The correct actions are to tune the signature parameters and create a whitelist for known benign traffic. Tuning involves adjusting thresholds or sensitivity levels within the signature itself, which directly reduces false positives by ensuring only traffic that exceeds a specific risk baseline triggers an alert. Whitelisting complements this by suppressing alerts for traffic confirmed safe based on source, destination, or application patterns, preserving visibility into genuine threats. On the Cisco CyberOps Associate 200-201 exam, this concept tests your understanding of balancing detection fidelity with operational efficiency—a common trap is assuming that disabling the signature entirely is acceptable, which would create a blind spot. Instead, remember that tuning refines the rule, while whitelisting filters the noise. A useful memory tip: “Tune the trigger, whitelist the noise.”
200-201 Security Monitoring Practice Question
This 200-201 practice question tests your understanding of security monitoring. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which two actions should an analyst take when a security monitoring tool generates a high number of false positives for a specific signature? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a whitelist for known benign traffic.
Option A is correct because creating a whitelist for known benign traffic allows the analyst to suppress alerts for traffic that is confirmed safe, reducing false positives without losing visibility into actual threats. This approach leverages the security monitoring tool's ability to filter based on source/destination IPs, ports, or application signatures, ensuring that only truly malicious traffic triggers the signature.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 whitelist for known benign traffic.
Why this is correct
Whitelisting exempts known good traffic from triggering the signature.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Tune the signature parameters (e.g., threshold).
Why this is correct
Tuning adjusts sensitivity to reduce false positives.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the sensitivity of the signature.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing sensitivity would generate more false positives.
✗
Escalate to management without analysis.
Why it's wrong here
Analysts should analyze and mitigate before escalating.
✗
Immediately disable the signature.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling removes detection and may miss real attacks.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the misconception that disabling a signature or increasing sensitivity is a valid first step for handling false positives, but the correct response is always to tune or whitelist to preserve detection capability.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
False positives often arise from signature-based detection systems like Snort or Suricata when a rule's pattern matches benign traffic due to common protocol behaviors (e.g., HTTP headers with specific user-agent strings). Tuning involves adjusting thresholds (e.g., 'threshold: type both, track by_src, count 5, seconds 60') or adding 'pass' rules to whitelist trusted hosts, which reduces noise while maintaining detection efficacy. In a real-world scenario, a signature for 'ET TROJAN Win32.Dridex' might false-positive on legitimate software updates; whitelisting the update server's IP prevents alerts without disabling the rule globally.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Security Monitoring — This question tests Security Monitoring — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a whitelist for known benign traffic. — Option A is correct because creating a whitelist for known benign traffic allows the analyst to suppress alerts for traffic that is confirmed safe, reducing false positives without losing visibility into actual threats. This approach leverages the security monitoring tool's ability to filter based on source/destination IPs, ports, or application signatures, ensuring that only truly malicious traffic triggers the signature.
What should I do if I get this 200-201 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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