Check Point Certified Security Administrator (CCSA) Practice Exam

How do Static NAT and Hide NAT primarily differ in terms of connection permissions?

1. Static NAT only allows incoming connections.

2. Static NAT allows incoming and outgoing connections; Hide NAT only allows outgoing.

3. Static NAT only allows outgoing connections; Hide NAT allows incoming and outgoing.

4. Hide NAT only allows incoming connections.

The correct answer is: Static NAT allows incoming and outgoing connections; Hide NAT only allows outgoing.

Static NAT and Hide NAT differ primarily in the manner in which they handle connection permissions, particularly regarding the initiation of connections. Static NAT is designed to map an internal IP address to a specific external IP address, enabling users to host services that can accept incoming connections on that public IP. This means that both incoming and outgoing connections are permitted, as the mapping is fixed and allows for bi-directional traffic by virtue of the direct association between the internal and external addresses. On the other hand, Hide NAT (also known as Port Address Translation or PAT) allows multiple internal IP addresses to share a single external IP address. While it predominantly supports outgoing connections initiated by internal hosts to external destinations, the mechanism used does not inherently provide a straightforward way for external entities to establish incoming connections. The external IP does not have a static mapping for incoming traffic; rather, it relies on the return traffic of established outgoing connections. Therefore, the assertion that Static NAT allows both incoming and outgoing connections while Hide NAT primarily permits outgoing connections only correctly highlights the fundamental difference in connection permissions between these two NAT types.