This AZ-400 practice question tests your understanding of design and implement a source control strategy. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 proactively protect your repository from accidentally committing secrets? (Choose two.)
Enable branch protection rules
Why wrong: Not directly about secrets.
Use pre-commit hooks with tools like detect-secrets
Prevents committing secrets.
Enable push protection in secret scanning
Blocks commits with secrets.
Use signed commits
Why wrong: Ensures authenticity, not secrets.
Configure secret scanning alerts
Why wrong: Detects after commit.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use pre-commit hooks with tools like detect-secrets
Option B is correct because pre-commit hooks, such as those using the detect-secrets tool, scan staged changes before a commit is finalized. This prevents secrets from ever entering the repository history, providing a proactive, client-side guard. Option C is correct because push protection in secret scanning blocks pushes that contain known secret patterns at the server side, preventing the secret from being stored in the remote repository.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Enable branch protection rules
Why it's wrong here
Not directly about secrets.
Use pre-commit hooks with tools like detect-secrets
Why this is correct
Prevents committing secrets.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Enable push protection in secret scanning
Why this is correct
Blocks commits with secrets.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Use signed commits
Why it's wrong here
Ensures authenticity, not secrets.
Configure secret scanning alerts
Why it's wrong here
Detects after commit.
Common exam traps
The trap here is confusing reactive security measures (like alerts or branch policies) with proactive, blocking controls (like pre-commit hooks and push protection) that prevent secrets from being stored in the first place.
Detailed technical explanation
Pre-commit hooks execute locally on the developer's machine before the commit object is created, allowing tools like detect-secrets to use regex patterns and entropy checks to identify high-entropy strings (e.g., API keys). Push protection in GitHub secret scanning uses server-side hooks that intercept the push and reject it if a known secret pattern (e.g., AWS Access Key ID) is detected, preventing the secret from being stored in any branch or tag. This dual-layer approach ensures secrets are caught before they become part of the repository history.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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FAQ
Design and implement a source control strategy — This question tests Design and implement a source control strategy — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Use pre-commit hooks with tools like detect-secrets — Option B is correct because pre-commit hooks, such as those using the detect-secrets tool, scan staged changes before a commit is finalized. This prevents secrets from ever entering the repository history, providing a proactive, client-side guard. Option C is correct because push protection in secret scanning blocks pushes that contain known secret patterns at the server side, preventing the secret from being stored in the remote repository.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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