Describe security, compliance, privacy, and trust in Microsoft 365 →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
MS-900 Practice Question: Describe security, compliance, privacy, and trust in Microsoft 365
A compliance officer needs to automatically encrypt any outgoing email that contains a customer's credit card number. The solution should work without requiring the sender to take any manual action. Which Microsoft Purview feature should be configured?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Microsoft Purview Message Encryption (a manual or rule-triggered encryption method) with a DLP policy's ability to automatically detect and encrypt content, leading them to select Message Encryption as the direct solution instead of the policy that orchestrates the detection and action.
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
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Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy
A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy in Microsoft Purview can be configured to automatically detect sensitive information types, such as credit card numbers, in outgoing email. When a match is found, the policy can enforce an action like 'Encrypt the message' without requiring any manual action from the sender, fulfilling the compliance officer's requirement for automatic, sender-transparent encryption.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy
Why this is correct
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies in Microsoft Purview inspect outbound email for sensitive information types, such as credit card numbers, and can automatically invoke encryption as a corrective action before the message is sent. This is a built-in, policy-driven capability that requires no manual user action or separate rule configuration, making it the correct choice for automatically encrypting messages containing regulated data.
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Microsoft Purview Message Encryption
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Purview Message Encryption is a protection layer that allows users to encrypt email manually via the Encrypt button or through mail flow rules, but it does not itself parse message content to audit for credit card numbers. Without a DLP policy to identify the sensitive data and trigger encryption, Message Encryption will not autonomously inspect and re-encrypt outgoing mail containing such patterns.
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Sensitivity labels
Why it's wrong here
Sensitivity labels enable encryption, but they depend on users manually choosing the label or on auto-labeling policies that employ trainable classifiers or configured sensitive info types, which can be indirect and slower than DLP's real-time content analysis. For straightforward automatic encryption of all external messages containing a credit card number, a DLP policy is the more precise out-of-the-box solution because it natively combines detection with a specific protective action.
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Retention policies
Why it's wrong here
Retention policies govern how long content is kept or deleted, implementing regulatory or business retention schedules, and they have no capability to scan outgoing messages for sensitive patterns or to apply encryption. Their scope is purely lifecycle management—preserving records, preventing deletion, and enabling eDiscovery—not real-time content protection, so they cannot address the requirement to encrypt emails based on credit card data.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MS-900 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-900 exam.