The answer is to enable infrastructure encryption and assign Azure RBAC roles like Storage Blob Data Reader or Storage Blob Data Contributor. Infrastructure encryption provides an additional layer of encryption at the storage infrastructure level, ensuring data is encrypted before it reaches the physical drives, while RBAC enforces identity-based access control so only authorized users can read or modify blobs. On the AZ-305 exam, this pairing tests your understanding of defense-in-depth for Azure Blob Storage access control—a common trap is confusing shared access signatures (SAS) with RBAC, but SAS grants time-limited access to anyone with the token, whereas RBAC ties permissions directly to Azure AD identities. For the exam, remember: RBAC controls who, infrastructure encryption protects the how. A useful memory tip is “RBAC for faces, infra-encrypt for places”—RBAC handles user identities, infrastructure encryption secures the underlying storage hardware.
AZ-305 Practice Question: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO actions should you take to ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive data stored in Azure Blob Storage? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure Azure RBAC roles to grant access to specific users.
Azure RBAC roles allow you to grant granular permissions to specific users or groups, ensuring that only authorized identities can access sensitive data in Blob Storage. By assigning built-in roles like 'Storage Blob Data Reader' or 'Storage Blob Data Contributor', you enforce identity-based access control at the storage account, container, or blob level. This directly addresses the requirement of restricting access to authorized users.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Configure Azure RBAC roles to grant access to specific users.
Why this is correct
RBAC is the primary method to control access to Azure resources.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Configure firewall rules to allow only specific IP addresses.
Why it's wrong here
Firewall rules restrict network access but are not user-specific authorization.
✗
Enable blob versioning.
Why it's wrong here
Versioning is for data management, not access control.
✗
Enable soft delete for blobs.
Why it's wrong here
Soft delete is for recovery, not access control.
✓
Enable infrastructure encryption.
Why this is correct
Infrastructure encryption adds a second layer of encryption at the infrastructure level, but it is part of a defense-in-depth strategy.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse network-level controls (firewall rules) or data protection features (versioning, soft delete) with access control mechanisms, but only identity-based authorization (RBAC) and encryption directly ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive data.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure RBAC for Blob Storage uses Azure AD authentication, where access tokens are issued based on the user's assigned role, and the storage service validates these tokens against the blob's ACLs or container-level permissions. Infrastructure encryption (option E) uses platform-managed keys to encrypt data at the storage layer, including the underlying disks and backups, ensuring that even if physical media is compromised, the data remains unreadable without the decryption keys. Together, RBAC and infrastructure encryption provide defense-in-depth: RBAC controls logical access, while encryption protects data at rest from physical threats.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-305 question in full detail.
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — This question tests Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure Azure RBAC roles to grant access to specific users. — Azure RBAC roles allow you to grant granular permissions to specific users or groups, ensuring that only authorized identities can access sensitive data in Blob Storage. By assigning built-in roles like 'Storage Blob Data Reader' or 'Storage Blob Data Contributor', you enforce identity-based access control at the storage account, container, or blob level. This directly addresses the requirement of restricting access to authorized users.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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