MS-102 Manage compliance by using Microsoft Purview Practice Question
A compliance officer needs to preserve all mailbox data for a user who is under a legal investigation. The data must be preserved indefinitely, and no deletion (by the user or system) should be possible. Which Microsoft Purview feature should the officer use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Retention Policies with Litigation Hold, thinking a retention policy can indefinitely preserve data, but retention policies have configurable expiration periods and can allow deletion, whereas Litigation Hold provides an immutable, indefinite hold specifically for legal scenarios.
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
✓
Litigation Hold
Litigation Hold is the correct feature because it preserves all mailbox content indefinitely, preventing any deletion by the user or automated processes like the Managed Folder Assistant. It ensures that data is immutable for eDiscovery purposes, meeting the compliance officer's requirement for indefinite preservation under legal investigation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Litigation Hold
Why this is correct
Litigation Hold is the correct choice because it preserves all mailbox content indefinitely, including deleted items and prior versions, and blocks both user purges and automatic Exchange retention cleanup. In Exchange Online, Litigation Hold temporarily overrides deletion and applies an indefinite hold that is only lifted when the hold is explicitly removed by an administrator, making it a true preservation-for-compliance mechanism.
- ✗
Retention Policy
Why it's wrong here
Retention Policy is wrong because MRM retention policies use retention tags with fixed age limits, meaning items are automatically moved to archive or deleted after a defined period. Since the compliance officer needs to preserve all mailbox data indefinitely, a retention policy would eventually purge data rather than preserve it, so it fails the requirement for indefinite preservation.
- ✗
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Why it's wrong here
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is wrong because DLP policies detect and protect sensitive information from being shared externally by applying actions like blocking, encrypting, or notifying users. DLP does not affect the lifecycle or deletion of mailbox items, so it cannot prevent a user or an automated process from deleting mail while still preserving it for compliance purposes.
- ✗
Sensitivity labels
Why it's wrong here
Sensitivity labels are wrong because they provide classification and protection capabilities such as encryption, visual markings, and usage rights, but they do not prevent deletion of mailbox items. Sensitivity labels do not impose any retention or holds on content, so mail can still be permanently removed by users or system processes, which is the opposite of the indefinite preservation required here.
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Key term
Compliance
Compliance is the process of ensuring that an organization follows laws, regulations, standards, and internal policies that apply to its operations and data handling.
Key term
eDiscovery
eDiscovery is the process of identifying, collecting, and producing electronic information for legal cases or investigations.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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