Automated Investigation and Response (AIR) in Microsoft Defender XDR
A security team wants to automatically investigate and respond to security incidents across endpoints, email, and identities without manual intervention. Which Microsoft Defender XDR capability provides this automation?
Quick Answer
The answer is Automated investigation and response (AIR). This is the correct choice because AIR in Microsoft Defender XDR leverages machine learning and predefined playbooks to automatically triage alerts, determine the scope of an incident, and execute remediation actions across endpoints, email, and identities without requiring manual intervention. On the Microsoft 365 Administrator MS-102 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how Defender XDR unifies security automation across workloads; a common trap is confusing AIR with manual incident response or with a single-product feature like Defender for Endpoint’s live response. Remember that AIR is the cross-workload engine that acts on the entire incident, not just one alert. A helpful memory tip is to think of AIR as the “auto-pilot” for security operations—it flies the investigation and lands the remediation, so you don’t have to touch the controls.
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse 'automated investigation and response' with 'advanced hunting' because both involve security analysis, but only AIR provides the automated remediation workflow without manual querying.
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
✓
Automated investigation and response (AIR)
Automated investigation and response (AIR) is the Microsoft Defender XDR capability that automatically investigates alerts and takes remediation actions across endpoints, email, and identities without manual intervention. It uses playbooks and machine learning to triage incidents, determine scope, and apply actions like isolating devices or deleting malicious emails.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Automated investigation and response (AIR)
Why this is correct
Automated investigation and response (AIR) in Microsoft Defender XDR automatically investigates alerts across endpoints, email, and identities, then applies remediation actions without analyst input. This directly satisfies the stem's requirement for hands-off response spanning all three workloads, unlike standalone playbooks or manual triage.
- ✗
Advanced hunting
Why it's wrong here
Advanced hunting is a query-based tool for proactively searching raw telemetry; it neither triggers nor orchestrates automated investigation and response. It is tempting because it supports threat discovery, and would be correct for manually crafting KQL queries to hunt for specific indicators.
- ✗
Threat analytics
Why it's wrong here
Threat analytics presents curated intelligence about active threat campaigns; it is informational and takes no remediation action. It is tempting because it informs defenders about emerging attacks, and would be correct when the requirement is prioritising patching based on current threat intelligence.
- ✗
Attack surface reduction rules
Why it's wrong here
Attack surface reduction rules block specific risky behaviours (Office child processes, script execution) on endpoints; they take no remediation action across email and identities and perform no automated investigation. They are tempting because they harden Windows devices against common malware vectors, which is the correct choice when the requirement is prevention rather than automated response.
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Key term
Security
Security in IT is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, damage, or theft.
Key term
Microsoft Defender XDR
Microsoft Defender XDR is a unified security platform that automatically correlates alerts from across an organization's endpoints, email, identities, and cloud apps to stop complex attacks.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on MS-102
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Your organization is a small business with 200 users. You use Microsoft 365 Business Premium, which includes Microsoft Defender for Business (the small business version of Defender for Endpoint) and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1. You want to protect against ransomware by blocking malicious processes and behaviors on endpoints. You also need to enable automated investigation and response for common threats. However, your IT team has limited security expertise and wants a simple configuration that provides out-of-the-box protection without custom policies. What should you do?
easy- A.Configure Safe Attachments policies in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to block ransomware attachments.
- ✓ B.Enable the default security baseline in Microsoft Defender for Business, which includes attack surface reduction rules and automated investigation.
- C.Create custom attack surface reduction rules in Microsoft Defender for Business to block ransomware behaviors.
- D.Deploy a third-party endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution alongside Microsoft Defender for Business.
Why B: Microsoft Defender for Business includes a default security baseline that turns on recommended attack surface reduction (ASR) rules, next-generation antivirus, and automated investigation and response (AIR) out of the box. For a 200-user shop with limited security expertise, enabling this baseline delivers ransomware-blocking behavior rules and automated remediation without requiring custom policy authoring. This matches the requirement for simple, out-of-the-box protection.
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.