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Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Apprentice — Requirements & Free Practice

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Palo Alto Networks Certified Cybersecurity Apprentice

This certification validates foundational knowledge and understanding of computer networks, cloud-based computing, security operations, identity security, and cybersecurity principles.

Licensing authority: Palo Alto Networks

Initial by examination
Palo Alto Networks Cybersecurity Apprentice
Applicability
Current official page adopts the May 2026 full blueprint and links the September 2026 handbook and FAQ. These current requirements support October 27, 2026 applicability; no official initial effective date or target-exam retirement date is published in the retrieved materials, so date boundaries remain null. The three-month exclusion cutoff is January 27, 2027.
Appointments
New appointments are at Pearson VUE test centers, booked in advance or on the test day subject to available seats. Availability in the requested November 25, 2026-February 28, 2027 horizon is conditional on actual booking; no reserved seat or institution-arranged appointment is established.
Audience
Individuals entering or transitioning to cybersecurity, including high-school/university students and technical or non-technical professionals; student status is an audience example, not a school-arranged-only route.
Award
Pass the Apprentice examination with a valid score, accept the Candidate Agreement, meet applicable program requirements and receive confirmation after result verification/data forensics.
Examination Boundary
One current English Apprentice examination and its certification only. No additional named prerequisite examination, performance test or writing assessment is identified by the target program page, current datasheet or certification requirements reviewed. No comment by a community member is used to waive a prerequisite.
Minor Policy
Under-18 candidates need parent/guardian ID and recording consent at check-in and their own government ID, or student ID if they have no government-issued ID.
Preparation
Basic knowledge of networking; endpoint, cloud, operations and identity security; cybersecurity lifecycle, threats and prevention; and current/emerging trends is listed under Skills Required. Recommended Work Experience is None; entry-level. Courses are recommended as needed, not stated as mandatory training or a separate examination.
Renewal Boundary
This is initial certification only; two-year individual certification validity and higher-level renewal rules do not create extra initial examination leaves or an examination retirement date.

Palo Alto Networks Cybersecurity Apprentice

Provider
Pearson VUE
Format
Computer-based knowledge assessment with multiple choice, matching and ordering questions; new appointments at in-person Pearson VUE test centers.
Passing score
860 on a scale of 300 to 1000
Exam fee
$150; additional taxes and fees may apply and vary by country.
Examination outline
  • Cybersecurity (16%)
    • Identify and describe vulnerabilities and exploits
    • Identify and describe the stages of the cyber attack lifecycle
    • Identify and describe common attack types
    • Identify and describe common threat detection systems
    • Identify and describe threat prevention systems and practices
    • Explain the concept of Zero Trust
  • Network Fundamentals (16%)
    • Identify and describe types of area networks
    • Explain external (north-south) and internal (east-west) traffic flow patterns for environments
    • Explain the function of a default gateway
    • Explain the function of NAT, DNS, and DHCP
    • Explain routed protocols and routing protocols
    • Explain the TCP/IP model and the OSI model
    • Identify and describe devices that operate in Layer 1 through Layer 4 of the OSI model
  • Network Security (14%)
    • Identify and describe network segmentation methods
    • Explain the function of stateful firewalls and next-generation firewalls (NGFWs)
    • Explain the function of URL filtering, VPNs, and proxies
    • Identify and describe tunneling protocols
    • Explain the function of data loss prevention (DLP)
    • Explain the function of enterprise browsers
  • Endpoint Security (10%)
    • Identify and describe internet of things (IoT) devices and endpoints
    • Explain the objectives of endpoint security
    • Identify and describe endpoint security components
  • Cloud Security (13%)
    • Identify and describe the four cloud-computing deployment models
    • Identify and describe common cloud service models
    • Explain the cloud shared responsibility model
    • Define common cloud terms
    • Explain the cloud native security platform (CNSP)
    • Explain the function of continuous integration and continuous delivery / deployment (CI/CD)
  • Security Operations (13%)
    • Explain security operations functions
    • Identify methods to optimize security operations center (SOC) performance
    • Define common security operations terms
    • Explain the concepts of false positive alerts and false negative alerts
    • Explain the function of syslog
    • Explain security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) and security information and event management (SIEM)
    • Explain AI as it relates to alert analysis
  • Identity Security (18%)
    • Identify and describe identity and access management (IAM) components
    • Identify and describe privileged access management (PAM) components
    • Identify and describe public key infrastructure (PKI) components
    • Identify and describe the components of secrets management
Examination sources