SC-200 Practice Test 5 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A SOC analyst in Microsoft Sentinel is creating a scheduled analytics rule to detect a possible password spray attack. The rule must trigger when a single source IP address has more than 10 failed logon attempts on different user accounts within a 30-minute window. The analyst writes a KQL query starting with 'SigninLogs | where ResultType == 50057' (failed logon). Which operator should the analyst use to group events by source IP and count distinct user accounts, then filter for counts above 10?

Accepted Answer

summarize. The `summarize` operator is required to group events by source IP address and count distinct user accounts using `dcount()` or `count()`. After summarizing, you apply a `where` clause to filter for counts above 10, which meets the rule's threshold. This is the standard pattern for aggregation in KQL.

Answer

where

Answer

extend

Answer

project

Question 2

An organization uses Microsoft Defender for Office 365. The security team wants to automatically remove from all user mailboxes any messages that were already delivered but are later identified as malicious. Which feature should they enable?

Accepted Answer

Zero-hour auto purge (ZAP). Zero-hour auto purge (ZAP) is the correct feature because it automatically detects and removes malicious messages that have already been delivered to user mailboxes, including messages retroactively identified as threats after delivery. ZAP acts on phishing, malware, and spam verdicts by querying the mailbox for the original message and moving it to the Junk Email folder or deleting it, based on the configured policy. This directly meets the requirement to remove already-delivered malicious messages without manual intervention.

Answer

Automated investigation and response (AIR)

Answer

Safe Attachments

Answer

Safe Links

Question 3

During an incident investigation, an analyst notices a compromised user account that was used to access sensitive data from SharePoint Online. Which Microsoft 365 Defender workload would provide the most relevant alerts for suspicious file access patterns?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (Option C) is the correct workload because it provides visibility into cloud application usage, including SharePoint Online, and can generate alerts for suspicious file access patterns such as mass download, unusual file sharing, or access from anomalous locations. It uses behavioral analytics and anomaly detection to identify compromised accounts accessing sensitive data in SaaS applications like SharePoint.

Answer

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Answer

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Answer

Microsoft Defender for Identity

Question 4

An organization has connected a Palo Alto Networks firewall to Microsoft Sentinel using the Common Event Format (CEF) connector via a Linux log forwarder. The analyst notices that some expected firewall logs are missing in Sentinel. Which troubleshooting step should be performed first to check if the logs are reaching the Sentinel workspace?

Accepted Answer

Run a KQL query in the Sentinel Logs workspace: CommonSecurityLog | where TimeGenerated > ago(1h) | take 10. Option A is correct because the first step in troubleshooting missing logs in Microsoft Sentinel is to verify whether the logs are actually reaching the workspace. Running a KQL query against the CommonSecurityLog table (which stores CEF data) with a recent time filter confirms if any CEF logs have been ingested. If the query returns results, the issue lies elsewhere (e.g., parsing or missing events); if it returns no results, the problem is upstream (connector, forwarder, or source). This step isolates the problem to the Sentinel ingestion pipeline before investigating network or configuration issues.

Answer

Check the firewall configuration to ensure syslog forwarding is enabled and pointing to the correct Linux forwarder

Answer

Verify network connectivity between the firewall and the Linux forwarder on port 514 (or the configured port)

Answer

Restart the Log Analytics agent on the Linux forwarder

Question 5

Match each Microsoft Sentinel data connector on the left with the table name it populates on the right.

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Entra ID → SigninLogs; Windows Security Events via AMA → SecurityEvent; Cisco ASA via Syslog → CommonSecurityLog; Azure Activity → AzureActivity. Option A is correct because it accurately maps each Microsoft Sentinel data connector to its corresponding log table. Microsoft Entra ID populates the SigninLogs table, Windows Security Events via AMA populates the SecurityEvent table, Cisco ASA via Syslog populates the CommonSecurityLog table (which is the standard schema for syslog-based security appliances), and Azure Activity populates the AzureActivity table. These mappings are defined by the data connectors themselves and are fundamental to querying the correct data in Sentinel.

Answer

The first and last mappings are swapped.

Answer

Every item maps to the same log table or feature category.

Answer

Only identity-related items are mapped; workload and network items are omitted.

Question 6

Arrange the steps in the correct order to create and save a custom hunting query in Microsoft Sentinel.

