SC-900 Certification: Introduction to Microsoft Security & Compliance

In today’s interconnected, cloud-first world, the concepts of security, compliance, and identity are no longer optional for businesses—they’re essential. As organizations increasingly rely on cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, understanding how to secure access, protect data, and ensure compliance becomes critical across all levels of IT and business operations. That’s where the SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification becomes highly relevant.

The SC-900 certification is tailored for individuals who want to build foundational knowledge in Microsoft’s security ecosystem. It covers a broad but approachable set of topics, making it ideal for beginners and non-technical professionals seeking to understand the landscape of digital protection and governance within the Microsoft environment.

This article marks the beginning of a four-part series that guides you through the SC-900 journey. In Part 1, we’ll explore the key concepts, introduce Microsoft’s foundational tools, and explain how these principles fit into a modern IT strategy.

Why Foundational Knowledge Matters

Security threats have become more sophisticated and frequent. Simultaneously, businesses are under pressure to comply with an expanding set of regulations and data protection laws. Users, devices, and applications constantly move between cloud services, mobile networks, and on-premises infrastructure, creating a complex web of access points that must be controlled.

Against this backdrop, foundational knowledge of security, compliance, and identity management provides an essential layer of understanding. Even if you’re not a security engineer or systems architect, grasping these principles can empower you to make informed decisions, support your team, and contribute to stronger, more resilient digital environments.

SC-900 doesn’t demand prior technical experience. It focuses instead on core concepts and their practical application within Microsoft’s toolsets. The exam covers security basics, identity management using Microsoft Entra ID, threat protection with tools like Microsoft Defender, and compliance capabilities built into Microsoft 365.

Core Domains of the SC-900 Certification

The SC-900 certification is organized around three primary domains: security, compliance, and identity. Each of these domains intersects with Microsoft cloud platforms in unique and essential ways.

Security involves protecting information, systems, and networks from threats. In the Microsoft ecosystem, this encompasses tools like Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM capabilities, and secure access controls across Azure services.

Compliance refers to the ability of an organization to meet internal and external regulatory obligations. Microsoft 365 offers a powerful set of compliance tools under the Microsoft Purview umbrella, enabling organizations to classify sensitive data, manage risk, and demonstrate adherence to legal requirements.

Identity is the foundation of secure access. With the rise of mobile workforces and bring-your-own-device policies, managing identity has become more important than ever. Microsoft Entra ID allows organizations to authenticate users, enforce conditional access, and integrate identity governance at scale.

These domains do not operate in silos. They are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. For instance, protecting sensitive information requires both a strong security perimeter and identity-based access controls. Complying with data protection laws necessitates both secure systems and auditable controls.

Microsoft Entra ID and Identity Management

A core part of SC-900 is understanding identity, specifically, how Microsoft Entra ID manages it. Formerly known as Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID provides centralized identity and access management across cloud and hybrid environments.

Identity types include user identities for employees and partners, device identities for managing secure access from corporate and personal devices, and service principals for apps that require authentication. These identities can be authenticated using single sign-on and secured through multi-factor authentication.

Microsoft Entra ID also supports lifecycle management, allowing administrators to automate user provisioning, role assignments, and access reviews. These capabilities ensure that the right people have access to the right resources for the right duration.

Conditional access policies are another essential feature. They enforce rules based on conditions such as user location, device compliance, or risk levels. For example, a policy might allow full access when a user logs in from a trusted device at headquarters but require multifactor authentication when logging in remotely.

All of this forms the basis of Microsoft’s Zero Trust model, which assumes that no user or device is inherently trustworthy. Every access request must be verified, regardless of its origin.

Microsoft’s Approach to Security

Security in the Microsoft cloud is layered and comprehensive. Azure and Microsoft 365 are equipped with tools that go beyond firewalls and antivirus to offer real-time threat detection, automated response, and detailed visibility.

Microsoft Defender is a suite of threat protection tools that includes Defender for Office 365, Defender for Endpoint, and Defender for Identity. These tools analyze signals across devices, users, and applications to detect anomalies and block malicious activity.

Another powerful component is Microsoft Sentinel. As a cloud-native SIEM and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) solution, Sentinel collects data across the enterprise, applies analytics to detect threats, and automates responses to contain attacks quickly.

Microsoft also integrates threat intelligence into its tools. Security administrators receive insights about global attack trends, vulnerabilities, and threat actors. These insights inform the configuration of protective measures and help ensure proactive defense.

Understanding the security solutions covered in SC-900 gives you the ability to recognize threats, understand security incidents, and respond effectively within your role, even if you’re not a dedicated security professional.

Managing Compliance in Microsoft 365

Compliance is more than just a checkbox—it’s a strategic priority that protects an organization’s reputation, avoids fines, and builds trust. Microsoft 365 includes built-in tools that help organizations manage compliance with confidence.

Microsoft Purview provides a unified solution for data governance, information protection, and risk management. Through sensitivity labels, you can classify and encrypt sensitive content. With data loss prevention policies, you can control the movement of data within and outside your organization.

Audit logs and eDiscovery tools assist in investigations, while compliance score dashboards provide a visual summary of how well an organization aligns with regulatory standards.

