PCDRA practice examsIn development
Palo Alto Networks Certified Detection and Remediation Analyst
The analyst credential on Cortex XDR: endpoint, network, identity and cloud data analysed centrally, prevention layered from local analysis through technique-based exploit modules to behavioural protection, detection content from rules and behavioural indicators, and analytics needing a learned baseline; then incidents read through the causality chain that answers how an attack got in, response actions with isolation preserving platform access, hypothesis-led hunting converted into detection content, and exceptions scoped to an alert rather than disabling a module.
What you get
Papers are cut from the bank and weighted like the real exam, and no question appears in two of them. Every wrong answer comes back on later days until you have it right.
What the exam covers
| The platform, prevention and detection | Weightings change between exam versions |
| Investigation, response, hunting and administration | Weightings change between exam versions |
Two sample questions
1. Why should policy changes be restricted to a small group?
- The console cannot record who made each of the changes
- Changes cannot be reverted once applied
- Each change requires a new licence
- A careless exception removes protection everywhere — correct
Why: It is the same argument as restricting who may change a firewall rule.
2. What does behavioural analytics reduce reliance on?
- The agent under normal use
- The data lake
- Known signatures alone — correct
- The policy
Why: Analytics detect beyond known signatures.
The real PCDRA exam
| Length | 80 minutes |
|---|---|
| Questions | 60 to 75 |
| Pass mark | Scaled score published per exam version |
| Price | Purchased per attempt through Pearson VUE |
| Recommended before you sit it | None enforced. Familiarity with security operations and endpoint concepts is assumed. |
| Valid for | 2 years |
Exam facts as published by Palo Alto Networks; always check the vendor’s page before you book.
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