200-201 Security Monitoring Practice Question
An IDS/IPS alert shows a signature named 'ET POLICY Outgoing HTTP Request with Suspicious User-Agent' with severity high. What is the most likely next step for an analyst?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between 'policy' and 'exploit' signatures, where candidates mistakenly treat a policy violation as an immediate threat and jump to blocking, rather than following the proper incident response process of investigation first.
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
✓
Investigate the source IP and user-agent for malicious activity
The 'ET POLICY Outgoing HTTP Request with Suspicious User-Agent' signature indicates a policy violation, not necessarily a confirmed attack. An analyst must first investigate the source IP and user-agent to determine if the traffic is malicious (e.g., command-and-control communication, data exfiltration) or benign (e.g., a legitimate application using a non-standard user-agent). Immediate blocking (Option A) could disrupt legitimate services, while ignoring the alert (Option D) risks missing a real threat.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Immediately block the source IP on the firewall
Why it's wrong here
Blocking without investigation could disrupt legitimate traffic.
- ✗
Reset the IDS/IPS signature database
Why it's wrong here
Resetting the database is not a response to an alert.
- ✓
Investigate the source IP and user-agent for malicious activity
Why this is correct
Investigating helps determine if the alert is a true positive.
- ✗
Ignore the alert as it is not a critical signature
Why it's wrong here
High severity alerts should be investigated.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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