The correct answer is the principle of least privilege. This security concept dictates that users should be granted only the minimum permissions necessary to complete their job tasks, as demonstrated when Sales employees can view expense reports but cannot approve or modify financial data. By restricting access in this way, the attack surface is reduced, and the potential damage from a compromised account is contained. On the Microsoft SC-900 exam, this principle frequently appears in scenarios involving role-based access control (RBAC) in cloud applications like expense reporting or HR systems, often testing your ability to distinguish it from concepts like separation of duties or need-to-know. A common trap is confusing least privilege with zero trust—remember, least privilege is about limiting permissions, while zero trust is a broader security model. Memory tip: think “just enough access, just in time.”
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. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 security administrator is configuring permissions for a new cloud-based expense reporting application. The administrator assigns each employee only the permissions they need to perform their job functions. For example, employees in the Sales department can view expense reports but cannot approve or modify financial data. Which security principle is the administrator implementing?
Why wrong: Defense in depth is a layered security strategy using multiple controls to protect assets; it does not strictly limit permissions per user role.
B
Least privilege
This is the correct answer because the administrator is granting the minimal permissions required for each employee's role, directly applying the least privilege principle.
C
Separation of duties
Why wrong: Separation of duties involves dividing critical tasks among multiple people to prevent fraud, not assigning minimal permissions per role.
D
Zero trust
Why wrong: Zero trust is a security model that assumes no implicit trust and continuously verifies every access request, but it does not specifically focus on granting minimal permissions.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Least privilege
The administrator is granting each employee only the permissions necessary to perform their job functions, such as Sales being able to view but not approve or modify financial data. This directly implements the principle of least privilege, which restricts access rights to the minimum required for legitimate tasks. In cloud-based applications like expense reporting systems, least privilege reduces the attack surface and limits potential damage from compromised accounts.
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.
✗
Defense in depth
Why it's wrong here
Defense in depth is a layered security strategy using multiple controls to protect assets; it does not strictly limit permissions per user role.
✓
Least privilege
Why this is correct
This is the correct answer because the administrator is granting the minimal permissions required for each employee's role, directly applying the least privilege principle.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Separation of duties
Why it's wrong here
Separation of duties involves dividing critical tasks among multiple people to prevent fraud, not assigning minimal permissions per role.
✗
Zero trust
Why it's wrong here
Zero trust is a security model that assumes no implicit trust and continuously verifies every access request, but it does not specifically focus on granting minimal permissions.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse least privilege with separation of duties, because both involve restricting access, but separation of duties specifically requires splitting conflicting tasks (e.g., submit vs. approve) across different users to prevent fraud, whereas least privilege focuses on minimizing permissions per user.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Least privilege is often enforced using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), where permissions are assigned to roles (e.g., Sales Viewer) rather than individuals. In cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure, RBAC uses built-in or custom roles with specific action permissions (e.g., Microsoft.ExpenseReport/read vs. write). A real-world scenario where least privilege matters is in compliance frameworks like SOC 2 or PCI DSS, where auditors require that users have no more access than necessary to perform their duties, and excessive permissions can lead to non-compliance findings.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this SC-900 question in full detail.
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: Least privilege — The administrator is granting each employee only the permissions necessary to perform their job functions, such as Sales being able to view but not approve or modify financial data. This directly implements the principle of least privilege, which restricts access rights to the minimum required for legitimate tasks. In cloud-based applications like expense reporting systems, least privilege reduces the attack surface and limits potential damage from compromised accounts.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company's IT department implements a policy for server administrators: they must submit an access request to perform privileged tasks on critical servers. Each request is approved by a manager, and the granted elevated permissions automatically expire after four hours. This approach reduces the risk of standing privileges being exploited. Which security concept is primarily being applied?
medium
✓ A.Just-in-time access
B.Least privilege
C.Defense in depth
D.Zero Trust
Why A: Option A is correct because just-in-time (JIT) access is a security concept that grants elevated permissions only when needed, for a limited duration, and requires approval. In this scenario, the policy requires an access request, manager approval, and automatic expiration after four hours, which directly aligns with JIT access to reduce the risk of standing privileges being exploited.
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Question Discussion
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