SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions
A compliance officer needs to search for emails containing trade secrets across all mailboxes in the organization. Which Microsoft Purview solution should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse Communication Compliance (which monitors for policy violations) with eDiscovery (which performs content searches), leading them to choose B because they think 'compliance' implies searching for trade secrets, but Communication Compliance is reactive and policy-based, not a search tool.
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
✓
eDiscovery (Premium)
eDiscovery (Premium) is the correct solution because it is specifically designed for legal and investigative searches across all mailboxes, including the ability to search for specific content like trade secrets using keyword queries and advanced features like predictive coding and review sets. It supports searching across Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint sites, and OneDrive for Business, making it ideal for a compliance officer conducting a broad, targeted search for sensitive information.
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 (Premium)
Why this is correct
eDiscovery (Premium) is the appropriate solution for a compliance officer who needs to search for specific email content across an organization's data. This service in Microsoft Purview enables robust content searches, legal holds, and the collection of electronically stored information (ESI) from various sources like Exchange mailboxes, SharePoint sites, and OneDrive accounts. It is specifically designed for investigative purposes, allowing for advanced querying, review, and export of relevant content.
- ✗
Communication Compliance
Why it's wrong here
Communication Compliance is primarily designed for proactive monitoring and detection of inappropriate messages within an organization's Microsoft 365 environment, based on predefined policies. While it analyzes message content, its core function is to identify policy violations (e.g., harassment, sensitive data sharing) and generate alerts, rather than serving as an ad-hoc, comprehensive content search tool for a compliance officer to find specific terms across all organizational data for an investigation.
- ✗
Data Loss Prevention
Why it's wrong here
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies are implemented to prevent sensitive information from being shared inappropriately or leaving the organization. DLP identifies specific sensitive information types (e.g., credit card numbers, health records) and enforces rules to block, warn, or encrypt content based on its classification and context. Its purpose is policy enforcement and data protection, not to function as a search engine for compliance officers to perform broad, investigative keyword searches within existing organizational data.
- ✗
Audit (Standard)
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Purview Audit (Standard) records user and administrator activities across various Microsoft 365 services, providing logs of *who* performed *what* action and *when* (e.g., file accessed, email sent, setting changed). While crucial for security investigations and understanding user behavior, Audit (Standard) logs metadata about actions performed on content, not the content itself. Therefore, it cannot be used to search for specific keywords or phrases within the body of emails or documents.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
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
General Data Protection Regulation
A European Union law that gives individuals control over their personal data and sets strict rules for how organizations collect, store, and process that data.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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