The insider risk management tools monitor for risky behavior, such as excessive file downloads or policy violations, and issue alerts before data is lost. These tools are particularly useful in environments where remote work increases the risk of unintentional or malicious data leaks.

As regulatory environments evolve, Microsoft continues to update its compliance offerings to meet new global standards. The SC-900 exam ensures that candidates understand not just the tools themselves, but how they support broader organizational objectives.

Getting Started on Your SC-900 Journey

If you’re considering SC-900, the path is straightforward. The certification is part of Microsoft’s fundamentals track, making it accessible even to those without deep technical experience. Whether you work in IT, business analysis, support, or compliance, the concepts covered will be useful in your day-to-day role.

The first unit of the learning path focuses on defining the concepts of security, compliance, and identity and explaining how they are implemented in Microsoft platforms. You’ll explore identity types, security capabilities, and compliance tools through guided content and hands-on examples.

After studying the material, you can take a practice exam. This provides a sense of what the actual exam questions look like and helps identify any areas that may need further review.

When ready, you can schedule the SC-900 exam through Microsoft’s certification portal. It’s offered online and can be taken from anywhere with a secure testing environment. Once you pass, you’ll receive a digital badge that recognizes your knowledge and can be added to your professional profiles.

This article introduced the foundational concepts of security, compliance, and identity within the Microsoft ecosystem. In Part 2 of the series, we will take a deeper dive into identity management using Microsoft Entra ID. We’ll explore how access is secured, how user and device identities are maintained, and how policies are enforced to support secure collaboration.

For anyone starting their career in IT or expanding into cloud security, the SC-900 certification provides a valuable knowledge base. It lays the groundwork for more advanced certifications and helps you contribute meaningfully to your organization’s digital resilience.

Identity in Depth – Managing and Securing Access with Microsoft Entra ID

As organizations move more of their infrastructure and data to the cloud, identity becomes the new control plane for securing access. With devices, users, applications, and services constantly connecting from various locations, traditional perimeter-based security models are no longer sufficient. Instead, identity has emerged as the core element in enforcing policies, verifying users, and protecting resources.

Microsoft Entra ID, previously known as Azure Active Directory, is the foundation of Microsoft’s identity and access management (IAM) solution. It plays a critical role in enabling secure access to cloud and hybrid resources. For anyone preparing for the SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification, understanding Microsoft Entra ID is essential.

In this article, we take a deep dive into identity concepts, explore the capabilities of Microsoft Entra ID, and explain how identity-based security supports Microsoft’s broader Zero Trust strategy.

The Role of Identity in Modern Security

Modern cybersecurity starts with identity. Whether an employee is accessing email, an external partner is reviewing a shared document, or a service is communicating with another application, the system needs to know who or what is making the request, and whether it should be allowed.

Traditional models that relied heavily on network firewalls and VPNs fall short in today’s cloud-first, mobile-driven world. Organizations need to manage a diverse range of identities, including internal staff, contractors, external partners, and automated services. Each of these identities may require access to different resources and levels of permissions.

Identity solutions like Microsoft Entra ID allow organizations to authenticate users, assign appropriate permissions, and monitor access activity across cloud services such as Microsoft 365 and Azure. They enable secure, seamless access while minimizing the risk of unauthorized data exposure.

Introduction to Microsoft Entra ID

Microsoft Entra ID is Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service. It provides a single, centralized platform to manage users, groups, devices, and application access. It supports both Microsoft-native resources and third-party applications through federation and integration capabilities.

Entra ID enables single sign-on across hundreds of services, including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and thousands of SaaS apps. It also supports hybrid identity by synchronizing on-premises Active Directory environments with the cloud, allowing for seamless integration between legacy systems and modern platforms.

One of the key advantages of Microsoft Entra ID is its ability to support a Zero Trust architecture. In this model, every access request is evaluated based on identity, device status, location, and behavior. Access is never granted implicitly, even if the request comes from inside the network.

Types of Identities in Microsoft Entra ID

Microsoft Entra ID supports several types of identities that represent users, devices, and services within an organization. Understanding these identity types is crucial for configuring secure access and for passing the SC-900 exam.

User identities represent real people who need access to systems and data. These include employees, students, or external collaborators. Each user has an account, usually tied to a unique username and password. Accounts can be created natively in Microsoft Entra ID or synchronized from an on-premises directory.

Guest identities are used to provide external users with limited access to resources. For example, a vendor may need to access a SharePoint site or a Teams channel. Guest users can be invited via email and are subject to conditional access policies just like internal users.

Device identities ensure that only approved devices can access corporate resources. Organizations can register or join devices to Entra ID and apply compliance rules. This includes corporate laptops, mobile devices, and personal devices with bring-your-own-device policies.

Service principals represent applications or services that need to authenticate with Microsoft Entra ID. For instance, a web app that accesses a database on behalf of a user would use a service principal. Managed identities are a special type of service principal that simplifies authentication for Azure resources without requiring secrets.

Authentication and Access Control

Authentication is the process of verifying an identity. Microsoft Entra ID supports multiple authentication methods, including passwords, certificates, biometrics, and hardware tokens. To improve security, multifactor authentication (MFA) is strongly recommended and often required by policy.

