SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity
A security administrator receives an alert from Microsoft Sentinel about a possible brute-force attack against a virtual machine. The administrator wants to automatically block the attacker's IP address for 24 hours using a playbook. Which automation trigger should the playbook use?
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
✓
Incident trigger
An incident trigger allows the playbook to run automatically when a new incident is created in Microsoft Sentinel. In this scenario, the alert about the brute-force attack generates an incident, and the playbook can then block the attacker's IP address for 24 hours. Option B (Alert trigger) runs on alert generation, but the administrator wants to respond to the incident for a coordinated response. Option C (Scheduled trigger) runs on a timer and is not event-driven. Option D (Action trigger) is not a valid trigger type in Microsoft Sentinel.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Incident trigger
Why this is correct
Incident triggers run playbooks when an incident is created, enabling automated response.
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Alert trigger
Why it's wrong here
An alert trigger runs on each alert, but best practice is to use incident trigger for incident response.
- ✗
Scheduled trigger
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled triggers are for periodic tasks, not event-driven response.
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Action trigger
Why it's wrong here
Action trigger is not a valid trigger type in Microsoft Sentinel.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Core Security Concepts
Key term
Incident
An incident is a security event that violates an organization's policies or threatens its data, systems, or operations, requiring a structured response.
Key term
Microsoft Sentinel
Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) service that helps organizations detect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats across their entire digital estate.
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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.