SC-200 Manage a security operations environment Practice Question
This SC-200 practice question tests your understanding of manage a security operations environment. Compare every option against the stated constraints before choosing — the best answer satisfies all requirements, not just the most obvious one. 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 Defender for Identity. You receive an alert about a suspicious Kerberos ticket request. What is the most appropriate first step?
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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Investigate the alert in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal.
Option B is correct because the first step when receiving any security alert, including a suspicious Kerberos ticket request from Microsoft Defender for Identity, is to investigate the alert in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. This portal provides the unified security operations console where you can view the full alert details, related entities, and the MITRE ATT&CK mapping to understand the scope and severity before taking any remediation actions. Prematurely disabling accounts or resetting passwords without investigation can destroy forensic evidence and potentially disrupt legitimate user activity.
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.
✗
Disable the user account.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling might be too aggressive without understanding the alert.
✓
Investigate the alert in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal.
Why this is correct
Investigation helps determine if the alert is a true positive before taking action.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Reset the user's password.
Why it's wrong here
Resetting without investigation may not address the root cause.
✗
Reset the krbtgt account password.
Why it's wrong here
Resetting krbtgt is a major operation and not the first step.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often jump to immediate remediation actions like disabling accounts or resetting passwords, forgetting that the first step in any incident response process (as per NIST 800-61 and Microsoft's own guidance) is always investigation and triage to confirm the alert and understand the attack context.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Microsoft Defender for Identity monitors Kerberos authentication traffic using sensors that analyze domain controller logs (Event ID 4768, 4769, 4770, etc.) for anomalies such as unusual ticket requests, encryption type downgrades, or TGT requests from non-domain-joined devices. The suspicious Kerberos ticket request alert could indicate a Golden Ticket attack (forged TGT), Silver Ticket attack (forged service ticket), or Kerberoasting (requesting TGS tickets for service accounts). Investigating in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal allows you to correlate the alert with other signals like user activity, device logins, and threat intelligence before deciding on containment steps.
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: Investigate the alert in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. — Option B is correct because the first step when receiving any security alert, including a suspicious Kerberos ticket request from Microsoft Defender for Identity, is to investigate the alert in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. This portal provides the unified security operations console where you can view the full alert details, related entities, and the MITRE ATT&CK mapping to understand the scope and severity before taking any remediation actions. Prematurely disabling accounts or resetting passwords without investigation can destroy forensic evidence and potentially disrupt legitimate user activity.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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