- A
Confidentiality
Why wrong: Incorrect. Confidentiality ensures that data is accessible only to authorized parties. Backups may also support confidentiality if encrypted, but the primary goal of backups is availability.
- B
Integrity
Why wrong: Incorrect. Integrity ensures data is accurate and unaltered. While backups can restore data integrity, their main purpose is to ensure data is available after a loss.
- C
Availability
Correct. Availability ensures that systems and data are accessible and usable when needed. Backups and disaster recovery are key controls to maintain availability.
- D
Non-repudiation
Why wrong: Incorrect. Non-repudiation provides proof that an action or event occurred, such as through digital signatures. Backups do not provide non-repudiation.
Quick Answer
The answer is Availability. This is correct because the CIA triad’s Availability principle ensures that authorized users can reliably access systems and data when needed, and both regular data backups and a disaster recovery plan directly address this by restoring critical systems after an outage. On the Microsoft SC-900 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how Availability is operationalized through services like Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery, which provide automated backup and failover capabilities to maintain uptime. A common trap is confusing Availability with Integrity—remember that backups and disaster recovery are about keeping access possible, not about preventing unauthorized changes. A useful memory tip is to think of the acronym BDR for Backups and Disaster Recovery as the core of Availability, ensuring systems are “always on” even when things go wrong.
SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity
This SC-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company implements regular data backups and a disaster recovery plan to restore critical systems after an outage. Which security principle is primarily being addressed by these measures?
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
Availability
Regular data backups and a disaster recovery plan directly ensure that critical systems and data can be restored and remain accessible after an outage. This aligns with the Availability principle of the CIA triad, which guarantees that authorized users have reliable access to resources when needed. In Azure, this is supported by services like Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery, which provide automated backup and failover capabilities to maintain uptime.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Confidentiality
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Confidentiality ensures that data is accessible only to authorized parties. Backups may also support confidentiality if encrypted, but the primary goal of backups is availability.
- ✗
Integrity
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Integrity ensures data is accurate and unaltered. While backups can restore data integrity, their main purpose is to ensure data is available after a loss.
- ✓
Availability
Why this is correct
Correct. Availability ensures that systems and data are accessible and usable when needed. Backups and disaster recovery are key controls to maintain availability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Non-repudiation
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Non-repudiation provides proof that an action or event occurred, such as through digital signatures. Backups do not provide non-repudiation.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse backups and disaster recovery with Confidentiality or Integrity, mistakenly thinking that protecting data copies implies preventing unauthorized access or tampering, rather than recognizing that the core goal is restoring access and system operation.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The Availability principle is often measured by uptime metrics such as 99.9% (three nines) or higher, and disaster recovery plans implement Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) targets to quantify acceptable downtime and data loss. Under the hood, Azure Site Recovery orchestrates replication of virtual machines to a secondary region, using continuous replication and automated failover to meet these objectives. A real-world scenario is a regional outage in Azure where ASR fails over workloads to a paired region, ensuring business continuity.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SC-900 question test?
Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity — This question tests Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Availability — Regular data backups and a disaster recovery plan directly ensure that critical systems and data can be restored and remain accessible after an outage. This aligns with the Availability principle of the CIA triad, which guarantees that authorized users have reliable access to resources when needed. In Azure, this is supported by services like Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery, which provide automated backup and failover capabilities to maintain uptime.
What should I do if I get this SC-900 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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