Accepted Answer

Open the Microsoft Sentinel workspace in the Azure portal → Navigate to the Hunting blade in the Sentinel menu → Click on the 'New Query' button → Write the KQL query in the query editor → Run the query to verify results → Save the query with a meaningful name and description. Option A is correct because creating a custom hunting query in Microsoft Sentinel requires first accessing the workspace, then navigating to the Hunting blade, clicking 'New Query', writing the KQL query, running it to validate results, and finally saving it with a meaningful name and description. This sequence ensures the query is tested before being stored, aligning with Sentinel's workflow for ad-hoc threat hunting.

Answer

Verify results before configuring the source or rule settings.

Answer

Configure alert grouping before defining the detection query or source.

Answer

Skip validation and enable the rule or plan immediately.

Question 7

In Microsoft 365 Defender advanced hunting, an analyst is investigating a case where a user's device was compromised via a malicious base64-encoded PowerShell script. The analyst wants to find all processes that were created by this script by decoding the command line. Which KQL function should be applied to the ProcessCommandLine column in the DeviceProcessEvents table?

Accepted Answer

base64_decode_tostring(ProcessCommandLine). The correct KQL function to decode a Base64-encoded string into a readable text format in Microsoft 365 Defender advanced hunting is `base64_decode_tostring()`. This function takes a string column (like ProcessCommandLine) and returns the decoded plaintext, allowing the analyst to see the actual PowerShell commands executed. The other options are either invalid KQL functions or do not exist in the Kusto Query Language used in advanced hunting.

Answer

parse_base64(ProcessCommandLine)

Answer

decode_base64(ProcessCommandLine)

Answer

convertstring(ProcessCommandLine, 'base64')

Question 8

During an incident investigation in Microsoft 365 Defender, an analyst examines an email that was reported as phishing. The analyst opens the email entity page and looks at the 'Detection details' section. Which piece of information would the analyst find there?

Accepted Answer

The detection technology (e.g., Advanced ML, Reputation) and if the email was part of a phish simulation or a campaign.. Option D is correct because the 'Detection details' section on the email entity page in Microsoft 365 Defender specifically shows the detection technology used (e.g., Advanced ML, Reputation, Bulk) and whether the email was part of a phishing simulation or a campaign. This information helps analysts understand how the email was identified as malicious and its context within broader threat activity.

Answer

The delivery location and whether the email was delivered to Inbox, Junk, or Quarantine.

Answer

The authentication statuses (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for the sender domain.

Answer

The sender IP address and the recipient email address.

Question 9

Your organization has multiple Azure subscriptions and wants to ensure that all of them have Microsoft Defender for Cloud's enhanced security features enabled. What is the minimal step required to achieve this for all subscriptions?

Accepted Answer

Enable the required Defender for Cloud plans at the management group level. Enabling Microsoft Defender for Cloud plans at the management group level is the minimal step because it applies the configuration to all child subscriptions under that management group in a single action. This leverages Azure's hierarchical management structure, ensuring every subscription inherits the enhanced security features without needing individual subscription-level configuration.

Answer

Assign an Azure Policy initiative to enable Defender for Cloud on each subscription

Answer

Install the Log Analytics agent on all virtual machines in each subscription

Answer

Create a security contact email for each subscription

Question 10

An organization uses Microsoft Sentinel to monitor Microsoft Entra ID sign-ins. A SOC analyst creates a scheduled analytics rule that runs every 15 minutes and uses the following KQL query: SigninLogs | where TimeGenerated > ago(30m) | summarize count() by IPAddress | where count_ > 10. The rule is intended to detect brute-force attacks from a single IP address. However, the analyst notices that alerts are generated even when IP addresses are within the company's trusted corporate network range. What is the most appropriate fix to reduce false positives?

Accepted Answer

Modify the query to exclude IP addresses from the corporate network by adding '| where IPAddress notin (dynamic(['10.0.0.0/8', '172.16.0.0/12', '192.168.0.0/16']))' or by using a watchlist. Option A is correct because the query currently counts all sign-in attempts, including those from trusted corporate IP ranges, which generates false positives for brute-force detection. By adding a filter to exclude corporate IP addresses (e.g., RFC 1918 ranges) or using a watchlist, the rule only alerts on external IPs that exceed the threshold, reducing noise. This directly addresses the root cause—internal traffic being incorrectly flagged—without altering detection logic or data sources.

Answer

Increase the threshold from 10 to 20 failed attempts

Answer

Decrease the rule's run frequency to every 5 minutes

Answer

Change the data source to AADNonInteractiveUserSignInLogs