SC-100 Practice Questions 2 — 50 Questions

Question 1

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?

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

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'.

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Microsoft Intune

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Microsoft Sentinel

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Question 2

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.

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

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

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

Question 3

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.

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The Azure Bastion subnet size is /28.

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

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The VM does not have Azure AD authentication enabled.

Question 4

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.

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

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

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

Question 5

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.

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Microsoft 365 Defender identity logs

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps logs

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Microsoft 365 audit logs

Question 6

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.

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

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Deploy Microsoft Entra Application Proxy for all legacy apps

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

Question 7

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.

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

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Microsoft Intune

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Microsoft Purview

Question 8

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 9

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.

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Enable security defaults for all users

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Enable per-user MFA and exclude the finance department

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Use Microsoft Entra Identity Protection to require MFA based on risk

Question 10

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.

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Create a Conditional Access policy to block the app

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Use Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention to block the app

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Block the app's domain in Microsoft Intune

Question 11

Your company uses Microsoft Purview to classify and label sensitive data. The data protection team needs to automatically apply a 'Confidential' label to documents that contain a custom sensitive info type for employee IDs. Which should you create?

Accepted Answer

A custom sensitive information type and an auto-labeling policy. To automatically apply a 'Confidential' label based on the presence of a custom sensitive info type (employee IDs), you need both a custom sensitive information type (SIT) to define the pattern and an auto-labeling policy to trigger the label application. The auto-labeling policy uses the SIT to scan documents and automatically applies the specified sensitivity label when a match is found. This is the only option that combines the detection mechanism with automated labeling.

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A trainable classifier

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A sensitivity label

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A retention label

Question 12

A company uses Microsoft Defender for Cloud to manage security across hybrid workloads. They need to ensure that all Azure VMs have guest-level threat detection enabled. Which security policy should they assign?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft cloud security benchmark. The Microsoft cloud security benchmark (MCSB) is the correct policy because it includes built-in guest-level threat detection recommendations for Azure VMs, such as deploying the Log Analytics agent and enabling Microsoft Defender for Servers with guest-level monitoring. This benchmark is the default initiative in Defender for Cloud and directly maps to the requirement of enabling guest-level threat detection across all VMs.

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Azure Security Benchmark

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

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NIST SP 800-53

Question 13

An organization is implementing a Zero Trust identity strategy. They have a mix of on-premises Active Directory and Azure AD. They want to enforce conditional access policies that require device compliance for accessing sensitive apps. However, some users report that their devices are not being evaluated for compliance even though they are enrolled in Microsoft Intune. What should the organization check first?

Accepted Answer

Verify that devices are registered in Azure AD. Device compliance evaluation in a hybrid identity environment requires that devices are registered in Azure AD (Azure AD Registration) so that Azure AD can associate the device identity with Intune compliance data. Even if a device is enrolled in Intune, without Azure AD registration, Conditional Access policies cannot evaluate its compliance status because the device identity is not recognized by Azure AD during authentication.

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Ensure Intune compliance policies are assigned to the correct user groups

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Confirm that devices are Azure AD Joined

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Check if users have enabled multi-factor authentication

Question 14

Your organization uses Microsoft Sentinel and wants to reduce alert fatigue by grouping related alerts into incidents. Which configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Configure incident creation in the analytics rule properties. In Microsoft Sentinel, incident creation is configured directly within the analytics rule properties. When you create or edit a scheduled or Microsoft Security analytics rule, the 'Incident settings' tab allows you to enable incident creation and define how alerts are grouped into incidents. This is the native mechanism for reducing alert fatigue by automatically grouping related alerts into a single incident based on criteria such as entity matching or time window.

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Use a workbook to aggregate alerts

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Use a playbook to create incidents

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Create an automation rule to group alerts

Question 15

Your organization uses Microsoft Sentinel as its SIEM. You receive a large number of low-severity alerts from various sources, overwhelming the security operations team. You need to design a solution to reduce alert fatigue while ensuring that critical incidents are not missed. The solution should also automatically collect feedback from analysts when they close an incident. What should you implement?

