Host-based Firewall

Correct Answer: Implement a centralized firewall management system.

The best solution is to implement a centralized firewall management system, which allows you to manage and enforce firewall configurations centrally. Manual configuration for each workstation is not effective and scalable, while relying on antivirus software, blocking internet access, disabling host-based firewalls, or asking employees to do it are not practical or do not comply with the organization's security policy.

Correct Answer: Review the firewall settings and fix the misconfiguration.

The best action to take is to review the firewall settings and fix the misconfiguration that is preventing access to the file server. Disabling the firewall, restarting the server, reinstalling the OS, installing a network-based firewall or changing the server's IP address without understanding the configuration issue may not resolve the problem and could even introduce new security risks.

Correct Answer: Apply a least-privilege approach with explicit allow and deny rules.

The recommended approach is to apply a least-privilege approach with explicit allow and deny rules. This strategy minimizes security risks, ensures that only authorized traffic is allowed, and reduces the chance of unwanted connections. Creating allow rules only for trusted websites, deny rules only for suspicious websites, or a blacklist approach are not comprehensive enough. Allowing all connections or creating a firewall exception for domain-joined workstations would introduce significant security risks.