SC-100 Practice Exam 3 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A company is designing a defense-in-depth strategy for their Azure environment. They want to ensure that if a virtual machine is compromised, the attacker cannot move laterally to other VMs in the same virtual network. Which security control should they prioritize?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Implement network segmentation using NSGs and application security groups. Network segmentation using NSGs and application security groups is the correct priority because it directly controls east-west traffic between VMs within the same virtual network. By defining explicit inbound and outbound rules that restrict communication to only necessary ports and protocols (e.g., TCP 443 for HTTPS), an attacker who compromises one VM cannot initiate lateral movement to other VMs, as the NSG will drop unauthorized traffic at the subnet or NIC level.

Answer

Enable Azure DDoS Protection on the virtual network

Answer

Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all admin accounts

Answer

Deploy Azure Bastion for secure remote access

Question 2

Tailwind Traders is a small business that uses Microsoft 365 Business Premium. They have no dedicated IT staff. The owner wants to implement basic security measures to protect against common threats like phishing, ransomware, and unauthorized access. They need a simple, cost-effective solution that aligns with Microsoft's security best practices for small businesses. Which set of actions should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Enable Security Defaults in Microsoft Entra ID to enforce MFA for all users. Configure Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to protect against phishing and malware. Use Microsoft Defender for Business (included) for endpoint protection. Regularly review the Microsoft 365 Secure Score and implement top recommendations.. It aligns with Microsoft's security best practices for small businesses with no dedicated IT staff. Security Defaults in Microsoft Entra ID provide a baseline of MFA enforcement without requiring complex configuration. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Defender for Business (included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium) offer integrated phishing, malware, and endpoint protection. Regularly reviewing the Secure Score ensures continuous improvement against common threats like ransomware and unauthorized access.

Answer

Implement Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for all accounts. Use Azure Information Protection to classify all emails. Set up a SIEM using Microsoft Sentinel.

Answer

Deploy Microsoft Intune to manage devices. Configure Conditional Access policies to require compliant devices. Use Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for antivirus. Set up a VPN for remote access.

Answer

Purchase Azure AD Premium P2 for all users. Use Identity Protection to detect risks. Configure Conditional Access with session controls. Use Azure AD Identity Governance for access reviews.

Question 3

A company uses Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to protect sensitive data. They want to prevent users from sharing credit card numbers in email but allow sharing via encrypted email. What should they configure?

Accepted Answer

Configure a DLP rule that blocks sharing unless the email is encrypted, with user override. Microsoft Purview DLP can enforce a policy that blocks sharing of credit card numbers unless the email is encrypted, with a user override option to allow legitimate encrypted sharing. This directly meets the requirement to prevent unencrypted sharing while permitting encrypted email transmission, leveraging DLP's ability to inspect email content and conditionally apply actions based on encryption status.

Answer

Assign a sensitivity label that encrypts the email automatically

Answer

Create a Microsoft Purview Message Encryption policy

Answer

Use Exchange mail flow rules to block unencrypted credit card data

Question 4

Your organization is migrating to Microsoft 365 and wants to implement a defense-in-depth strategy for email security. Which combination of Microsoft services should you use?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Exchange Online Protection. Defense-in-depth for email security requires layered protection at the transport, filtering, and post-delivery stages. Exchange Online Protection (EOP) provides baseline anti-malware, anti-spam, and transport rules, while Microsoft Defender for Office 365 adds advanced threat protection like Safe Attachments, Safe Links, and anti-phishing policies that inspect URLs and attachments in real time. Together, they cover the full email threat chain from ingress to user interaction.

Answer

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Answer

Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Entra ID

Answer

Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender for Identity

Question 5

Which TWO configurations are required to enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps to monitor cloud app usage?

Accepted Answer

Add app connectors for the cloud apps you want to monitor. A is correct because Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps requires app connectors to establish API-based connections with cloud applications (e.g., Office 365, Salesforce, AWS). These connectors enable the service to ingest activity logs, file metadata, and user sessions for monitoring and threat detection. Without app connectors, Defender for Cloud Apps cannot access the cloud app's data plane to perform its core monitoring functions.

