SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft security solutions
A company wants to classify and label documents in SharePoint automatically based on sensitive content like social security numbers. Which Microsoft Purview solution should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Data loss prevention (DLP) policies with auto-labeling policies, as both deal with sensitive data, but DLP focuses on preventing data exfiltration while auto-labeling handles classification and labeling.
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
Auto-labeling policies in Microsoft Purview can automatically detect sensitive content such as social security numbers in SharePoint documents and apply the appropriate sensitivity label. This enables consistent classification and protection without manual user intervention, directly meeting the company'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.
- ✗
eDiscovery
Why it's wrong here
eDiscovery is a set of tools and processes within Microsoft 365 designed for identifying, preserving, collecting, processing, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information (ESI) for legal or investigative purposes. Its primary function is to support litigation, regulatory requests, or internal investigations by managing content holds and facilitating content export, rather than proactively classifying or applying labels to documents for ongoing information governance.
- ✓
Auto-labeling policy
Why this is correct
An auto-labeling policy is specifically designed to automatically apply sensitivity labels to content across Microsoft 365 services, including SharePoint, based on predefined conditions. These policies leverage sensitive information types, trainable classifiers, or keywords to identify sensitive data and then automatically assign the appropriate sensitivity label, directly fulfilling the requirement to classify and label documents without manual intervention.
- ✗
Audit log
Why it's wrong here
An audit log in Microsoft 365 records user and administrator activities across various services, providing a searchable record of events for security, compliance, and forensic investigations. While crucial for monitoring and accountability, audit logs are purely a logging mechanism that tracks 'who did what, when, and where.' They do not possess the functionality to actively classify documents or apply sensitivity labels to content.
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Data loss prevention policy
Why it's wrong here
A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy is primarily focused on identifying, monitoring, and protecting sensitive information to prevent its unauthorized sharing or transfer outside the organization. While DLP policies can be configured to apply sensitivity labels as an *action* when sensitive content is detected to prevent data loss, their core purpose is prevention, not the initial, proactive classification and labeling of all documents for information governance. Auto-labeling policies are more direct for the explicit task of classifying and labeling.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Core Security 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
Sensitivity label
A sensitivity label is a metadata tag applied to digital content that classifies the content's level of confidentiality and governs how it can be shared, protected, and accessed.
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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.