mediumMultiple Choice
SC-200 DeployIfNotExists effect Practice Question
A company uses Microsoft Defender for Cloud and wants to automatically remediate non-compliant Azure resources by deploying missing configurations (e.g., enabling diagnostics when not enabled). Which feature should they enable?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'automatic remediation' with security controls like JIT or network hardening, but the question specifically asks about deploying missing configurations, which is a policy-based remediation feature, not a threat mitigation control.
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
✓
Azure Policy's DeployIfNotExists effect
Azure Policy's DeployIfNotExists effect is the correct feature because it automatically remediates non-compliant Azure resources by deploying missing configurations, such as enabling diagnostic settings, when the resource is created or updated. This effect evaluates resources against a policy definition and, if the specified configuration does not exist, triggers a deployment task to apply the required settings. In Defender for Cloud, this is used to enforce security baselines by automatically correcting non-compliant resources without manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Azure Policy's DeployIfNotExists effect
Why this is correct
DeployIfNotExists evaluates resources against a policy rule and, when the required configuration is absent, triggers a remediation task that deploys the missing setting via an ARM template. This delivers automatic remediation of non-compliant Azure resources without manual intervention.
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Just-In-Time VM access
Why it's wrong here
Just-In-Time VM access brokers temporary NSG rules for management ports on Azure VMs; it does not deploy resource configurations such as diagnostic settings. It is tempting because it is an automated Defender for Cloud remediation control, but it is the correct choice when the requirement is restricting inbound RDP/SSH exposure rather than enforcing configuration compliance.
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Adaptive network hardening
Why it's wrong here
Adaptive network hardening analyses NSG traffic and recommends rule changes to tighten exposure; it produces recommendations rather than deploying resource configurations. It is tempting because it is a Defender for Cloud automated hardening feature, but it is the correct choice when the requirement is reducing network attack surface, not enabling diagnostics on non-compliant resources.
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File integrity monitoring
Why it's wrong here
File integrity monitoring compares hashes of OS files and registry keys against baselines to detect tampering; it reports changes rather than deploying Azure resource configurations. It is tempting because it is a Defender for Cloud workload protection capability, but it is the correct choice when the requirement is detecting unauthorised changes to guest files, not remediating missing diagnostics.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SC-200 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-200 exam.