SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity
This SC-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 company implements multiple layers of security controls: firewalls at the perimeter, intrusion detection systems on internal segments, antivirus software on all workstations, and encryption for sensitive data at rest and in transit. This strategy is intended to ensure that if one control fails, others still provide protection. Which security concept does this approach represent?
Why wrong: Least privilege is about granting users only the minimum permissions needed, not about multiple layers of control.
B
Defense in depth
Defense in depth uses multiple layers of security controls to protect resources, ensuring that failure of one layer does not lead to a complete breach.
C
Separation of duties
Why wrong: Separation of duties divides critical tasks among multiple people to prevent fraud or error, not a layered defense strategy.
D
Zero trust
Why wrong: Zero trust is a security model that assumes no implicit trust and continuously verifies every request, but it is not specifically about multiple layers of controls.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Defense in depth
Defense in depth is the correct concept because it involves implementing multiple layers of security controls (e.g., firewalls, IDS, antivirus, encryption) so that if one layer fails, subsequent layers continue to provide protection. This layered approach ensures redundancy and mitigates the risk of a single point of failure, aligning with the scenario described.
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.
✗
Least privilege
Why it's wrong here
Least privilege is about granting users only the minimum permissions needed, not about multiple layers of control.
✓
Defense in depth
Why this is correct
Defense in depth uses multiple layers of security controls to protect resources, ensuring that failure of one layer does not lead to a complete breach.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Separation of duties
Why it's wrong here
Separation of duties divides critical tasks among multiple people to prevent fraud or error, not a layered defense strategy.
✗
Zero trust
Why it's wrong here
Zero trust is a security model that assumes no implicit trust and continuously verifies every request, but it is not specifically about multiple layers of controls.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse defense in depth with zero trust, mistakenly thinking that multiple layers automatically imply a zero-trust architecture, but zero trust specifically requires explicit verification per request rather than just layered controls.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Defense in depth leverages multiple independent security mechanisms, such as network firewalls (e.g., stateful inspection at OSI Layer 4), host-based intrusion detection systems (e.g., signature-based detection using Snort rules), and encryption protocols (e.g., TLS 1.3 for data in transit, AES-256 for data at rest). In a real-world scenario, if an attacker bypasses a perimeter firewall via a VPN exploit, an internal IDS might still detect lateral movement, and encrypted data would remain unreadable even if exfiltrated.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this SC-900 question in full detail.
Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity — This question tests Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Defense in depth — Defense in depth is the correct concept because it involves implementing multiple layers of security controls (e.g., firewalls, IDS, antivirus, encryption) so that if one layer fails, subsequent layers continue to provide protection. This layered approach ensures redundancy and mitigates the risk of a single point of failure, aligning with the scenario described.
What should I do if I get this SC-900 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.
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Question Discussion
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