Design solutions that align with security best practices and priorities →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
Automating Incident Response for Known False Positives in Microsoft Sentinel
Your organization uses Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM. You need to ensure that security incidents are automatically responded to without human intervention for known false positives. What should you implement?
Quick Answer
The answer is an automation rule with incident closure action. This is correct because automation rules in Microsoft Sentinel allow you to define conditions—such as specific alert names, severity levels, or entity types—that, when matched, automatically trigger an incident closure action, effectively handling known false positives without any human intervention. On the Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect exam, this concept tests your understanding of how to operationalize security operations center efficiency by reducing alert fatigue; a common trap is confusing automation rules with playbooks, but remember that playbooks require a Logic App and are better for complex remediation, whereas a simple closure action is handled directly within the rule itself. For a quick memory tip, think “Close with a rule, not a playbook” to distinguish when a straightforward automation rule suffices for false positive suppression.
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse alert suppression (which prevents duplicate alerts) with incident closure automation, or they assume a playbook is always required for automation, when in fact a simple automation rule with a closure action is the direct and correct solution for automatically handling known false positives.
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
✓
An automation rule with incident closure action
Automation rules in Microsoft Sentinel can be configured to automatically close incidents when specific conditions are met, such as when an incident is identified as a known false positive. This eliminates the need for human intervention by triggering an incident closure action based on predefined criteria, directly addressing the requirement for automated response to false positives.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
An analytics rule with alert suppression
Why it's wrong here
Suppresses alerts, but not automatic incident closure.
- ✗
A playbook that runs on incident creation
Why it's wrong here
Playbooks often require human approval or manual steps.
- ✗
An entity behavior analytics rule
Why it's wrong here
Identifies anomalies, doesn't auto-close.
- ✓
An automation rule with incident closure action
Why this is correct
Automation rules can auto-close incidents based on conditions.
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Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on SC-100
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 uses Microsoft Sentinel for security operations. You need to design a solution to automatically respond to a DDoS attack detected by Azure DDoS Protection. The response should include blocking the attacker's IP address in Azure Firewall and sending an alert to the security team. Which approach should you use?
hard- A.Configure an alert rule in Azure Monitor to send an email to the security team
- B.Use Azure Policy to deny network traffic from the attacker's IP range
- C.Configure a resource lock on the Azure Firewall to prevent changes
- ✓ D.Create an automation rule in Microsoft Sentinel that triggers a playbook to block the IP in Azure Firewall
Why D: Microsoft Sentinel automation rules can trigger a playbook (an Azure Logic App) when a DDoS attack detection alert fires. The playbook can execute an action to block the attacker's IP address in Azure Firewall via its REST API or PowerShell cmdlets, and simultaneously send an alert to the security team (e.g., via email or Teams). This provides an automated, orchestrated response directly from the SIEM, aligning with security operations best practices.
Variation 2. Your organization uses Microsoft Sentinel for security operations. The SOC team wants to automatically disable a compromised user account in Microsoft Entra ID when a high-severity alert is generated. Which automation method should you use?
hard- ✓ A.An automation rule with a playbook
- B.A workbook
- C.A KQL query in a hunting rule
- D.An analytics rule
Why A: Automation rules in Microsoft Sentinel can trigger a playbook (an Azure Logic Apps workflow) when a high-severity alert fires. The playbook can then execute an action to disable the user account in Microsoft Entra ID via the Microsoft Graph API. This is the correct method because it provides the necessary integration between Sentinel alerts and Entra ID identity remediation.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SC-100 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 SC-100 exam.