SC-900 Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity Practice Test 8 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An organization adopts a security model where they never trust a request by default, even if it comes from inside the corporate network. Every access request must be authenticated, authorized, and encrypted. They also assume that a breach will happen and design their systems to minimize the blast radius. Which security model does this describe?

Accepted Answer

C. This scenario describes the Zero Trust security model, which operates on the principle of 'never trust, always verify.' It requires authentication, authorization, and encryption for every access request, regardless of origin (inside or outside the network), and assumes breach to minimize blast radius through microsegmentation and least-privilege access. Option C is correct because it aligns with the core tenets of Zero Trust as defined by NIST SP 800-207.

Answer

A

Answer

B

Answer

D

Question 2

A financial company processes stock trades. To ensure that a trader cannot later deny having submitted a specific trade order, the system captures a digital signature from the trader for each order. Which security goal is being addressed by this practice?

Accepted Answer

Non-repudiation. Non-repudiation ensures that a party cannot deny having performed a specific action. By capturing a digital signature from the trader for each trade order, the system creates cryptographic proof that the trader indeed submitted that order. This prevents the trader from later claiming they did not authorize the trade, directly addressing the non-repudiation goal.

Answer

Confidentiality

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Integrity

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Availability

Question 3

A company deploys a virtual machine on Azure IaaS. According to the Microsoft shared responsibility model, which of the following security responsibilities is primarily the customer's responsibility?

Accepted Answer

Patching the guest operating system and applications. In the Microsoft shared responsibility model, the customer is responsible for securing and patching the guest operating system and applications running on an Azure IaaS virtual machine. Microsoft manages the physical infrastructure, hypervisor, and network, while the customer controls the OS, applications, and data.

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Physical security of the data centers

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Ensuring the hypervisor is secured

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Maintaining the network infrastructure

Question 4

A healthcare organization uses digital signatures on electronic medical records to ensure that the records have not been tampered with during transmission. Which security goal is primarily being addressed by this practice?

Accepted Answer

Integrity. Digital signatures use asymmetric cryptography (e.g., RSA or ECDSA) to create a hash of the electronic medical record, which is then encrypted with the signer's private key. Any tampering with the record during transmission will cause the hash verification to fail, directly ensuring data integrity. This practice does not primarily address confidentiality (which requires encryption) or availability (which focuses on uptime).

Answer

Confidentiality

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Availability

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Non-repudiation

Question 5

A company configures its identity and access management system so that employees are granted only the permissions necessary to perform their job functions. For example, a sales representative has read-only access to the customer database and cannot modify financial records. Which security principle is being applied in this scenario?

Accepted Answer

Least privilege. The scenario describes granting employees only the permissions necessary to perform their job functions, which is the core definition of the least privilege principle. In Microsoft identity and access management, this is implemented by assigning the minimum required Azure RBAC roles or Microsoft Entra ID directory roles, ensuring users have no more access than needed. This directly reduces the attack surface and limits potential damage from compromised accounts.

Answer

Segregation of duties

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Defense in depth

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Zero Trust

Question 6

A company's security team has adopted a strategy that assumes a breach has already occurred. They implement network segmentation, apply strict least privilege access, continuously verify all access requests, and never trust users or devices solely because they are inside the network perimeter. This approach best describes which security model?

Accepted Answer

Zero Trust. The scenario explicitly describes the core tenets of the Zero Trust model: assume breach, enforce least privilege, segment networks, and never trust any user or device based solely on network location. Zero Trust, as defined by NIST SP 800-207, mandates continuous verification of every access request, treating every request as if it originates from an untrusted network, which directly matches the company's strategy.

Answer

Shared responsibility model

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Defense in depth

Answer

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Question 7

A company wants to ensure that data is not altered during transmission between a client and a server. They use TLS encryption. Which security goal does this primarily address?

Accepted Answer

Integrity. TLS (Transport Layer Security) uses message authentication codes (MACs) and cryptographic hashing to ensure that data is not tampered with during transit. While TLS also provides confidentiality through encryption, the specific goal of preventing alteration during transmission is integrity. Therefore, option B is correct because integrity guarantees that the data received is exactly what was sent, unchanged by any intermediary.

Answer

Confidentiality

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Availability

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Non-repudiation

Question 8

An organization implements a policy where users must provide two forms of verification, such as a password and a text message code, to access the corporate network. Which security concept does this demonstrate?

