Services (CDSS) come into play. Whether you're securing
15 May 2025 3 min read
Strata Cloud Manager         
Device Onboarding
Palo Alto Networks

Strata Cloud Manager Device Onboarding

In my last blog, I discussed SCM licensing and accessing the SCM tenant. Now we have the basics under our belts, I'm going to talk about device associations using Common Services. But first, let me explain what Common Services is and how its used. Palo Alto Networks Common
08 May 2025 3 min read
Strata Cloud Manager Basics
Palo Alto Networks

Strata Cloud Manager Basics

In my previous blog, "Why should enterprises consider Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager?" I gave compelling reasons enterprises may want to adopt Palo Alto Networks' cloud-delivered unified management and operations platform. Before we get into the technical details, it's important to understand the licensing
08 May 2025 2 min read
Why should enterprises consider Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager?
CyberSecurity Featured

Why should enterprises consider Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager?

I’ve been working in the Network Security space for over 20 years now, and over that time I’ve worked with a plethora of different employers and customers, which means I’ve been exposed to a vast array of network security technologies. When I look back, I remember having
08 May 2025 3 min read
Lets Gophish
CyberSecurity

Lets Gophish

What Is Gophish? Gophish is a powerful, open-source phishing simulation tool that helps organisations strengthen their cybersecurity by testing how users respond to realistic phishing attacks. Designed to be user-friendly and highly customisable, Gophish is perfect for security teams looking to launch targeted phishing campaigns without relying on expensive commercial
06 May 2025 2 min read
What Is DNS Hijacking?
CyberSecurity

What Is DNS Hijacking?

DNS hijacking, sometimes called DNS redirection, is a sneaky type of cyberattack where hackers mess with the Domain Name System (DNS) to secretly redirect your internet traffic. Instead of taking you to the website you intended to visit, they send you to a malicious site—often one that looks legitimate
02 May 2025 2 min read
DNS Security
CyberSecurity Featured

DNS Security

Attackers continue to innovative their techniques to evade security. For example Strategically Aged Domains are domains that are registered in advance. The domains are reserved and left dormant for months or even years before using them for attacking campaigns to bypass security vendor reputation checks. Sometimes, it will take longer
02 May 2025 2 min read
DNS Tunneling: A Hidden Pathway for Cyber Threats
CyberSecurity Featured

DNS Tunneling: A Hidden Pathway for Cyber Threats

In the world of cybersecurity, attackers are always seeking creative ways to bypass traditional defenses. One such technique that often flies under the radar is DNS tunneling — a stealthy method of communication that leverages a fundamental part of the internet: the Domain Name System (DNS). While DNS is critical for
17 Apr 2025 2 min read
What is the OSI model?
Networking 101

What is the OSI model?

The Open Systems Interconnection model is a reference model that describes how applications interact with each other over a computer network. The OSI model has seven layers seen below. Physical Layer This is the lowest layer of the OSI model. This layer provides mechanical, and electrical functions by transmitting bits
31 Oct 2022 2 min read
Panorama Templates and Template Stacks
Palo Alto Networks

Panorama Templates and Template Stacks

Templates and Template Stacks are used to configure firewalls using Panorama so that they can function on the network.  If we look at the Panorama tabs, you can see that Templates encompass both the Network and Device tabs. The network tab is where we can define interfaces, Zones, Virtual Routers
04 Sep 2022 7 min read
How To Install Graylog On Ubuntu 20.04

How To Install Graylog On Ubuntu 20.04

Graylog [https://www.graylog.org/] is an open-source log management tool that helps you store and analyse machine logs centrally. Graylog set-up consists of three components Graylog server, Elasticsearch, and MongoDB. This is a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04, as I'm installing Graylog in a demo lab
04 Sep 2022 5 min read
Migrate a HA Pair of PAN-OS firewalls into Panorama
Palo Alto Networks

Migrate a HA Pair of PAN-OS firewalls into Panorama

When I deploy Panorama first time into the network, I always aim to have the least amount of local configuration on the firewalls as possible and allow Panorama to manage 99% of the configuration. However, in my lab, the firewalls do have some Security Policies and IPSec configuration which I
27 Apr 2022 4 min read
Panorama Best Practices Assessment.

Panorama Best Practices Assessment.

