MS-900 Describe Microsoft 365 apps and services Practice Question
A financial services firm must comply with regulatory requirements that prevent accidental sharing of sensitive customer data via email. They need to automatically detect and block emails containing credit card numbers sent to external recipients. Which Microsoft 365 service should they configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Microsoft Defender XDR (security threat detection) with Microsoft Purview (compliance and data protection), leading them to choose Defender for a data loss prevention scenario instead of the correct compliance service.
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
✓
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview (formerly Microsoft 365 Compliance) includes Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies that can automatically detect sensitive data types, such as credit card numbers, in emails and block them from being sent to external recipients. This directly addresses the regulatory requirement to prevent accidental sharing of sensitive customer data via email.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Microsoft Defender XDR
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Defender XDR is an extended detection and response (XDR) platform that correlates telemetry across endpoints, identities, email, and cloud apps to detect and respond to sophisticated threats. While it can flag malicious email attachments or phishing URLs, it does not perform content-based data loss prevention inspection of email message bodies or attachments for regulated sensitive data such as account numbers or personal data. As a result, it is not the correct tool for satisfying data protection mandates governing email content.
- ✓
Microsoft Purview
Why this is correct
Microsoft Purview is the Microsoft 365 data governance and compliance solution that specifically includes Data Loss Prevention (DLP) capabilities for Exchange Online. Purview DLP policies can apply sensitive information types, trainable classifiers, and exact data match to email content and enforce actions such as blocking transmission, encrypting the message, or alerting a compliance officer. This directly enables a financial services firm to meet regulatory obligations by detecting and preventing the exfiltration of sensitive data in email.
- ✗
Microsoft Intune
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based unified endpoint management service that focuses on device enrollment, configuration, compliance, and app protection policies. While Intune app protection policies can restrict the sharing or copying of corporate data in managed applications like Microsoft Outlook, they operate at the device and app layer and do not scan email payloads for sensitive content. Therefore, Intune cannot independently provide email data loss prevention to meet regulatory requirements.
- ✗
Microsoft Entra ID
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) is the identity and access management backbone that provides authentication, single sign-on, and conditional access for Microsoft 365 resources. It can restrict which users can access Exchange Online or from which conditions, but it does not inspect email content for sensitive financial information. Because regulatory compliance demands content-level data protection, Entra ID alone is insufficient for email DLP and is not the correct choice.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
M365 Data Portability and Export
Key term
Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based cloud service from Microsoft that combines productivity tools like Office apps with security, device management, and online storage.
Key term
Data Loss Prevention
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a set of tools and processes that help organizations stop sensitive information from being shared, leaked, or stolen, whether accidentally or on purpose.
About these practice questions
One of 794 original MS-900 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-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.