Answer

Configure Microsoft Intune device compliance policies

Answer

Deploy Azure Information Protection scanner

Answer

Synchronize with Microsoft Entra ID

Question 6

A financial services company uses Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM. They need to detect potential data exfiltration from their Azure SQL Database. Which THREE data sources should they connect to Sentinel to achieve this? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Azure Network Watcher NSG flow logs. Azure SQL Database audit logs (Option D) capture detailed information about database queries and operations, which can help detect unauthorized data access. Azure Activity Logs (Option E) provide visibility into management-plane events such as changes to database configurations or firewall rules. Network Security Group (NSG) flow logs (Option C) show network traffic patterns to and from Azure SQL Database, enabling the detection of abnormal data transfer volume or patterns indicative of exfiltration. Options A and B are incorrect: Microsoft Defender for Cloud alerts provide security recommendations and alerts but not raw data exfiltration details; Azure AD sign-in logs focus on user authentication events, not database operations.

Answer

Microsoft Defender for Cloud alerts

Answer

Azure AD sign-in logs

Question 7

Which TWO actions should you take to implement a zero-trust identity strategy in Microsoft Entra ID?

Accepted Answer

Require multi-factor authentication for all users. For a zero-trust identity strategy in Microsoft Entra ID, requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users (option B) is a fundamental control to verify identity. Configuring Conditional Access policies based on user risk and device compliance (option E) enforces adaptive, context-aware access. Option A (single sign-on) improves user experience but does not directly enforce zero-trust. Option C (passwordless authentication) enhances security but is not a specific zero-trust action; MFA is more critical. Option D (synchronizing identities) supports hybrid scenarios but does not advance zero-trust principles.

Answer

Enable single sign-on for all applications

Answer

Implement passwordless authentication for all users

Answer

Synchronize all on-premises identities to the cloud

Question 8

A global enterprise uses Microsoft Entra ID with Privileged Identity Management (PIM) and Conditional Access. They need to ensure that all privileged role activations require an approval workflow, and that the approval process is documented for compliance. What configuration should they implement?

Accepted Answer

In PIM, edit the role settings to require approval for activation. In PIM, you can configure role settings to require approval for activation, which ensures that every privileged role activation goes through an approval workflow and is documented in audit logs. Option A is incorrect because Authentication Strength in Conditional Access enforces MFA, not approval. Option C is incorrect because access reviews are for periodic attestation, not for per-activation approval. Option D is incorrect because role-assignable groups allow group-based role assignments but do not enforce an approval workflow for activation.

Answer

Create a Conditional Access policy requiring an Authentication Strength

Answer

Configure an access review for the privileged roles

Answer

Create a role-assignable group and assign the privileged role to the group

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. You are reviewing an ARM template that deploys a network security group (NSG) for a web application. The NSG allows inbound HTTP traffic from any source and then denies all other inbound traffic. However, after deployment, you find that HTTP traffic is being blocked. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The DenyAll rule has a higher priority than the AllowHTTP rule, so it takes precedence.. The DenyAll rule has a higher priority (lower priority number) than the AllowHTTP rule, so it is evaluated first and blocks all traffic, including HTTP. To fix this, the AllowHTTP rule should have a higher priority (lower number) than the DenyAll rule.

Answer

The AllowHTTP rule uses sourcePortRange '*' which conflicts with the DenyAll rule.

Answer

The NSG is not associated with the subnet or network interface where the web server is deployed.

Answer

The DenyAll rule uses protocol '*' which blocks all traffic including HTTP.

Question 10

Your company uses Azure Firewall to filter outbound traffic from a virtual network. You need to allow only HTTP and HTTPS traffic to specific FQDNs, while blocking all other outbound traffic. Which Azure Firewall rule type should you use?

Accepted Answer

Application rule. Application rules in Azure Firewall allow filtering outbound traffic based on fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) for HTTP and HTTPS protocols. Option A is wrong because NAT rules only perform destination network address translation, not FQDN filtering. Option C is wrong because threat intelligence rules are used to block traffic from known malicious IP addresses, not for allowing FQDNs. Option D is wrong because network rules filter traffic based on IP addresses, ports, and protocols, not FQDNs.

Answer

NAT rule

Answer

Threat intelligence rule

Answer

Network rule

Question 11

Your organization wants to implement a zero-trust security model for on-premises and cloud resources. As part of this strategy, you need to ensure that all access requests are authenticated and authorized based on dynamic risk signals. Which Microsoft security solution should you use to enforce conditional access policies based on real-time risk?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access. Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access is the correct solution because it enables you to enforce access policies based on real-time risk signals, such as user risk, sign-in risk, and device compliance. It integrates with Identity Protection to evaluate dynamic risk levels and can block or require multi-factor authentication (MFA) accordingly, directly supporting the zero-trust principle of 'never trust, always verify'.

