SC-200 Respond to security incidents Practice Question
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit.
```json
{
"properties": {
"displayName": "SOC Critical Alert Rule",
"description": "Triggers on critical severity alerts",
"severity": "High",
"enabled": true,
"query": "SecurityAlert | where Severity == 'High' | where TimeGenerated > ago(5m)",
"queryFrequency": "PT5M",
"queryPeriod": "PT5M",
"triggerOperator": "GreaterThan",
"triggerThreshold": 0,
"suppressionDuration": "PT5M",
"suppressionEnabled": false,
"incidentConfiguration": {
"createIncident": true,
"groupingConfiguration": {
"enabled": true,
"reopenClosedIncident": false,
"lookbackDuration": "PT5M",
"entitiesMatchingMethod": "All"
}
}
}
}
```You have a Microsoft Sentinel analytical rule with the above configuration. During a security incident, multiple high-severity alerts are generated within a 5-minute window. How does the rule handle these alerts?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'alert grouping' with 'alert suppression' or assume that multiple alerts always create multiple incidents, failing to notice the specific entity-based grouping configuration in the rule settings.
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
✓
Alerts with the same entities are grouped into a single incident.
The analytical rule is configured with 'Group alerts into incidents by: Grouping alerts into a single incident based on matching entities.' This means that when multiple high-severity alerts are generated within a 5-minute window, the rule evaluates the entities (e.g., IP addresses, user accounts) in each alert. If the alerts share the same entities, they are grouped into a single incident, preventing alert flooding and consolidating related security events.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Only the first alert creates an incident; subsequent alerts are ignored.
Why it's wrong here
This is incorrect because alert grouping in the rule is enabled, and the lookback duration defines how far back existing incidents are searched to group new alerts. When a subsequent alert fires within that window and matches the grouping criteria, it is attached to the already-created incident, not ignored. Thus, subsequent alerts are not dropped; they are aggregated into the same incident, maintaining a complete context.
- ✗
Each alert creates a separate incident.
Why it's wrong here
This option contradicts the configured alert grouping behavior, which consolidates matching alerts. With grouping enabled and entity-based matching, all alerts that have identical entity values are merged into a single incident instead of spawning separate ones. Separate incidents per alert would only occur if the rule had grouping disabled, which is not the case here.
- ✓
Alerts with the same entities are grouped into a single incident.
Why this is correct
This is the correct behavior for the rule's grouping settings. Microsoft Sentinel uses the entity matching method of 'All' to require that alerts share the exact same set of entities for grouping into one incident. When the rule fires, the incident creation engine evaluates each alert against the defined entities and groups those with matching values, providing a unified incident for triage and investigation.
- ✗
Alerts are suppressed for 5 minutes after the first alert.
Why it's wrong here
This is a misunderstanding of incident suppression versus grouping. The rule's suppression configuration is disabled, so there is no 5-minute quiet period after an alert fires; each qualifying alert is processed according to the grouping rules. Suppression would only be relevant if a duration was set in the rule's 'Suppression' section, which it is not, so alerts continue to be evaluated and grouped normally.
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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.