AZ-400 Develop a security and compliance plan Practice Question
You are implementing a secrets management strategy for a multi-cloud deployment. You need to securely store and rotate API keys for a third-party service. Which Azure service should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse Azure App Configuration's encrypted storage with Key Vault's secrets management, but App Configuration lacks automatic rotation and HSM-backed security, making it unsuitable for API keys.
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
✓
Azure Key Vault
Azure Key Vault is the correct service because it is designed specifically for securely storing and managing secrets, including API keys, with built-in support for automatic rotation via integration with Azure Event Grid and Azure Functions. It provides hardware security module (HSM)-backed encryption, access policies, and auditing, making it ideal for multi-cloud secrets management.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Azure Key Vault
Why this is correct
Azure Key Vault is a cloud service for securely storing and accessing secrets, keys, and certificates. It provides centralized secret management, fine-grained access policies, and built-in rotation capabilities, making it the appropriate choice for implementing a secrets management strategy.
- ✗
Microsoft Entra ID
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) is an identity and access management service that handles authentication and authorization, not the storage of application secrets. While it can issue tokens and manage service principals, it does not provide a secure store for secret values like API keys or connection strings.
- ✗
Azure App Configuration
Why it's wrong here
Azure App Configuration is designed for managing application settings and feature flags, and while it can store configuration data, it is not intended for sensitive secrets. It lacks the dedicated encryption, access control, and rotation features that a secrets management solution provides.
- ✗
Azure Storage Blob
Why it's wrong here
Blob storage is for unstructured data like files and images, and storing secrets there is insecure because it does not provide built-in access policies, auditing, or automated rotation for secret values. It would require additional manual encryption and management, making it inappropriate for a robust secrets management strategy.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to DevOps and Azure DevOps
Key term
Azure Key Vault
Azure Key Vault is a cloud service for securely storing and managing sensitive information like passwords, encryption keys, and certificates.
Key term
Secrets management
Secrets management is the practice of securely storing, controlling access to, and regularly rotating sensitive credentials like passwords, API keys, and certificates used by applications and services.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-400 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-400 exam.