SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions
Fabrikam Inc., a global financial services company, uses Microsoft Purview to manage compliance. They have the following requirements: (1) Prevent users from sending emails containing credit card numbers (CCN) to external recipients; (2) automatically encrypt emails containing CCN; (3) notify users when an email is blocked; (4) allow users to override the block for business justifications; (5) generate incident reports for compliance teams. The company uses Microsoft 365 E5 licenses and has Exchange Online configured. The compliance team wants to implement a solution with minimal administrative overhead. What should the administrator configure?
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
✓
Create a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal with conditions for CCN, and configure actions to block, encrypt, notify, and allow override.
A DLP policy can block, encrypt, notify, and allow override, with incident reports. Option A is wrong because information barriers prevent communication between groups, not data exfiltration. Option C is wrong because sensitivity labels with auto-labeling classify but do not prevent sending. Option D is wrong because message encryption without DLP does not block or provide override.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure information barriers between the finance department and external recipients.
Why it's wrong here
Information barriers restrict communication between defined internal segments; they cannot inspect message content for credit card numbers or encrypt anything. They are tempting because they govern who may contact whom, which suits preventing collaboration between conflicting departments rather than blocking outbound email content.
- ✓
Create a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal with conditions for CCN, and configure actions to block, encrypt, notify, and allow override.
Why this is correct
A Microsoft Purview DLP policy evaluates sensitive information types such as credit card numbers across Exchange Online email, then enforces block, encryption, user notification and override with business justification in one rule set. This satisfies all five requirements with minimal administrative overhead, since E5 licensing already includes the necessary Purview capabilities.
- ✗
Create a sensitivity label that automatically classifies emails with CCN and configure a label policy to encrypt them.
Why it's wrong here
Sensitivity labels encrypt and classify, but they cannot block external delivery or produce override-and-justification audit records. Auto-labelling is tempting because it applies encryption without user action, which fits scenarios needing only persistent protection and classification, not prevention with incident reporting.
- ✗
Enable Microsoft Purview Message Encryption and create a mail flow rule in Exchange to encrypt emails with CCN.
Why it's wrong here
A mail flow rule encrypting CCN messages lacks DLP's block action, user override with justification, and automatic incident reporting. Message Encryption alone only protects content in transit; the tempting pairing covers encryption but not prevention, notification or compliance reporting, which Purview DLP policies provide natively.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Residency, Sovereignty, and Privacy
Key term
Compliance
Compliance is the process of ensuring that an organization follows laws, regulations, standards, and internal policies that apply to its operations and data handling.
Key term
DLP policy
A DLP policy is a set of rules that an organization uses to prevent sensitive data from being lost, stolen, or accidentally exposed, whether it is in use, in motion, or at rest.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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