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Question

Difficulty: MediumPatch and Configuration Management

An organization notices that several corporate laptops used by remote employees have failed to apply a critical operating system security patch dispatched by the patch management server. Investigation reveals that the employees continuously opted to defer the required system restart, causing their devices to fall out of compliance with the enterprise security configuration baseline. Which of the following technical controls would most effectively enforce compliance and ensure the required patch installation before granting endpoints access to internal network resources?

  1. Configure Network Access Control posture assessment policies to isolate non-compliant devices to a remediation network until the update is installed.Answer
  2. B
    Deploy a perimeter Web Application Firewall rule to inspect and block unauthorized traffic targeting the remote endpoints.
  3. C
    Revert the non-compliant endpoints to a pre-patch system restore point to eliminate pending restart requests.
  4. D
    Implement a deterrent security awareness campaign requesting users to restart their systems within 24 hours.

Answer

Configure Network Access Control posture assessment policies to isolate non-compliant devices to a remediation network until the update is installed.
Network Access Control (NAC) posture assessment performs pre-admission or continuous checks on connecting devices to verify compliance with configuration baselines (such as installed OS patches and updates). Devices failing posture checks are placed in a quarantined or remediation network segment where required updates can be completed before full network access is granted.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the security operational requirement
Identified the core requirement: enforcing patch compliance and reboot completion on non-compliant endpoints before allowing access to network resources.
Remote devices falling behind on security baselines create vulnerable entry points into the enterprise network.
2
Evaluate technical controls for posture evaluation and enforcement
Network Access Control (NAC) posture checking validates patch status, antivirus signatures, and configurations during host connection.
If an endpoint fails the health check (posture assessment), NAC can restrict access or place the device into a quarantined remediation VLAN where patches and restarts are executed automatically.
3
Distinguish between technical enforcement and administrative or misapplied controls
Select the NAC posture assessment control over WAF rules, system rollbacks, or administrative reminders.
NAC provides automated technical enforcement directly aligned with patch management and host configuration baseline compliance.

Key Concept

Endpoint Posture Assessment and Remediation via Network Access Control (NAC)
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Patch and Configuration Management

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