The answer is to add the sender domains to the allowed senders list in the anti-phishing policy. This is correct because the anti-phishing policy in Defender for Office 365 applies a separate layer of impersonation and spoof intelligence beyond standard spam filtering; by explicitly whitelisting trusted domains in this policy, you prevent legitimate mail from those senders from being incorrectly classified as a phishing attempt while still scanning for other threats like malware or URL-based attacks. On the MS-102 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of layered protection—many candidates mistakenly adjust the spam filter threshold or disable anti-phishing entirely, which compromises security. A common trap is confusing the tenant allow/block list in the Threat Explorer with the policy-level allowed senders list; the latter is policy-specific and more precise for reducing false positives in Defender for Office 365 anti-phishing. Memory tip: think "policy-level precision" — whitelist only at the anti-phishing layer, not the global filter.
MS-102 Deploy and manage a Microsoft 365 tenant Practice Question
This MS-102 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage a microsoft 365 tenant. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
Your organization recently deployed Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Users report that some legitimate external emails are being quarantined as phishing attempts. You need to reduce false positives without compromising security. What should you do?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Add the sender domains to the allowed senders list in the anti-phishing policy
Option C is correct because adding the sender domains to the allowed senders list in the anti-phishing policy explicitly whitelists those domains for phishing checks, reducing false positives while still scanning for other threats. This approach preserves security by not lowering the overall spam filtering threshold or disabling protections, and it targets only the specific domains that are being incorrectly flagged.
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.
✗
Increase the Spam Confidence Level (SCL) threshold to 9
Why it's wrong here
Higher SCL means stricter filtering, not reducing false positives.
✗
Disable the anti-phishing policy and use a custom mail flow rule
Why it's wrong here
Disabling protection increases risk.
✓
Add the sender domains to the allowed senders list in the anti-phishing policy
Why this is correct
This allows trusted senders without affecting other protections.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Change the spam filtering action to 'Move message to Junk Email folder' instead of quarantine
Why it's wrong here
This does not address phishing false positives.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse the anti-phishing policy's allowed senders list with the tenant-level allowed/blocked list in the anti-spam policy, or they mistakenly think changing the action to junk email reduces false positives when it only changes the delivery outcome, not the detection logic.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The anti-phishing policy in Defender for Office 365 uses machine learning models and impersonation analysis to detect phishing, and the allowed senders list bypasses only the phishing-specific checks, not the general spam or malware filters. This granular control is defined in the policy's 'Phishing threshold & protection' settings, where you can add trusted domains or senders without affecting the SCL or bulk mail thresholds. In real-world scenarios, this is commonly used for trusted partner domains that are frequently misidentified due to similar sender names or domain patterns.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this MS-102 question in full detail.
Deploy and manage a Microsoft 365 tenant — This question tests Deploy and manage a Microsoft 365 tenant — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add the sender domains to the allowed senders list in the anti-phishing policy — Option C is correct because adding the sender domains to the allowed senders list in the anti-phishing policy explicitly whitelists those domains for phishing checks, reducing false positives while still scanning for other threats. This approach preserves security by not lowering the overall spam filtering threshold or disabling protections, and it targets only the specific domains that are being incorrectly flagged.
What should I do if I get this MS-102 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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
This MS-102 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 MS-102 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.