156-315.81.20 Threat Prevention and SandBlast Practice Question
An administrator notices that the Threat Extraction blade is converting incoming Microsoft Word documents into static PDF files, but users complain that embedded dynamic macros are completely missing from the converted documents. What is the cause of this behavior?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often think Threat Extraction preserves macros in a read-only state, overlooking the fact that the engine completely strips all active content and macros to guarantee file safety.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Threat Extraction permanently strips all active content, including macros, when rebuilding documents into safe formats.
Threat Extraction operates by removing active content such as macros, scripts, and embedded objects instantly to deliver a clean file while the full inspection happens. When converting files, active content elements are stripped out rather than preserved. This proactive approach prevents zero-day exploits safely without delaying initial user access, making it essential to understand for user expectation management.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Threat Extraction permanently strips all active content, including macros, when rebuilding documents into safe formats.
Why this is correct
Threat Extraction specifically reconstructs files by extracting safe text and formatting while stripping active content like macros and embedded scripts. This design ensures that malicious code cannot execute, which inherently removes user macros from the delivered safe documents.
- ✗
The Threat Emulation blade failed to sandbox the Word document, causing the macro engine to crash during conversion.
Why it's wrong here
Threat Emulation operates independently in parallel with Threat Extraction and does not perform document conversion or macro stripping directly. A sandbox crash would result in an emulation failure log rather than a successfully converted PDF missing macros.
- ✗
The Security Gateway lacks sufficient memory resources to process complex Visual Basic for Applications scripts during extraction.
Why it's wrong here
Memory constraints on the Security Gateway trigger resource-saving mechanisms or bypass rules rather than selectively stripping macros during a normal file conversion process. The removal of macros is an intentional security feature of the extraction process.
- ✗
Anti-Bot policy rules supersede Threat Prevention settings, causing active document elements to be blocked at the firewall layer.
Why it's wrong here
Threat Extraction deliberately strips active content such as macros when reconstructing documents as sanitised PDFs, so their absence is the intended behaviour, not an Anti-Bot override. The Anti-Bot explanation is tempting because that blade does block malicious traffic, and it would apply if the complaint concerned bot-related connections rather than document sanitisation.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Check Point exam blueprint
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