hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
350-701 Practice Question: A Cisco WSA receives intermittent complaints that…
A Cisco WSA receives intermittent complaints that legitimate websites are being blocked. The access policy uses reputation scoring and URL filtering. The administrator checks the logs and finds that the blocked requests have a web reputation score of -2.0. What action should be taken to allow these legitimate sites while still blocking malicious ones?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the concept of policy evaluation order in WSA, where candidates mistakenly think adjusting the reputation threshold or disabling filtering is the correct fix, rather than using a higher-priority allow rule for trusted sites.
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
✓
Create a custom URL category for the legitimate sites and apply an allow action above the reputation policy.
Creating a custom URL category for the legitimate sites and placing an allow action above the reputation policy ensures that traffic matching that category bypasses the reputation scoring check. This allows the legitimate sites while the reputation policy continues to block malicious sites with scores below the threshold. In Cisco WSA, access policies are evaluated in order, so a higher-priority allow rule for trusted URLs overrides the lower-priority reputation-based block.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a custom URL category for the legitimate sites and apply an allow action above the reputation policy.
Why this is correct
Allow override bypasses reputation blocking for specific sites.
- ✗
Lower the reputation threshold to -1.0.
Why it's wrong here
Lower threshold means more strict blocking, would block more legitimate.
- ✗
Set the reputation action to 'Monitor' for suspicious scores.
Why it's wrong here
Monitor logs but may still block if policy action is block; and it would apply to all suspicious sites.
- ✗
Disable web reputation filtering for that policy.
Why it's wrong here
Too broad, removes protection.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 978 original 350-701 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 350-701 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 350-701 exam.