This AZ-400 practice question tests your understanding of develop a security and compliance plan. 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.
Your team uses GitHub and wants to automatically detect exposed credentials in code. Which GitHub feature should you enable?
Dependabot alerts
Why wrong: Dependabot alerts are for vulnerable dependencies.
GitHub Copilot
Why wrong: Copilot is an AI code assistant.
Code scanning
Why wrong: Code scanning finds code vulnerabilities, not secrets.
Secret scanning
Secret scanning detects tokens, keys, and other secrets.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Secret scanning
Secret scanning is the correct answer because it is the GitHub feature specifically designed to automatically detect exposed credentials, such as API keys, tokens, and passwords, in code repositories. It scans for known patterns of secrets and can alert both the repository owner and the partner service (e.g., AWS, Azure) to revoke the compromised credential. This directly addresses the requirement to automatically detect exposed credentials in code.
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.
Dependabot alerts
Why it's wrong here
Dependabot alerts are for vulnerable dependencies.
GitHub Copilot
Why it's wrong here
Copilot is an AI code assistant.
Code scanning
Why it's wrong here
Code scanning finds code vulnerabilities, not secrets.
Secret scanning
Why this is correct
Secret scanning detects tokens, keys, and other secrets.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Code scanning (which finds code vulnerabilities) with Secret scanning (which finds credentials), but Azure and GitHub treat them as separate features with distinct purposes and detection mechanisms.
Detailed technical explanation
Secret scanning works by matching content in repositories against a set of predefined patterns for over 200 types of secrets, including AWS keys, GitHub tokens, Azure service principals, and more. When a match is found, GitHub can automatically create an alert and, for partner patterns, notify the service provider to revoke the secret. A real-world scenario is a developer accidentally committing an Azure storage account key to a public repository; secret scanning would detect the pattern and alert both the team and Azure to invalidate the key, preventing unauthorized access.
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
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Develop a security and compliance plan — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
Develop a security and compliance plan practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
All AZ-400 questions
913 questions across all exam domains
Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Expert AZ-400 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
AZ-400 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to Configure processes and communications.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to Design and implement source control.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to Design and implement build and release pipelines.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to Develop a security and compliance plan.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to Implement an instrumentation strategy.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to Design and implement a DevOps infrastructure.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to Design and implement a source control strategy.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to AZ-400 fundamentals.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to AZ-400 scenario.
Practise AZ-400 questions linked to AZ-400 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Develop a security and compliance plan — This question tests Develop a security and compliance plan — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Secret scanning — Secret scanning is the correct answer because it is the GitHub feature specifically designed to automatically detect exposed credentials, such as API keys, tokens, and passwords, in code repositories. It scans for known patterns of secrets and can alert both the repository owner and the partner service (e.g., AWS, Azure) to revoke the compromised credential. This directly addresses the requirement to automatically detect exposed credentials in code.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.