The Palo Alto Networks Best Practice Assessment (BPA) [https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/services/bpa] tool can be used to check the security posture of both Panorama and firewall deployments, by comparing the current configuration of the devices against the Palo Alto Network best practices.  The BPA can be re-run at
06 Apr 2022 4 min read
My unexpected TrueNAS Build
The Lab

My unexpected TrueNAS Build

Over the last few weeks, I've been doing some spring cleaning in my home network. Whilst poking around in my datastores of my two ESXi hosts it was evident I had a case of virtual machine sprawl. It was time to be a bit ruthless and delete the
28 Mar 2022 4 min read
Upgrading Panorama PAN-OS Software

Upgrading Panorama PAN-OS Software

Time to upgrade Panorama to a newer PAN-OS version! My EVE-NG lab Panorama has an internet connection that allows me to download software and content updates. And since I'm running in Panorama mode with an integrated log collector, I don't need to upgrade the log collector
28 Mar 2022 3 min read
Virtual Panorama Log Collector Setup

Virtual Panorama Log Collector Setup

At the heart of my EVE-NG lab, I have two virtual Panorama appliances deployed using a KVM image which I wrote about in my previous two blogs [https://www.mbtechtalker.com/tag/pan-os/]. I'm using the default Panorama mode, which operates as a management server with local log
25 Mar 2022 3 min read
Panorama Baseline Configuration
Palo Alto Networks

Panorama Baseline Configuration

Now that I have successfully deployed a Panorama KVM image in EVE-NG, I can now boot up the two Panorama virtual appliances and configure IP connectivity through the console so that each Panorama can be managed via the WebUI and SSH. The aim of this lab task is to have
18 Mar 2022 4 min read
A very flexible lab switch
The Lab

A very flexible lab switch

Due to the fact that my Cisco UCS M4 [https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c220-m4-rack-server/index.html] is such a beast of a server, it's mega loud! So I had no choice but to tuck it away in my workshop. I needed to come
05 Mar 2022 1 min read
How to enable VM Autostart on VMware ESXi 7.0
The Lab

How to enable VM Autostart on VMware ESXi 7.0

Now that my Cisco UCS labs server is purring away, I have been exploring ways to automate certain tasks, for instance, being able to power the server using Tapo P110 Wifi enabled power sockets [https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Tapo-Monitoring-Required-P110/dp/B097YBXHTW/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=126376539782&gclid=
03 Mar 2022 1 min read
How I remotely power on my lab server.
The Lab

How I remotely power on my lab server.

My Cisco UCS lab server is nicely tucked away in my workshop as it's super loud! I didn't want to have to keep going outside to power the server on and off, especially when it's cold and wet. I did some research on a
03 Mar 2022 2 min read
Deploying a Panorama KVM image to use with EVE-NG
Palo Alto Networks

Deploying a Panorama KVM image to use with EVE-NG

1. SSH to the EVE-NG server, create a new folder for the KVM image, mkdir /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/panorama-10.1.3 2. Copy the Panorama .qcow2 image to the /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/panorama-10.1.3 folder using FileZilla or WinSCP as an example. The folder must be named
25 Feb 2022 3 min read
IPSec VPN between a Palo Alto Networks  Firewall and a Cisco Router
Palo Alto Networks

IPSec VPN between a Palo Alto Networks Firewall and a Cisco Router

In my EVE-NG lab, I've configured static IPSec Site-to-Site VPN between a Palo Alto Networks VM-Series firewall running PAN-OS 9.1.12 and a Cisco IOSv router running the VIOS-ADVENTERPRISEK9-M 15.9 image. The PAN firewall has connectivity through the lab internet backbone to the Cisco router. Both
25 Feb 2022 5 min read
Deploying EVE-NG Pro on my Cisco UCS C240 lab server
The Lab

Deploying EVE-NG Pro on my Cisco UCS C240 lab server

Now that I have VMware ESXi installed on my Cisco UCS C240 [/cisco-ucs-esxi-usb/] lab server, I'm moving on to the fun stuff! So the first job I needed to do was install EVE-NG pro within ESXi 7.0, buy a license and fire it up and start building
24 Feb 2022 3 min read
Cisco UCS C240 M4 ESXi vSphere 7 USB Installation
The Lab

Cisco UCS C240 M4 ESXi vSphere 7 USB Installation

Yesterday I bought a VMUG advantage membership [https://www.vmug.com/membership/vmug-advantage-membership/] so that I can use the 365 day evaluation licenses. Next stop ESXi vSphere 7 USB Installation on my new UCS C240 M4 lab server. I downloaded the iso and fired up Rufus [https://rufus.ie/en/
01 Dec 2021 3 min read
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