The correct answer is to create an activity policy in Defender for Cloud Apps and connect it to Sentinel. This is because an activity policy monitors user behavior events, such as logging into a sanctioned cloud app from an anonymous IP address, and can trigger alerts based on those specific actions. Unlike file policies, which only scan for data-level risks like sharing or malware, or session policies, which control real-time access without generating historical alerts, the activity policy is designed precisely for tracking user access anomalies. On the SC-200 exam, this question tests your understanding of how Defender for Cloud Apps policies map to different threat scenarios—a common trap is confusing file policies with activity policies. Remember the memory tip: "Activity for access, File for content"—if the alert is about who accessed what from where, it’s always an activity policy.
SC-200 Manage a security operations environment Practice Question
This SC-200 practice question tests your understanding of manage a security operations environment. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 Cloud Apps (MDA) connected to Microsoft Sentinel. The SOC team wants to receive alerts when a user accesses a sanctioned cloud app from an anonymous IP address. What should you configure?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create an activity policy in Defender for Cloud Apps and connect it to Sentinel.
Option B is correct because an activity policy in Defender for Cloud Apps can be configured to trigger alerts on specific user activities, such as accessing a sanctioned app from an anonymous IP address. This policy can then be connected to Microsoft Sentinel via the Defender for Cloud Apps data connector, which ingests alerts as incidents for SOC review. File policies (A) focus on file-level actions like sharing or malware detection, not user access events, while session policies (D) control real-time access but do not generate alerts for historical or post-access monitoring.
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 file policy in Defender for Cloud Apps.
Why it's wrong here
File policies are designed to protect sensitive data, not detect anonymous IP access.
✓
Create an activity policy in Defender for Cloud Apps and connect it to Sentinel.
Why this is correct
Activity policies can detect specific behaviors like anonymous IP access and send alerts to Sentinel.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable the Defender for Cloud Apps connector in Sentinel without additional configuration.
Why it's wrong here
The connector ingests alerts, but you need a policy in Defender for Cloud Apps to generate the specific alert.
✗
Create a session policy in Defender for Cloud Apps.
Why it's wrong here
Session policies monitor and control activities in real-time, but they do not generate alerts in Sentinel directly.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse file policies with activity policies, assuming any policy in Defender for Cloud Apps can detect access events, but only activity policies are designed to monitor user sign-in and access behaviors against IP-based conditions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Defender for Cloud Apps activity policies use the Cloud App Security (CAS) API to evaluate user activities against conditions like IP address tags (e.g., 'Anonymous proxy') and app categories (e.g., 'Sanctioned'). When triggered, the policy can send alerts to Microsoft Sentinel via the Common Event Format (CEF) or direct API integration, where they appear as SecurityAlert events with a providerName of 'MCAS'. A real-world scenario is detecting a compromised user account that accesses a sanctioned app like Office 365 from a Tor exit node, which would be flagged by an activity policy but missed by file or session policies.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this SC-200 question in full detail.
Manage a security operations environment — This question tests Manage a security operations environment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create an activity policy in Defender for Cloud Apps and connect it to Sentinel. — Option B is correct because an activity policy in Defender for Cloud Apps can be configured to trigger alerts on specific user activities, such as accessing a sanctioned app from an anonymous IP address. This policy can then be connected to Microsoft Sentinel via the Defender for Cloud Apps data connector, which ingests alerts as incidents for SOC review. File policies (A) focus on file-level actions like sharing or malware detection, not user access events, while session policies (D) control real-time access but do not generate alerts for historical or post-access monitoring.
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 →
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. You are configuring Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. You need to create a policy that alerts when a user downloads more than 100 files in 10 minutes from SharePoint. Which policy type should you use?
hard
A.Anomaly detection policy
✓ B.Activity policy
C.File policy
D.Cloud discovery policy
Why B: Option B is correct because Activity policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps allow you to define conditions based on a single activity or multiple activities from a user. Option A is for OAuth apps. Option C is for detecting anomalous file sharing. Option D is for cloud discovery.
Variation 2. You are managing Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. You discover that a user is downloading large amounts of data from a sanctioned cloud app. You need to automatically suspend the user's access when the download exceeds 5 GB in 10 minutes. What should you create?
medium
✓ A.An anomaly detection policy with a mass download detection template.
B.A session policy to block downloads.
C.An app connector for the cloud app.
D.A data loss prevention (DLP) policy in Microsoft Purview.
Why A: An anomaly detection policy in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps can detect unusual user behavior, such as mass file downloads, using predefined templates like 'Mass download by a single user'. This policy can be configured to trigger automatic governance actions, including suspending the user, when the download exceeds a threshold like 5 GB in 10 minutes. It directly addresses the need to automatically suspend access based on volume and time.
Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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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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