SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft security solutions
Which TWO capabilities are provided by Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the broad security portfolio of Microsoft 365 Defender and attribute capabilities like MDM or email filtering to Defender for Cloud Apps, when each solution has a distinct scope and integration point.
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
✓
Session controls for real-time monitoring of app usage
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps provides session controls that enable real-time monitoring and control of app usage. These controls use reverse proxy architecture to enforce policies on user activities within cloud apps, such as blocking downloads or requiring multi-factor authentication during a session.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Mobile device management
Why it's wrong here
Mobile Device Management (MDM), which encompasses the enrollment, configuration, and security management of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, is a core service provided by Microsoft Intune. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, while protecting devices from threats, does not directly handle the lifecycle management, policy deployment, or application management aspects that are central to MDM capabilities.
- ✗
Device compliance enforcement
Why it's wrong here
Device compliance enforcement, which involves assessing whether devices meet specific organizational security standards (e.g., OS version, encryption status, antivirus presence) before granting access to resources, is primarily a function of Microsoft Intune. Intune evaluates device health against defined policies, and Microsoft Entra Conditional Access then leverages this compliance status to enforce access controls, rather than being a direct capability of Microsoft Defender.
- ✓
Session controls for real-time monitoring of app usage
Why this is correct
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (formerly Microsoft Cloud App Security) provides robust session controls, a critical capability for real-time monitoring and governance of user activities within cloud applications. These controls enable organizations to enforce policies during a user session, such as blocking sensitive data downloads, requiring justification for specific actions, or protecting data with encryption, while maintaining full visibility into user interactions.
- ✗
Email filtering and anti-phishing
Why it's wrong here
Email filtering and advanced anti-phishing capabilities, designed to protect against malicious attachments, suspicious links, and sophisticated phishing campaigns delivered via email, are core functionalities of Microsoft Defender for Office 365. While Microsoft Defender for Endpoint protects devices from threats that might originate from email, it does not directly perform the initial filtering, analysis, and remediation of incoming mail flow.
- ✓
Cloud app discovery to identify shadow IT
Why this is correct
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers comprehensive cloud app discovery capabilities, which are instrumental in identifying 'shadow IT' within an organization. By analyzing traffic logs from firewalls and proxy servers, Defender for Cloud Apps can detect and categorize all cloud applications being accessed by users, providing crucial visibility into unsanctioned services, assessing their risk levels, and helping organizations manage their cloud application landscape.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Microsoft Entra ID
Key term
Defender for Cloud Apps
Defender for Cloud Apps is a Microsoft cloud access security broker (CASB) that helps you discover, protect, and govern your cloud applications and data across multiple cloud environments.
Key term
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Defender is a suite of security products that protects devices, data, and identities from cyber threats like malware, phishing, and unauthorized access.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SC-900 question from scratch — 1,250 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. 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.