This SC-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe the capabilities of microsoft entra. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your organization uses Microsoft Entra ID and wants to enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users. Which policy should you create?
Conditional Access policy
Conditional Access policies can enforce MFA for all users.
Identity Protection policy
Why wrong: Identity Protection detects risks and can trigger policy but is not the primary MFA enforcement.
Security defaults
Why wrong: Security defaults enforce MFA but are a basic security setting, not a granular policy.
Privileged Identity Management
Why wrong: PIM manages privileged role activation, not MFA enforcement.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Conditional Access policy
Conditional Access policies are the correct mechanism to enforce MFA for all users because they allow granular, policy-driven access controls based on signals like user, location, device, and application. By creating a Conditional Access policy that requires MFA for all cloud apps, you can target all users and enforce MFA at authentication time, providing a flexible and scalable solution.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Conditional Access policy
Why this is correct
Conditional Access policies can enforce MFA for all users.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Identity Protection policy
Why it's wrong here
Identity Protection detects risks and can trigger policy but is not the primary MFA enforcement.
Security defaults
Why it's wrong here
Security defaults enforce MFA but are a basic security setting, not a granular policy.
Privileged Identity Management
Why it's wrong here
PIM manages privileged role activation, not MFA enforcement.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse Security defaults (a simple, pre-configured baseline) with a customizable policy, but Security defaults is not a policy you 'create'—it is an all-or-nothing toggle that cannot be scoped or modified, whereas Conditional Access policies are the correct, granular tool for enforcing MFA.
Detailed technical explanation
Conditional Access policies work by evaluating conditions (e.g., user risk, location, device compliance) against a set of grant controls (e.g., require MFA, require compliant device). Under the hood, these policies are enforced during the authentication process via the Microsoft Entra ID authentication pipeline, where the policy is evaluated after primary authentication but before token issuance. A real-world scenario: you can create a Conditional Access policy that requires MFA for all users except those accessing from trusted IPs, which is impossible with Security defaults.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Entra — This question tests Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Entra — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Conditional Access policy — Conditional Access policies are the correct mechanism to enforce MFA for all users because they allow granular, policy-driven access controls based on signals like user, location, device, and application. By creating a Conditional Access policy that requires MFA for all cloud apps, you can target all users and enforce MFA at authentication time, providing a flexible and scalable solution.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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