AZ-305 Practice Question: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions
Your company uses Microsoft Entra ID and has recently deployed Microsoft Sentinel. You need to design a monitoring solution to detect brute-force attacks against user accounts. The solution should use built-in analytics rules where possible and must trigger an automated response to temporarily disable the affected account. What should you include in the design?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Microsoft Entra Identity Protection's ability to block sign-ins with the requirement to disable the user account, or they may overlook the 'use built-in analytics rules where possible' constraint and opt for a custom KQL query.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use the built-in 'Brute force attack against an Entra ID account' analytics rule in Microsoft Sentinel and connect a playbook to disable the user.
Microsoft Sentinel includes a built-in analytics rule specifically for detecting brute-force attacks against Microsoft Entra ID accounts. By connecting a playbook to this rule, you can automate the response to temporarily disable the affected user account, meeting the requirement for an automated response without custom development.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use the built-in 'Brute force attack against an Entra ID account' analytics rule in Microsoft Sentinel and connect a playbook to disable the user.
Why this is correct
The Microsoft Sentinel built-in analytics rule 'Brute force attack against an Entra ID account' already contains the KQL detection logic needed to identify repeated failed sign-ins and other brute-force indicators in Entra ID sign-in logs. By triggering an automation rule on the alert, you can invoke a Microsoft Sentinel playbook—an Azure Logic Apps workflow—that automatically disables the compromised user account. This provides both automated detection and automated response, satisfying the requirement to use built-in rules whenever possible.
- ✗
Use Microsoft Entra Identity Protection to detect brute-force and configure a conditional access policy to block sign-ins.
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra Identity Protection can flag brute-force-like behavior as risky sign-ins and a Conditional Access policy can block the session or require step-up authentication, but blocking a sign-in does not alter the account's enabled state. Identity Protection lacks the native capability to disable a user account as a remediation action. Therefore, even though detection and blocking are automated, the required outcome—disabling the user—would not be achieved, so this is not an acceptable solution.
- ✗
Stream sign-in logs to Log Analytics and create a scheduled query that alerts on multiple failures, then manually disable accounts.
Why it's wrong here
Streaming Entra ID sign-in logs to Log Analytics gives you raw data, and a scheduled query can alert when an account has many failed sign-ins over a time window. However, the response in this option is manual—an operator must investigate the alert and then manually disable the account—which does not satisfy the requirement for automated response. Additionally, building a custom scheduled query duplicates detection that Microsoft Sentinel already provides in its built-in brute-force analytics rule, making this approach less efficient and not the recommended 'built-in first' pattern.
- ✗
Create a custom KQL query in Microsoft Sentinel and configure an automation rule to disable the account.
Why it's wrong here
A custom KQL query is unnecessary because Microsoft Sentinel includes a built-in analytics rule specifically for detecting brute-force attacks against user accounts, which satisfies the requirement to use built-in rules where possible. This option is tempting because custom KQL queries offer flexibility for unique detection scenarios, and would be correct if the required detection pattern were not already covered by a pre-existing rule in Sentinel.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-305 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-305 exam.