Gathering Context About a User Entity in Microsoft Sentinel
A SOC analyst is investigating a potential security incident in Microsoft Sentinel. Which three are valid methods to gather additional context about a user entity? (Choose three.)
Quick Answer
The correct methods to gather context about a user entity in Microsoft Sentinel are entity pages, advanced hunting, and running a playbook that queries external threat intelligence sources. These three tools allow a SOC analyst to dynamically investigate a user by surfacing related alerts, hunting for behavioral patterns across historical data, and enriching the entity with external threat feeds. On the SC-900 exam, this question tests your understanding of the difference between investigative tools and automated response mechanisms; a common trap is confusing static watchlists—which are useful for reference but not for live investigation—with dynamic context-gathering methods. Remember that automation rules handle incident triage, not contextual exploration, so focus on tools that actively pull or query data. A helpful memory tip is “E-A-P”: Entity pages, Advanced hunting, and Playbooks are your investigative trio.
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse operational actions (like assigning incidents or adding to watchlists) with investigative methods that actually retrieve or analyze user context, leading them to select options that manage incidents rather than gather evidence.
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
✓
Run an advanced hunting query in Microsoft 365 Defender
Running an advanced hunting query in Microsoft 365 Defender allows the SOC analyst to proactively search for user-related activities, such as logins, alerts, and behaviors, across the Microsoft 365 security ecosystem. This provides deep, contextual data about the user entity that can help confirm or refute the incident, leveraging the Kusto Query Language (KQL) to correlate events from multiple data sources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create an automation rule to assign the incident
Why it's wrong here
Automation rules handle incident lifecycle, not investigation.
- ✓
Run an advanced hunting query in Microsoft 365 Defender
Why this is correct
Advanced hunting allows deep search across data sources.
- ✓
Open the entity page for the user in Microsoft Sentinel
Why this is correct
Entity pages aggregate related alerts, activities, and insights.
- ✗
Add the user to a watchlist
Why it's wrong here
Watchlists are for enrichment, not dynamic investigation.
- ✓
Run a playbook that queries external threat intelligence sources
Why this is correct
Playbooks can automate enrichment tasks.
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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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SC-900
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 security analyst is using Microsoft Sentinel to investigate an incident. Which THREE data sources can be ingested into Sentinel?
medium- A.Power BI usage metrics
- ✓ B.Azure Active Directory logs
- ✓ C.Office 365 logs
- ✓ D.Windows Security Events
- E.Azure DevOps audit logs
Why B: Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR solution that ingests data from a wide range of Microsoft and third-party sources. Azure Active Directory logs (Option B) provide sign-in and audit logs, which are critical for identity-based threat detection and investigation in Sentinel. Office 365 logs (Option C) offer audit data from services like Exchange, SharePoint, and Teams, essential for monitoring user activity and data access within Microsoft 365. Windows Security Events (Option D) from servers and workstations provide detailed insights into system activities, login attempts, and process executions, vital for endpoint security monitoring.
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.