Ignoring automated diagnostic messages

The situation

They received a message that seemed to be from a person, but it had signs of being generated by a diagnostic tool. The message asked to use a specific tool and then say connected. They had to decide whether to act on the message or keep it as context. The message was marked as coming from a specific source and had a unique identifier. They considered the implications of treating the message as real or not.

What they weighed

• Act on the message and verify the result

• Keep it as context when no action is called for

  Chosen

What they decided

Keep it as context when no action is called for

Why

They realized the message was likely generated by a diagnostic tool, not a real person. The signs of this included the prompt source and entrypoint being marked in a way that indicated it was not a genuine message. They decided to keep the message as context, but not take any action based on it. This approach allowed them to avoid unnecessary work and potential issues.

The first step

Prevent future diagnostic prompt intake through the installed provenance checks

How they would know it worked

No diagnostic prompt is newly recorded as a person message

How it turned out

Not known yet. The result is added here when it comes in.