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200-201 Practice Question: A security policy requires that all email…
A security policy requires that all email attachments be scanned for malware. An employee receives a legitimate PDF from a customer that is flagged as malicious. What should the analyst do first?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the principle of 'verify before acting' in security operations, and the trap here is that candidates may jump to quarantine or escalate based on the alert, forgetting that the first step in handling a potential false positive is to confirm the file's legitimacy with the sender.
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
✓
Contact the customer to verify the file is intended.
The first step when a legitimate-seeming email attachment is flagged as malicious is to verify its authenticity with the sender. This aligns with the security policy's requirement to scan attachments while avoiding unnecessary disruption to business operations. Contacting the customer confirms whether the file was intentionally sent and is safe, allowing the analyst to make an informed decision before taking further action.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Allow the email through since it's from a known sender.
Why it's wrong here
Violates security policy.
- ✓
Contact the customer to verify the file is intended.
Why this is correct
Verification with sender is the appropriate first step.
- ✗
Quarantine the email and delete the attachment.
Why it's wrong here
Premature without verification.
- ✗
Escalate to the incident response team.
Why it's wrong here
Premature escalation before verifying.
- ✗
Update the antivirus signatures and rescan.
Why it's wrong here
This may be done after verification, not first.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-201 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 200-201 exam.