SC-900 Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Entra Practice Question
Your organization is using Microsoft Entra ID with P2 licenses. You need to enforce a policy that requires administrators to request approval before activating their privileged roles, and approvals must expire after 8 hours. Additionally, you need to ensure that all privileged role activations are logged for auditing. Which combination of Microsoft Entra capabilities should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse Conditional Access policies (which control sign-in conditions) with PIM (which controls role activation), leading them to choose Option C because they think MFA enforcement is sufficient for privileged role security.
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
✓
Configure Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for role activation with approval and expiration, and use PIM audit logs.
Privileged Identity Management (PIM) in Microsoft Entra ID provides just-in-time role activation with configurable approval workflows and expiration durations, meeting the requirement for administrators to request approval and for approvals to expire after 8 hours. PIM audit logs capture all activation events, including who approved, when, and for which role, fulfilling the auditing requirement. This combination directly addresses the policy needs without relying on unrelated capabilities like user risk policies or access reviews.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Implement Identity Protection user risk policy to block high-risk admins, and use sign-in logs.
Why it's wrong here
Implementing Identity Protection user risk policies focuses on detecting and remediating identity-based risks, such as compromised credentials or suspicious sign-in patterns. While it can block high-risk sign-ins, it does not provide a mechanism for just-in-time (JIT) role activation, require approval for elevation, or enforce time-bound assignments for privileged roles, which are critical for managing temporary elevated access.
- ✓
Configure Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for role activation with approval and expiration, and use PIM audit logs.
Why this is correct
Configuring Privileged Identity Management (PIM) directly addresses the need for just-in-time (JIT) access to privileged roles. PIM allows administrators to activate roles only when needed, for a specified duration, and can enforce approval workflows and multi-factor authentication during activation. The comprehensive PIM audit logs provide a detailed record of all role activations, approvals, and deactivations, ensuring accountability and compliance with least privilege principles.
- ✗
Create a Conditional Access policy requiring multi-factor authentication for admins, and use activity logs.
Why it's wrong here
Creating a Conditional Access policy to require multi-factor authentication for administrators enhances security at the point of sign-in by enforcing specific conditions before access is granted. However, Conditional Access policies do not offer the functionality to activate a role on demand, require an approval process for elevation, or set an expiration for the elevated privileges, which are core requirements for managing temporary privileged access.
- ✗
Set up Azure AD Access Reviews to require monthly review of privileged roles, and enable diagnostic settings.
Why it's wrong here
Setting up Azure AD Access Reviews is designed to periodically evaluate and certify existing access assignments to ensure that users still require their current permissions. While crucial for maintaining a clean access posture and removing stale access, Access Reviews are a mechanism for reviewing *standing access* and do not provide the capabilities for just-in-time role activation, approval workflows, or time-bound privilege expiration for elevated roles.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Identity Concepts
Key term
PIM
Privileged Identity Management, a Microsoft Azure Active Directory tool that manages, monitors, and controls access to privileged roles on a just-in-time basis.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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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.