- A
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Actions & submissions to view email headers.
Why wrong: Actions & submissions is for submitting items for analysis, not for viewing headers of multiple messages.
- B
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Threat hunters to search for email headers.
Why wrong: Threat hunters is a role, not a feature; email hunting is done in Email & collaboration.
- C
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Attack simulation training to collect headers.
Why wrong: Attack simulation training is for simulating attacks, not for investigation.
- D
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Email & collaboration > Explorer to query email headers.
Explorer allows hunting and exporting email headers for investigation.
Question 417 of 1,639
Use Threat Explorer to Collect Email Headers from Multiple Mailboxes
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.
A SOC analyst is investigating a phishing campaign that targets Microsoft 365 users. The analyst needs to collect email message headers from multiple users' mailboxes. Which Microsoft 365 Defender action should the analyst 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
✓
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Email & collaboration > Explorer to query email headers.
Option D is correct because Microsoft 365 Defender's Email & collaboration > Explorer (also known as Threat Explorer) is the dedicated tool for querying email message headers across multiple user mailboxes. It allows analysts to search for specific email messages by sender, recipient, subject, or other attributes, and then view the full internet message headers (RFC 5322) for forensic analysis. This is the standard workflow for investigating phishing campaigns in Microsoft 365 Defender.
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.
- ✗
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Actions & submissions to view email headers.
Why it's wrong here
Actions & submissions is for submitting items for analysis, not for viewing headers of multiple messages.
- ✗
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Threat hunters to search for email headers.
Why it's wrong here
Threat hunters is a role, not a feature; email hunting is done in Email & collaboration.
- ✗
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Attack simulation training to collect headers.
Why it's wrong here
Attack simulation training is for simulating attacks, not for investigation.
- ✓
Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Email & collaboration > Explorer to query email headers.
Why this is correct
Explorer allows hunting and exporting email headers for investigation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse Threat Explorer (a dedicated email investigation tool) with Advanced Hunting (a general-purpose query tool), leading them to incorrectly choose Option B, even though Advanced Hunting does not natively display raw email headers without custom KQL parsing.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Email headers in Microsoft 365 are stored as part of the message metadata in Exchange Online. Threat Explorer provides a graphical interface to filter messages by properties such as 'Original Email' or 'Latest Delivery Location', and then the 'View message header' option retrieves the full SMTP header chain, including Received-SPF, DKIM-Signature, and Authentication-Results fields. This is critical for tracing the actual path of a phishing email and identifying spoofing or relay attempts.
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 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
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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: Use Microsoft 365 Defender > Email & collaboration > Explorer to query email headers. — Option D is correct because Microsoft 365 Defender's Email & collaboration > Explorer (also known as Threat Explorer) is the dedicated tool for querying email message headers across multiple user mailboxes. It allows analysts to search for specific email messages by sender, recipient, subject, or other attributes, and then view the full internet message headers (RFC 5322) for forensic analysis. This is the standard workflow for investigating phishing campaigns in Microsoft 365 Defender.
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.
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 →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on SC-200
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. An analyst is investigating a phishing campaign that targeted multiple users. The analyst needs to identify if any users clicked a malicious link in the email. Which Microsoft Defender for Office 365 feature should be used?
easy- A.Safe Attachments
- ✓ B.Threat Explorer
- C.Attack Simulator
- D.Safe Links
Why B: Threat Explorer (also known as Explorer) in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides a real-time, interactive view of threat data, including email delivery status and user actions such as clicks on malicious links. It allows analysts to filter by 'Click action' to identify users who clicked a URL that was determined to be malicious, making it the correct tool for this investigation.
Variation 2. A security operations center (SOC) analyst is investigating an incident involving a user who received a phishing email with a malicious macro. The analyst needs to determine if any other users received the same email. Which Microsoft 365 Defender feature should the analyst use?
medium- A.Advanced Hunting
- B.Alert queue filtering
- ✓ C.Threat Explorer (Investigation)
- D.Email entity page
Why C: Threat Explorer in Microsoft 365 Defender allows hunting for email messages by sender, subject, or other attributes. Advanced Hunting is for raw queries; Email entity page shows one email; Alert queue filters by alert not email.
Keep practising
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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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