The answer is to disable the user account in Microsoft Entra ID and revoke all sessions, as this is the fastest and most effective way to contain a compromised account. Disabling the account immediately blocks all authentication attempts, while revoking sessions invalidates existing tokens and active logins, cutting off the attacker’s current access. This tests your understanding of the containment phase in the Microsoft incident response lifecycle, a key domain in the SC-200 exam where you must prioritize stopping the threat before investigating or remediating. A common trap is choosing to reset the password or sign out of sessions first, but those actions can be bypassed if the account remains enabled, or they fail to terminate active tokens. Remember the memory tip: “Disable first, investigate second” — because you cannot secure what you have not stopped.
SC-200 Respond to security incidents Practice Question
This SC-200 practice question tests your understanding of respond to security incidents. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 with Microsoft Defender XDR integrated. A critical incident has been raised involving a user account that was used to access a confidential SharePoint site from an unusual location at 2:00 AM. The incident includes alerts from Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Defender for Identity, and Microsoft Defender for Office 365. The analyst needs to contain the incident, investigate the scope, and begin remediation. The environment has the following: Microsoft Entra ID with conditional access policies, Microsoft Intune for device management, and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on all devices. The analyst has identified the user account and the device used. Which course of action should the analyst take first?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Disable the user account in Microsoft Entra ID and revoke all sessions.
Disabling the user account in Microsoft Entra ID is the fastest way to stop access. Option B is secondary; Option C doesn't stop access; Option D is for future, not immediate containment.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Create a conditional access policy to block the user.
Why it's wrong here
Policy may take minutes to propagate; disabling account is instant.
✗
Isolate the user's device using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
Why it's wrong here
Device isolation doesn't stop cloud access from other devices.
✗
Run a KQL query to find all resources accessed by the user.
Why it's wrong here
Investigation should follow containment.
✓
Disable the user account in Microsoft Entra ID and revoke all sessions.
Why this is correct
Immediately stops the user from accessing any resources.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this SC-200 question in full detail.
Identify which SC-200 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Respond to security incidents — This question tests Respond to security incidents — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Disable the user account in Microsoft Entra ID and revoke all sessions. — Disabling the user account in Microsoft Entra ID is the fastest way to stop access. Option B is secondary; Option C doesn't stop access; Option D is for future, not immediate containment.
What should I do if I get this SC-200 question wrong?
Identify which SC-200 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
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 →
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 and Microsoft Defender XDR. You receive an alert about a suspicious sign-in from an IP address associated with a known malicious actor. The sign-in was for a privileged account. You need to immediately contain the incident. What should you do first?
medium
A.Reset the user's password.
✓ B.Disable the user account in Microsoft Entra ID.
C.Create a custom analytics rule in Sentinel to detect similar sign-ins.
D.Block the IP address in the firewall.
Why B: Option B is correct because disabling the user account immediately stops the attacker from using the compromised credentials. Option A is wrong because resetting the password might not be fast enough if the attacker has an active session. Option C is wrong because blocking the IP in the firewall is reactive and may not be effective if the attacker uses a different IP. Option D is wrong because creating an analytics rule does not contain the incident immediately.
Variation 2. Your organization uses Microsoft Sentinel with the Microsoft 365 Defender connector. You receive an incident indicating that a user's account was used to sign in from an unusual location (Russia) while the user is in the United States. The sign-in was successful and no MFA challenge was prompted because the user had a valid session. The incident severity is High. You need to respond immediately. What should you do first?
medium
A.Block the IP address in the Conditional Access policy.
✓ B.Revoke the user's session in Microsoft Entra ID.
C.Investigate the sign-in logs to determine if there are other compromised accounts.
D.Reset the user's password.
Why B: Option A is correct because revoking the user's session invalidates the attacker's access immediately. Option B is wrong because investigating logs takes time and the attacker is still active. Option C is wrong because resetting password does not invalidate the current session. Option D is wrong because blocking the IP may be too broad and not stop session hijacking.
Last reviewed: Jun 21, 2026
Question Discussion
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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.
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