How to Auto-Apply a Sensitivity Label with a Custom Sensitive Info Type and Require Justification for Removal
A compliance officer needs to automatically apply a sensitivity label to all documents in SharePoint Online that contain a credit card number. The label must mark the document as 'Confidential' and encrypt it. Which two Microsoft Purview components must be configured to achieve automatic labeling based on sensitive content? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse DLP policies with auto-labeling policies, but DLP policies only monitor and block data movement, while auto-labeling policies are the correct mechanism to automatically apply sensitivity labels based on content detection.
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
✓
Sensitivity label
Sensitivity labels define the classification and protection settings (e.g., 'Confidential' marking and encryption). Auto-labeling policies automatically apply those labels to documents containing sensitive information types, such as credit card numbers, without requiring user intervention. Together, they enable automatic labeling based on sensitive content in SharePoint Online.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Sensitivity label
Why this is correct
A sensitivity label is the actual content-classification construct that carries the required protection settings, such as 'Confidential' with encryption, in Microsoft Purview. Creating the label is mandatory because the auto-labeling policy can only reference an existing label and apply it to content. Therefore, the correct answer to 'automatically apply a sensitivity label' includes provisioning this label with the desired encryption and permissions.
- ✓
Auto-labeling policy
Why this is correct
An auto-labeling policy is the Purview mechanism that scans SharePoint sites for content containing a specific condition, such as a credit card number, and then automatically applies the previously created sensitivity label. It is correct in this scenario because it provides the automatic application workflow that the compliance officer needs, while the label itself supplies the encryption settings. Without this policy, the label would remain available only for manual user selection.
- ✗
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy
Why it's wrong here
A DLP policy is designed for enforcement actions, such as blocking or restricting the sharing of sensitive data, not for assigning sensitivity labels to content. While DLP can use a sensitivity label as a condition to trigger a rule, it cannot change or apply a label when a match occurs. Therefore, it would not fulfill the requirement to automatically apply a sensitivity label to documents.
- ✗
Retention label policy
Why it's wrong here
A retention label policy governs the data lifecycle by applying retention rules that preserve or permanently delete content after a specified period. It does not classify content by sensitivity or apply encryption, because it is focused on storage disposition rather than protection. Thus, while it can label content, that label is a retention tag, not a sensitivity label, so it cannot satisfy the compliance requirement.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Exchange Online Administration
Key term
Sensitivity label
A sensitivity label is a metadata tag applied to digital content that classifies the content's level of confidentiality and governs how it can be shared, protected, and accessed.
Key term
SharePoint Online
SharePoint Online is a cloud-based collaboration platform from Microsoft that lets teams create, store, organize, and share content securely from anywhere.
About these practice questions
One of 712 original MS-102 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MS-102 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 MS-102 exam.