SC-100 Practice Question: Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities
You are designing a privileged access strategy for a company that uses Microsoft Entra ID. The company requires that administrators must activate their privileged roles only after providing a justification and obtaining approval from a designated approver. The activation must be limited to a maximum of 4 hours. You need to configure the solution. What should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Conditional Access or access reviews with PIM, but only PIM provides just-in-time activation with approval and time limits.
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 Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM) with role settings configured for approval and maximum activation duration.
Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM) is designed for just-in-time privileged access. It allows you to configure roles as eligible, requiring activation with justification and approval. You can set the maximum activation duration, such as 4 hours, and designate approvers. This ensures that administrators only have privileged access when needed and for a limited time, reducing the attack surface. Other options do not provide the required approval and time-bound activation features.
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 Entra ID Protection risk policies that block sign-ins for privileged users with risky sign-in behavior.
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra ID Protection detects and responds to risky sign-ins and users, but it does not manage privileged role activation. It cannot require justification or approval for role activation, nor can it limit activation duration. ID Protection is focused on risk-based conditional access, not on privileged access management workflows. Therefore, it does not meet the stated requirements.
- ✓
Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM) with role settings configured for approval and maximum activation duration.
Why this is correct
Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM) allows you to configure role settings that require approval for activation and set a maximum activation duration. You can specify approvers, require justification, and limit activation to a specific number of hours. This directly meets the requirements for just-in-time privileged access with approval workflow and time-bound activation.
- ✗
Microsoft Entra ID Governance access reviews for privileged roles, configured to run monthly.
Why it's wrong here
Access reviews are used to periodically review and certify that users still need their roles. They do not provide just-in-time activation, approval workflows, or time-bound activation. Access reviews help with attestation and cleanup of excessive permissions but do not enforce the requirement that administrators must activate roles with justification and approval for a limited duration.
- ✗
Conditional Access policies that require multi-factor authentication and compliant devices for privileged roles.
Why it's wrong here
Conditional Access can enforce MFA and device compliance for privileged roles, but it does not provide just-in-time activation, approval workflows, or time-bound role assignments. Conditional Access controls access based on conditions but does not manage the lifecycle of role activation. It cannot require a justification or an approver, nor can it automatically deactivate a role after a set period.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This SC-100 question is part of Courseiva's 605-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Microsoft exam blueprint
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.