SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity
A multinational corporation uses Microsoft Entra ID for identity management. They want to allow their external partners to use their own corporate credentials to access the company's resources, rather than creating guest accounts. Which Entra ID feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Entra ID B2C (for customers) with External ID (for partners), as both involve external identities but serve different use cases—B2C is for consumer-facing apps with self-service sign-up, while External ID is for enterprise-to-enterprise federation.
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
✓
Entra ID External ID
Entra ID External ID (formerly Azure AD External Identities) is the correct feature because it enables external partners to authenticate using their own corporate credentials via federation, without requiring guest accounts. This allows seamless access to the company's resources while maintaining the partner's identity lifecycle.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Entra ID B2C
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra ID B2C is specifically designed for customer-facing applications, enabling organizations to manage identities for millions of consumers who interact with their services. It provides a robust platform for sign-up, sign-in, and profile management for external users who are not part of a partner organization's corporate directory, making it unsuitable for federated partner access.
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Entra ID Direct Federation
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra ID Direct Federation is a specific configuration method within the broader Microsoft Entra External ID feature, allowing direct trust between an Entra ID tenant and another identity provider. While it facilitates partner access, it is a mechanism for federation, not the overarching identity management feature itself that encompasses all forms of external user collaboration.
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Entra ID Verified ID
Why it's wrong here
Microsoft Entra Verified ID is a decentralized identity solution focused on issuing, holding, and verifying digital credentials, enabling individuals to prove aspects of their identity without sharing underlying personal data. Its primary function is credential verification and presentation, not providing the core federated authentication and authorization framework required for partners to access corporate resources using their existing organizational credentials.
- ✓
Entra ID External ID
Why this is correct
Microsoft Entra External ID is the comprehensive suite of capabilities within Entra ID that enables organizations to securely interact with external users, including partners, customers, and other collaborators. It facilitates various forms of external access, such as B2B collaboration, allowing partners to use their own corporate credentials through federation or other identity providers to access resources in your tenant.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Identity Concepts
Key term
Microsoft Entra ID
Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-based identity and access management service that lets employees sign in and access resources both inside and outside of your organization.
Key term
Federation
Federation is a system that lets you use one set of login credentials (like your work email and password) to access resources across different organizations or services without needing separate accounts for each one.
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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.