SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity
A company wants to ensure that data is not altered during transmission between a client and a server. They use TLS encryption. Which security goal does this primarily address?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume TLS only provides confidentiality (encryption) and forget that TLS also explicitly ensures integrity through MACs or AEAD, leading them to incorrectly select 'Confidentiality' (Option A) when the question specifically asks about preventing alteration.
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
✓
Integrity
TLS (Transport Layer Security) uses message authentication codes (MACs) and cryptographic hashing to ensure that data is not tampered with during transit. While TLS also provides confidentiality through encryption, the specific goal of preventing alteration during transmission is integrity. Therefore, option B is correct because integrity guarantees that the data received is exactly what was sent, unchanged by any intermediary.
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
Confidentiality ensures that sensitive information is accessible only to authorized individuals or systems, preventing unauthorized disclosure. It primarily addresses the risk of data being read or viewed by those without permission. While crucial for data security, confidentiality mechanisms like encryption do not inherently prevent the data itself from being modified or tampered with during transmission, which is the specific concern in the question.
- ✓
Integrity
Why this is correct
Integrity guarantees that data remains accurate, complete, and unaltered throughout its entire lifecycle, especially during transmission. This means preventing unauthorized or accidental modification, deletion, or corruption of data. Mechanisms such as cryptographic hashing (e.g., SHA-256) and digital signatures are commonly employed to detect any tampering, ensuring the data received is identical to the data sent.
- ✗
Availability
Why it's wrong here
Availability ensures that authorized users can reliably and timely access information and resources when needed. This involves maintaining system uptime, network connectivity, and sufficient processing capacity to prevent service interruptions or denial of access. While essential for operational continuity, availability does not directly address the prevention of data modification or tampering during transit, which is a distinct security objective.
- ✗
Non-repudiation
Why it's wrong here
Non-repudiation provides irrefutable proof of an action's origin or receipt, preventing a sender from falsely denying they sent a message or a recipient from falsely denying they received it. It establishes accountability, often using digital signatures linked to a specific identity. While digital signatures can also contribute to integrity by detecting alteration, non-repudiation's primary goal is proving who performed an action, not solely preventing the alteration itself.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Core Security Concepts
Key term
Encryption
Encryption is the process of converting readable data into a secret code to prevent unauthorized access.
Key term
Integrity
Integrity is the assurance that data has not been altered or tampered with in an unauthorized way, preserving its accuracy and consistency from source to destination.
About these practice questions
One of 1,250 original SC-900 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.