Quick Answer
The correct first step is to review phishing emails in Threat Explorer and adjust anti-phishing policies. This is because Threat Explorer provides a forensic view of why specific phishing emails delivered to inbox in Defender for Office 365 bypassed filtering, allowing you to identify policy misconfigurations, tenant-level overrides, or user-level allow settings that caused the delivery. On the SC-200 exam, this question tests your understanding of the troubleshooting workflow: always investigate the threat data before making changes, as jumping to actions like increasing spam confidence levels can cause false positives. A common trap is assuming you should immediately harden settings, but Microsoft emphasizes that enabling Secure by Default is already active, so the root cause is often a custom policy or user override. Memory tip: Think “Explore before you enforce”—always check Threat Explorer first to see why the email landed, then tweak anti-phishing policies accordingly.
This SC-200 practice question tests your understanding of manage a security operations environment. 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 has Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enabled. Users report that phishing emails are being delivered to their inboxes. You need to improve the filtering. What should you do 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.
Increase the spam confidence level threshold.
Why wrong: Could cause false positives.
Review phishing emails in Threat Explorer and adjust anti-phishing policies.
Threat Explorer provides detailed analysis.
Disable third-party email connectors.
Why wrong: Not related to phishing filtering.
Enable the 'Secure by default' setting in Exchange Online.
Why wrong: Already enabled by default.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Review phishing emails in Threat Explorer and adjust anti-phishing policies.
Reviewing the Threat Explorer in Defender for Office 365 allows you to analyze detected phishing emails and understand why they were delivered, then adjust policies accordingly. Option A is wrong because increasing spam confidence level might block legitimate email. Option C is wrong because disabling third-party connectors doesn't help. Option D is wrong because enabling secure by default is already enabled.
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.
Increase the spam confidence level threshold.
Why it's wrong here
Could cause false positives.
Review phishing emails in Threat Explorer and adjust anti-phishing policies.
Why this is correct
Threat Explorer provides detailed analysis.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Disable third-party email connectors.
Why it's wrong here
Not related to phishing filtering.
Enable the 'Secure by default' setting in Exchange Online.
Why it's wrong here
Already enabled by default.
Common exam traps
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
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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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.
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FAQ
Manage a security operations environment — This question tests Manage a security operations environment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Review phishing emails in Threat Explorer and adjust anti-phishing policies. — Reviewing the Threat Explorer in Defender for Office 365 allows you to analyze detected phishing emails and understand why they were delivered, then adjust policies accordingly. Option A is wrong because increasing spam confidence level might block legitimate email. Option C is wrong because disabling third-party connectors doesn't help. Option D is wrong because enabling secure by default is already enabled.
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.
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 21, 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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