Answer

Microsoft Intune

Answer

Microsoft Sentinel

Answer

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Question 12

Contoso Ltd. is a multinational organization with a hybrid environment consisting of on-premises Active Directory and Azure AD (now Microsoft Entra ID). They use Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Sentinel, and Microsoft 365 Defender. The security operations team has noticed that several high-severity alerts from Microsoft 365 Defender are not being forwarded to Microsoft Sentinel, causing delayed response. The team has confirmed that the data connector between Microsoft 365 Defender and Sentinel is enabled and appears healthy. However, only low-severity alerts appear in Sentinel. Further investigation reveals that the Microsoft 365 Defender portal has a configured rule set that suppresses high-severity alerts for certain users deemed low risk. The security operations manager wants to ensure all high-severity alerts are sent to Sentinel without changing the suppression rules in Microsoft 365 Defender, as those rules are required for operational efficiency. What should the team do to ensure high-severity alerts are ingested into Sentinel?

Accepted Answer

In the Microsoft 365 Defender data connector in Sentinel, enable the option to include suppressed alerts.. The Microsoft 365 Defender data connector in Microsoft Sentinel includes a configuration setting to 'Include suppressed alerts.' Enabling this option forces Sentinel to ingest all alerts from Microsoft 365 Defender, including those that are suppressed by rule sets in the Defender portal. This satisfies the requirement to forward high-severity alerts without modifying the suppression rules that the operations team relies on for operational efficiency.

Answer

Modify the suppression rules in Microsoft 365 Defender to not suppress high-severity alerts.

Answer

Use the Microsoft Graph Security API connector in Sentinel to ingest alerts instead.

Answer

Create a separate Logic App to fetch high-severity alerts from Microsoft 365 Defender API and send them to Sentinel.

Question 13

A company deploys Azure Bastion in a VNet. They want to allow a security engineer to connect to a Windows VM in a peered VNet using Azure Bastion. The engineer can see the VM in the portal but cannot connect. Which configuration is most likely missing?

Accepted Answer

The peered VNet does not have 'Allow Azure Bastion Communication' enabled on the peering connection.. Azure Bastion requires the 'Allow Azure Bastion Communication' setting to be enabled on the peering connection for the peered VNet. Without this, the Bastion service cannot route traffic to the target VM in the peered VNet, even though the VM is visible in the portal. This setting allows the Bastion's control plane and data plane to communicate across the peering link.

Answer

The Azure Bastion subnet size is /28.

Answer

The VM's subnet does not have an inbound NSG rule allowing RDP (3389) from the Azure Bastion subnet.

Answer

The VM does not have Azure AD authentication enabled.

Question 14

A global organization uses Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM and Microsoft Defender for Cloud for cloud security posture management. The security team notices that critical alerts from Azure Active Directory Identity Protection are not triggering automated response playbooks in Sentinel. The team needs to ensure that all high-severity Identity Protection risk detections automatically create incidents in Sentinel and trigger a playbook to block the user. What should the team configure?

Accepted Answer

Enable the Identity Protection data connector and create a Microsoft Security incident creation rule for Identity Protection.. To have Identity Protection risk detections automatically create incidents in Microsoft Sentinel and trigger a playbook, you must first enable the Identity Protection data connector (which brings the alerts into Sentinel) and then create a Microsoft Security incident creation rule specifically for Identity Protection. This rule ingests the alerts as security incidents, and you can attach an automation rule to run a playbook (e.g., to block the user) when a high-severity incident is created. Without the incident creation rule, the alerts would be ingested as raw events but not automatically turned into incidents.

Answer

Enable the Azure Active Directory Identity Protection data connector in Sentinel.

Answer

Configure diagnostic settings on Azure AD to stream logs to Sentinel and create a playbook automation rule.

Answer

Configure the Identity Protection connector with the 'Create incidents' toggle enabled.

Question 15

A SOC analyst needs to investigate a potential privilege escalation using Azure AD roles. Which Microsoft 365 Defender data source would be most useful to review?

Accepted Answer

Azure Active Directory audit logs. Azure AD audit logs (now part of the Azure Monitor / Microsoft Entra audit logs) are the authoritative source for tracking changes to Azure AD roles, including role assignments, activations of Privileged Identity Management (PIM) roles, and modifications to directory roles. Since the question specifically involves privilege escalation using Azure AD roles, these logs contain the necessary details such as who assigned a role, when, and from which IP address, making them the most directly relevant data source.