Accepted Answer

Tune analytics rules to generate incidents only for high-fidelity alerts and use automation rules to collect feedback on incident closure. Tuning analytics rules to generate incidents only for high-fidelity alerts directly reduces alert volume without compromising detection of critical threats. Automation rules in Microsoft Sentinel can trigger a playbook or run a logic app on incident closure, enabling automatic collection of analyst feedback via custom fields or external systems.

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Create a separate analytics rule for each severity level

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Implement a playbook that automatically closes low-severity alerts and collects feedback

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Increase the severity threshold for all analytics rules

Question 16

Your organization needs to audit all changes to Azure resources, including who made the change and what was changed. Which Azure service should you use to collect and analyze this audit data?

Accepted Answer

Azure Monitor with activity logs. Azure Monitor with activity logs is the correct service because it captures all control-plane operations on Azure resources, including who performed the change (via Azure Active Directory authentication), what was changed (the resource and properties), and when it occurred. Activity logs are retained for 90 days by default and can be exported to Log Analytics workspaces for advanced querying and alerting, making them the native audit trail for Azure resource modifications.

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Azure Policy

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud

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Microsoft Sentinel

Question 17

You are designing a security operations strategy for Microsoft 365. You need to prioritize alerts from Microsoft Defender XDR based on their impact on business operations. Which security best practice should you follow?

Accepted Answer

Prioritize alerts based on a risk assessment that considers asset criticality, threat severity, and business impact. Microsoft Defender XDR integrates with Microsoft 365 Defender's risk-based alert prioritization, which uses a combination of asset criticality (e.g., from Microsoft Purview or Defender for Cloud Apps), threat severity (e.g., from the Microsoft Defender portal's alert severity levels: Informational, Low, Medium, High), and business impact (e.g., via sensitivity labels or data classification). This aligns with the security best practice of risk-based alert triage, ensuring that high-impact alerts are addressed first to minimize business disruption.

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Prioritize alerts based on a qualitative risk assessment only

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Treat all alerts with equal severity to ensure none are missed

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Prioritize alerts based solely on the MITRE ATT&CK technique involved

Question 18

A company wants to protect sensitive email data from being exfiltrated by malicious insiders. They need a solution that can detect and block anomalous outbound email traffic in real time. Which Microsoft solution should they use?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (MDO) is the correct solution because it provides real-time detection and blocking of anomalous outbound email traffic through its outbound spam filtering and anti-phishing policies. MDO uses machine learning models to analyze email sending patterns, such as sudden spikes in volume or unusual recipient domains, and can automatically quarantine or block suspicious outbound messages to prevent data exfiltration by malicious insiders.

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Microsoft Purview Information Protection

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

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Microsoft Sentinel

Question 19

Your organization is adopting Microsoft Copilot for Security. You need to ensure that the AI model does not expose sensitive data during interactions. What is the primary security control you should implement?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention policies for Copilot. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies for Copilot for Security are the primary control to prevent sensitive data exposure because they can inspect and block sensitive information (e.g., credit card numbers, health records) in real-time during Copilot interactions. DLP policies integrate directly with Copilot to enforce data protection rules on both prompts and responses, ensuring that sensitive data is not leaked through the AI model. This is the most direct and effective control for preventing data exposure in AI interactions.

Answer

Microsoft Entra Conditional Access policies

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Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management

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Microsoft Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels

Question 20

Your company is designing a Zero Trust network for a hybrid workforce. Remote users connect via VPN to on-premises resources, while cloud apps use Microsoft Entra ID. You need to enforce conditional access based on device compliance and user risk. Which Microsoft security solution should you integrate with Entra ID to provide real-time device posture signals?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Intune. Microsoft Intune provides device compliance policies and can send device posture signals to Entra ID Conditional Access. With Intune, you can enforce device health and compliance requirements before granting access. Option A is wrong because Microsoft Purview focuses on data governance and compliance, not device management. Option C is wrong because Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a cloud access security broker (CASB) and does not directly manage device compliance. Option D is wrong because Microsoft Sentinel is a security information and event management (SIEM) solution and does not provide device posture signals.

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Microsoft Purview

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

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Microsoft Sentinel