Quick Answer
The answer is to customize the UEBA anomaly threshold to reduce false positives. This is correct because UEBA establishes a behavioral baseline for each user, and the anomaly threshold defines how far a deviation—like repeated failed logins—must stray from that baseline before triggering an alert. By raising the threshold, you allow for legitimate authentication failures without firing an alert, while still catching true brute-force attacks that exceed the adjusted limit. On the Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect exam, this scenario tests your understanding of tuning behavioral analytics within Microsoft Sentinel, often appearing as a distractor where candidates mistakenly choose to disable UEBA or create a separate analytics rule. A common trap is thinking you need to suppress the alert entirely; instead, remember that the threshold fine-tunes sensitivity without losing detection. Memory tip: think of it as a “sensitivity dial” for your baseline—turn it up to ignore noise, but not so high that you miss the hammer.
This SC-100 practice question tests your understanding of design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your organization uses Microsoft Sentinel and has enabled User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA). The security team receives an alert for a user who has failed authentication 10 times in 5 minutes. What should you configure to reduce false positives while ensuring legitimate brute-force attacks are still detected?
Customize the anomaly threshold in UEBA
Adjusting sensitivity reduces false positives while keeping detection.
Disable UEBA for that user
Why wrong: Disabling UEBA removes behavioral detection, not just false positives.
Modify the analytics rule that triggered the alert
Why wrong: The alert comes from UEBA, not an analytics rule.
Create a playbook to auto-acknowledge the alert
Why wrong: Playbooks automate response, not threshold tuning.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Customize the anomaly threshold in UEBA
Customizing the anomaly threshold in UEBA allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the behavioral baseline, reducing false positives for users who legitimately fail authentication multiple times while still detecting true brute-force attacks. UEBA learns normal behavior patterns and flags deviations; by raising the threshold, you require a higher deviation from the baseline before an alert fires, preserving detection of actual attacks.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Customize the anomaly threshold in UEBA
Why this is correct
Adjusting sensitivity reduces false positives while keeping detection.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Disable UEBA for that user
Why it's wrong here
Disabling UEBA removes behavioral detection, not just false positives.
Modify the analytics rule that triggered the alert
Why it's wrong here
The alert comes from UEBA, not an analytics rule.
Create a playbook to auto-acknowledge the alert
Why it's wrong here
Playbooks automate response, not threshold tuning.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates assume modifying the analytics rule (Option C) is the correct tuning mechanism, but UEBA-specific thresholds are configured separately from the underlying analytics rule, and adjusting the rule itself would affect all users and all detection logic, not just the behavioral anomaly component.
Detailed technical explanation
UEBA in Microsoft Sentinel uses machine learning models to establish a baseline of user behavior over a rolling window (typically 14 days) and scores anomalies using a z-score or percentile-based approach. Customizing the anomaly threshold adjusts the minimum deviation required to trigger an alert—for example, changing from the default 95th percentile to the 99th percentile reduces sensitivity. In a real-world scenario, a user with a legitimate script that retries authentication 10 times in 5 minutes due to network latency would be flagged as anomalous at the default threshold, but raising the threshold to account for their historical pattern of occasional retries would suppress the false positive while still catching a brute-force attack that spikes to 100 attempts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
All SC-100 questions
969 questions across all exam domains
Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
SC-100 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Design solutions that align with security best practices and priorities.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Design security solutions for infrastructure.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Design a Zero Trust strategy and architecture.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Design security solutions for applications and data.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Evaluate GRC and security operations strategies.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Design security for infrastructure.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Design a strategy for data and applications.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to Recommend security best practices and priorities.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to SC-100 fundamentals.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to SC-100 scenario.
Practise SC-100 questions linked to SC-100 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities — This question tests Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Customize the anomaly threshold in UEBA — Customizing the anomaly threshold in UEBA allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the behavioral baseline, reducing false positives for users who legitimately fail authentication multiple times while still detecting true brute-force attacks. UEBA learns normal behavior patterns and flags deviations; by raising the threshold, you require a higher deviation from the baseline before an alert fires, preserving detection of actual attacks.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.