Answer

Microsoft 365 Defender identity logs

Answer

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps logs

Answer

Microsoft 365 audit logs

Question 16

Your organization has a hybrid identity environment with Microsoft Entra ID and on-premises Active Directory. You need to design a solution that ensures all user authentication requests are evaluated by Conditional Access policies before granting access to cloud apps. However, some legacy apps still require basic authentication. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Enable authentication policies in Microsoft Entra ID to block legacy authentication. Enabling authentication policies in Microsoft Entra ID to block legacy authentication ensures that all user authentication requests are evaluated by Conditional Access policies before granting access to cloud apps. Legacy authentication protocols (e.g., POP3, IMAP, SMTP, basic auth) bypass modern authentication and Conditional Access, so blocking them forces clients to use modern protocols (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect) that are subject to Conditional Access evaluation. This directly addresses the requirement while allowing legacy apps to be updated or replaced over time.

Answer

Configure Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) as the identity provider

Answer

Deploy Microsoft Entra Application Proxy for all legacy apps

Answer

Enable pass-through authentication (PTA) to forward authentication requests

Question 17

Your organization is implementing a Zero Trust security model. Which Microsoft security solution should you use to enforce conditional access policies based on user, device, location, and real-time risk signals?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access. Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access is the correct solution because it is the native policy engine in Azure AD that evaluates signals from user identity, device compliance, location (IP ranges or countries), and real-time risk from Microsoft Entra ID Protection to enforce access decisions. It directly implements the 'explicit verification' and 'assume breach' principles of Zero Trust by blocking or requiring step-up authentication based on these dynamic conditions.

Answer

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Answer

Microsoft Intune

Answer

Microsoft Purview

Question 18

Litware, a software development company, has adopted a DevOps culture and uses Azure DevOps for CI/CD pipelines. They deploy applications to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure App Services. The security team wants to ensure that secrets (API keys, connection strings) are not exposed in source code or pipeline logs. They also need to scan container images for vulnerabilities before deployment and ensure that only approved images are used in production. The solution must integrate with Microsoft Defender for Cloud and follow security best practices. What should you include in the design?

Accepted Answer

Store secrets in Azure Key Vault and use Azure DevOps Variable Groups linked to Key Vault for retrieval during pipelines. Enable Microsoft Defender for Containers on AKS to scan container images for vulnerabilities. Use Azure Policy (specifically Azure Policy for AKS with Gatekeeper) to enforce that only images from approved registries are deployed.. It aligns with security best practices by using Azure Key Vault to securely store secrets and linking them to Azure DevOps Variable Groups for secure retrieval during pipelines, preventing exposure in source code or logs. It enables Microsoft Defender for Containers on AKS to scan container images for vulnerabilities before deployment, and uses Azure Policy with Gatekeeper to enforce that only images from approved registries are deployed, ensuring compliance and integration with Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

Answer

Use Azure App Configuration to store secrets with encryption. Run vulnerability scans using a third-party tool integrated into the pipeline. Create a custom script to check image registry location.

Answer

Store secrets as encrypted pipeline variables in Azure DevOps. Use Azure Container Registry (ACR) tasks to scan images. Implement manual approval gates in release pipelines to verify image source.

Answer

Store secrets in Azure Key Vault but use a custom task to retrieve them. Scan images using Microsoft Defender for Cloud after deployment. Use role-based access control to restrict registry access.

Question 19

Your organization needs to enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users accessing Microsoft Entra ID integrated applications. However, users in the finance department should be exempted from MFA when accessing a specific legacy financial app that does not support modern authentication. What should you design?

Accepted Answer

Create a Conditional Access policy that requires MFA for all cloud apps except the legacy app. Conditional Access policies allow granular control over which applications require MFA. By creating a policy that requires MFA for all cloud apps except the legacy financial app, you can enforce MFA broadly while exempting the specific app that does not support modern authentication. This approach is more flexible and secure than per-user MFA or security defaults, as it can target specific applications and conditions.

Answer

Enable security defaults for all users

Answer

Enable per-user MFA and exclude the finance department

Answer

Use Microsoft Entra Identity Protection to require MFA based on risk

Question 20

A company uses Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps to discover and control Shadow IT. They want to block the use of a newly discovered unsanctioned app. What should they do?

Accepted Answer

Mark the app as unsanctioned in Defender for Cloud Apps. Marking an app as unsanctioned in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is the direct mechanism to block access to a discovered Shadow IT app. When an app is marked unsanctioned, Defender for Cloud Apps automatically enforces a block by integrating with Conditional Access to prevent users from accessing the app, and it can also generate alerts and session controls. This action is specifically designed for the discovered app governance workflow within Defender for Cloud Apps.

Answer

Create a Conditional Access policy to block the app

Answer

Use Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention to block the app

Answer

Block the app's domain in Microsoft Intune