Accepted Answer

Multifactor authentication. Multifactor authentication (MFA) requires two or more distinct factors (e.g., something you know like a password, and something you have like a text message code) to verify identity. This is correct because the policy explicitly demands two forms of verification, which is the defining characteristic of MFA, not just single-factor authentication.

Answer

Authorization

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Authentication

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Accounting

Question 9

A company implements a policy where each employee is granted only the permissions necessary to perform their specific job role. For example, a marketing specialist has read-only access to the customer database and cannot modify financial records. Which security principle is primarily being applied?

Accepted Answer

Least privilege. The principle of least privilege dictates that users should be granted only the permissions necessary to perform their job functions. In this scenario, the marketing specialist receives read-only access to the customer database and no access to financial records, which directly aligns with limiting permissions to the minimum required. This reduces the attack surface and limits potential damage from accidental or malicious actions.

Answer

Defense in depth

Answer

Zero Trust

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Separation of duties

Question 10

A company uses an on-premises Active Directory (AD) and wants to enable single sign-on (SSO) for users to access Microsoft 365 and a third-party SaaS application. They plan to use an external identity provider (IdP) that supports Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0. Which identity concept does this implementation primarily rely on?

Accepted Answer

Federation. Federation is the correct answer because it establishes a trust relationship between the on-premises Active Directory and the external identity provider (IdP) using SAML 2.0, enabling users to authenticate once and gain access to both Microsoft 365 and the third-party SaaS application without re-entering credentials. This relies on the IdP issuing SAML assertions that are trusted by the relying parties (Microsoft 365 and the SaaS app), which is the core mechanism of federated identity.

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Provisioning

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Synchronization

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Directory extension

Question 11

A financial organization implements a security control that logs every access attempt to sensitive financial records, including who accessed the data, when it was accessed, and from which device. The logs are regularly reviewed by the security team. This control primarily addresses which security concept?

Accepted Answer

Accountability. Accountability ensures that actions affecting sensitive data can be traced uniquely to an individual. By logging who accessed the data, when, and from which device, the organization creates an audit trail that holds users responsible for their actions. This directly supports non-repudiation and forensic analysis, which are the core goals of accountability.

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Confidentiality

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Integrity

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Availability

Question 12

A company's security team configures network firewall rules so that only a dedicated jump server's IP address can initiate RDP connections to production servers. This is an example of which security principle?

Accepted Answer

Least privilege. Restricting RDP access to only a dedicated jump server's IP address ensures that no other hosts or users can directly initiate remote desktop connections to production servers. This enforces the principle of least privilege by granting only the minimum necessary network access (the jump server) required for administrative tasks, reducing the attack surface and limiting lateral movement.

Answer

Defense in depth

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Zero Trust

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Separation of duties

Question 13

A user successfully authenticates to a system using a smart card. After authentication, the system checks whether the user's device is compliant with security policies before granting access to the network. This additional check is an example of which security concept?

Accepted Answer

Authorization. Authorization is the correct answer because after the user is authenticated via smart card, the system evaluates whether the user's device meets security compliance policies before granting network access. This decision—allowing or denying access based on conditions—is the core function of authorization, which determines what resources or actions an authenticated identity is permitted to perform.

Answer

Authentication

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Accounting

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Non-repudiation

Question 14

An organization uses a system where users first provide a username and password (Step 1) and then the system checks whether the user has permission to view a specific folder (Step 2). Which two security concepts are demonstrated in this process? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Authentication. Step 1 (username and password) is authentication, which verifies the identity of the user by validating credentials against an identity provider such as Azure AD or on-premises Active Directory. This confirms who the user is before any access decisions are made.

Answer

Accounting

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Encryption

Question 15

A company's security team implements a system where every access attempt to sensitive data is recorded, including who accessed the data and when. The logs are regularly reviewed to detect unauthorized access and to hold users accountable for their actions. Which security goal is primarily being addressed by this logging practice?

Accepted Answer

Non-repudiation. Non-repudiation ensures that a user cannot deny having performed an action. By recording who accessed sensitive data and when, the logging practice creates an audit trail that can prove a specific user accessed the data at a specific time, thereby preventing the user from denying that access. This directly addresses the security goal of non-repudiation.

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Confidentiality

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Integrity

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Availability