SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft security solutions
A company uses Microsoft Purview Information Protection to classify and label sensitive documents. The compliance team wants to automatically apply a 'Confidential' label to documents containing an employee's passport number. Which method should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse DLP policies with auto-labeling, but DLP focuses on preventing data loss through actions like blocking or encryption, not on automatically applying sensitivity labels to content.
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
✓
Auto-labeling policy
An auto-labeling policy in Microsoft Purview Information Protection automatically applies sensitivity labels to documents and emails based on sensitive information types (e.g., passport numbers) without user intervention. This method uses content scanning to detect patterns and enforce labeling rules, making it the correct choice for the compliance team's requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Manual labeling by users
Why it's wrong here
Manual labeling relies entirely on end-users to identify sensitive content and then consciously select and apply the appropriate sensitivity label. While it provides flexibility and user control, it is inherently reactive and prone to human error or oversight, making it unsuitable for ensuring consistent, automatic protection across an organization based on detected sensitive information types like passport numbers. This method does not meet the requirement for automatic application.
- ✗
Trainable classifiers
Why it's wrong here
Trainable classifiers are unsuitable here because they identify documents based on their overall content *conceptually*, rather than detecting specific, structured patterns like passport numbers. Passport numbers are a Sensitive Information Type, requiring precise pattern matching or exact data match. This option is tempting as it involves classification, but trainable classifiers are designed for scenarios where you need to categorise unstructured data, such as identifying all "HR documents" or "legal contracts" based on their subject matter and context.
- ✓
Auto-labeling policy
Why this is correct
An auto-labeling policy in Microsoft Purview Information Protection is specifically designed to automatically detect sensitive information types, such as passport numbers, within content stored in SharePoint, OneDrive, or Exchange. Upon detection, the policy can then apply a pre-configured sensitivity label to the document or email, ensuring consistent classification and protection without requiring any user intervention. This capability directly addresses the need for automatic application of labels based on specific data patterns.
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DLP policy
Why it's wrong here
A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy is primarily focused on preventing the unauthorized sharing, transfer, or use of sensitive information by enforcing specific actions like blocking, auditing, or notifying when sensitive data is detected. While DLP policies can identify sensitive information types, their core function is to protect data in transit or at rest through enforcement actions, not to classify or apply sensitivity labels to the content itself. Therefore, a DLP policy alone cannot fulfill the requirement of automatically applying labels to documents.
Go deeper
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Compliance Concepts
Key term
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview is a unified data governance and compliance service that helps organizations discover, manage, and protect their data across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
Key term
Compliance
Compliance is the process of ensuring that an organization follows laws, regulations, standards, and internal policies that apply to its operations and data handling.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SC-900 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-900 exam.