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300-720 · Question #80

A Cisco ESA administrator was notified that a user was not receiving emails from a specific domain. After reviewing the mail logs, the sender had a negative sender-based reputation score. What…

The correct answer is D. Add the domain into the allow list. When a domain has a negative Talos sender reputation score on the Cisco ESA, adding it to the ESA allow list (Host Access Table) is the correct administrative fix to permit inbound email from that domain.

Spam Control with Talos SenderBase and Antispam

Question

A Cisco ESA administrator was notified that a user was not receiving emails from a specific domain. After reviewing the mail logs, the sender had a negative sender-based reputation score. What should the administrator do to allow inbound email from that specific domain?

Options

  • ACreate a new inbound mail policy with a message filter that overrides Talos.
  • BAsk the user to add the sender to the email application's allow list.
  • CModify the firewall to allow emails from the domain.
  • DAdd the domain into the allow list.

How the community answered

(33 responses)
  • A
    12% (4)
  • B
    3% (1)
  • C
    3% (1)
  • D
    82% (27)

Why each option

When a domain has a negative Talos sender reputation score on the Cisco ESA, adding it to the ESA allow list (Host Access Table) is the correct administrative fix to permit inbound email from that domain.

ACreate a new inbound mail policy with a message filter that overrides Talos.

Message filters execute after the SMTP connection is accepted, but a negative sender reputation causes the ESA to reject the connection before any message filter can process the incoming session.

BAsk the user to add the sender to the email application's allow list.

An email client-side allow list only affects local junk filtering within the user's mail application and has no effect on the ESA's connection-level reputation enforcement.

CModify the firewall to allow emails from the domain.

Adjusting firewall rules to permit traffic from the domain does not alter the ESA's internal HAT reputation logic - the ESA would still evaluate and reject the SMTP connection based on its own reputation score.

DAdd the domain into the allow list.Correct

Adding a domain to the ESA allow list places it in a WHITELIST or TRUSTED sender group within the Host Access Table (HAT), which overrides negative Talos reputation scoring at the SMTP connection level and instructs the ESA to accept and process email from that domain without reputation-based rejection.

Concept tested: Cisco ESA HAT allow list reputation score override

Source: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/esa/esa14-0/user_guide/b_ESA_Admin_Guide_14-0.html

Topics

#Sender Reputation#Allow List#Cisco ESA#Email Delivery

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