- A
Workbooks
Why wrong: For reporting, not investigation.
- B
Automation rules
Why wrong: Trigger playbooks.
- C
Investigation graph
Visual timeline for investigation.
- D
Analytics rules
Why wrong: Generate alerts.
Question 197 of 1,639
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. You receive an incident that involves a potential lateral movement detected by Microsoft Defender for Identity. You need to investigate the timeline of the attack. Which Microsoft Sentinel feature should you use?
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
✓
Investigation graph
The Investigation graph in Microsoft Sentinel is specifically designed to explore the scope and timeline of an attack by visually mapping entities (e.g., users, devices, IPs) and their connections. For a lateral movement incident detected by Defender for Identity, the graph automatically surfaces related alerts, entities, and activities in a chronological view, enabling you to trace the attacker's path across resources. This makes it the correct tool for investigating the attack timeline.
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.
- ✗
Workbooks
Why it's wrong here
For reporting, not investigation.
- ✗
Automation rules
Why it's wrong here
Trigger playbooks.
- ✓
Investigation graph
Why this is correct
Visual timeline for investigation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Analytics rules
Why it's wrong here
Generate alerts.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse the Investigation graph with Workbooks, assuming any visual tool for analysis is a Workbook, but Workbooks are for aggregated reporting, not for per-incident entity timeline exploration.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The Investigation graph leverages the entity graph database in Sentinel, which stores relationships between entities (e.g., UserAuthenticatedTo, HostHasIP) extracted from logs via UEBA and threat intelligence. When you open an incident, the graph queries these relationships up to a configurable depth (default 5 hops) and renders them as nodes and edges, with timestamps on each edge to show the sequence of events. In a lateral movement scenario, this allows you to see, for example, a user authenticating from Host A to Host B, then executing a process on Host C, all in a single visual timeline.
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.
TExam Day Tips
- 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.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SC-200 question test?
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: Investigation graph — The Investigation graph in Microsoft Sentinel is specifically designed to explore the scope and timeline of an attack by visually mapping entities (e.g., users, devices, IPs) and their connections. For a lateral movement incident detected by Defender for Identity, the graph automatically surfaces related alerts, entities, and activities in a chronological view, enabling you to trace the attacker's path across resources. This makes it the correct tool for investigating the attack timeline.
What should I do if I get this SC-200 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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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