diff --git a/pkg/telemetry/cassandra_agent/cassandra_agent_config.go b/pkg/telemetry/cassandra_agent/cassandra_agent_config.go
index fbc29981d..ceaf81f09 100644
--- a/pkg/telemetry/cassandra_agent/cassandra_agent_config.go
+++ b/pkg/telemetry/cassandra_agent/cassandra_agent_config.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/k8ssandra/k8ssandra-operator/pkg/cassandra"
 	"github.com/k8ssandra/k8ssandra-operator/pkg/labels"
 	"github.com/k8ssandra/k8ssandra-operator/pkg/result"
+	promapi "github.com/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator/pkg/apis/monitoring/v1"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
@@ -22,6 +23,26 @@ import (
 
 var (
 	agentConfigLocation = "/config/metric-collector.yaml"
+	defaultAgentConfig  = telemetryapi.CassandraAgentSpec{
+		Endpoint: telemetryapi.Endpoint{
+			Port:    "9001",
+			Address: "127.0.0.1",
+		},
+		Filters: []promapi.RelabelConfig{
+			{
+				SourceLabels: []string{"__tag1__", "__tag2__"},
+				Separator:    ";",
+				Regex:        "(.*);(b.*)",
+				Action:       "drop",
+			},
+			{
+				SourceLabels: []string{"__tag1__", "__tag2__"},
+				Separator:    ",",
+				Regex:        "^(a|b|c),.*",
+				Action:       "drop",
+			},
+		},
+	}
 )
 
 type Configurator struct {
@@ -33,10 +54,20 @@ type Configurator struct {
 }
 
 func (c Configurator) GetTelemetryAgentConfigMap() (*corev1.ConfigMap, error) {
-	yamlData, err := yaml.Marshal(&c.TelemetrySpec.Cassandra)
-	if err != nil {
-		return &corev1.ConfigMap{}, err
+	var yamlData []byte
+	var err error
+	if c.TelemetrySpec.Cassandra != nil {
+		yamlData, err = yaml.Marshal(&c.TelemetrySpec.Cassandra)
+		if err != nil {
+			return &corev1.ConfigMap{}, err
+		}
+	} else {
+		yamlData, err = yaml.Marshal(&defaultAgentConfig)
+		if err != nil {
+			return &corev1.ConfigMap{}, err
+		}
 	}
+
 	cm := corev1.ConfigMap{
 		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 			Namespace: c.Kluster.Namespace,