MFA requires users to provide at least two verification factors, such as a password and a mobile verification code. This reduces the risk of account compromise even if one factor is exposed.

Single sign-on (SSO) enables users to access multiple applications with one set of credentials. With SSO configured, users can sign in once and gain access to services like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook without reauthenticating each time.

Microsoft Entra ID uses token-based authentication protocols like OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect. These protocols allow secure, standardized access delegation between applications and users, which is essential in modern SaaS environments.

Access control in Entra ID is governed through role-based access control (RBAC). RBAC assigns permissions to users based on their role in the organization. For instance, an IT admin may have permissions to manage users and groups, while a sales rep only has access to customer data. Built-in roles simplify assignments, but custom roles can also be created for specific scenarios.

Conditional Access Policies

Conditional Access is one of the most powerful features of Microsoft Entra ID. It lets organizations define automated access rules based on contextual signals such as user risk, sign-in location, device compliance, and application sensitivity.

For example, an organization might create a policy that requires MFA for users logging in from outside the corporate network or blocks access to financial data from unmanaged devices. These policies help balance security with usability and can be enforced in real time.

Conditional Access is integral to Microsoft’s Zero Trust model, where trust is never assumed. Policies can include:

Requiring MFA for sensitive applications
Blocking access from high-risk countries
Allowing access only from compliant devices
Granting access during business hours only

These policies are flexible and can be tailored to specific users, groups, or applications. They also include detailed reporting, so administrators can review enforcement actions and fine-tune their settings.

Identity Governance

Beyond authentication and access control, Microsoft Entra ID provides identity governance features that help manage the entire lifecycle of digital identities. This includes provisioning new accounts, assigning access rights, monitoring usage, and deprovisioning accounts when they are no longer needed.

Access reviews help ensure that users only have the permissions they need. These reviews can be scheduled regularly and require users or managers to confirm that access is still necessary. This prevents permission creep, where users accumulate excessive privileges over time.

Entitlement management automates access requests and approvals through access packages. These packages can bundle permissions for specific roles or projects and include automatic expiration dates.

Privileged Identity Management (PIM) adds a layer of protection for high-privilege roles. It allows administrators to grant just-in-time access for sensitive actions and requires approval or MFA before enabling those permissions. PIM also includes audit logs for tracking privileged activity.

These governance tools help enforce the principle of least privilege, ensuring that users have only the access they need, for the time they need it.

Integration with Microsoft 365 and Azure

Microsoft Entra ID is deeply integrated into Microsoft 365 and Azure, making it the default identity platform for services like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Teams, and the Azure portal.

When a user signs in to Microsoft 365, they are authenticated through Entra ID. All access policies, MFA requirements, and device conditions are enforced during this sign-in process. This ensures that corporate data remains secure regardless of the endpoint or application being used.

Azure services such as virtual machines, databases, and storage accounts can also be protected with Entra ID. Administrators can assign RBAC roles to control who can deploy, manage, or delete resources.

Applications that run on Azure can use managed identities to authenticate securely without hardcoded credentials. This simplifies configuration and enhances security by reducing secret sprawl.

Third-party applications can also integrate with Entra ID. Many SaaS providers support federation with Microsoft Entra ID, allowing centralized identity management across multiple platforms.

Identity Monitoring and Reporting

Security is not just about setting up policies—it’s also about monitoring and responding to threats. Microsoft Entra ID provides robust monitoring tools that offer visibility into sign-in activity, risky behaviors, and potential breaches.

The sign-in logs display detailed information about each authentication attempt, including time, location, device type, and risk level. Administrators can investigate unusual activity, such as repeated failed login attempts or sign-ins from unexpected locations.

Risk detection is powered by Microsoft’s threat intelligence. It identifies risky sign-ins, leaked credentials, and compromised accounts. Based on these signals, automated remediation actions can be triggered, such as prompting for a password reset or blocking access.

Integration with Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Sentinel allows further correlation of identity-based events with broader security incidents, creating a holistic view of enterprise risk.

Microsoft Entra ID is the backbone of identity management in the Microsoft ecosystem. It authenticates users, secures devices, governs access, and enforces compliance policies across Microsoft 365 and Azure environments. By combining features such as conditional access, multifactor authentication, identity governance, and monitoring, it enables organizations to implement a secure, flexible, and scalable identity strategy.

For SC-900 certification candidates, mastering these concepts is key. The exam will test your understanding of how identity supports security and compliance goals, how different identity types are managed, and how Microsoft tools like Entra ID fit into broader cloud strategies.

In this series, we will explore Microsoft’s security solutions in more detail. From Microsoft Defender to Microsoft Sentinel, we’ll look at how threats are detected, analyzed, and remediated in real-time, and how these tools integrate with identity-based protection.

Understanding Microsoft Security Solutions – From Threat Detection to Response

In the face of growing cyber threats and the expanding attack surface that comes with hybrid and cloud environments, effective security strategies must evolve. Microsoft has developed a suite of integrated tools designed to protect identities, devices, data, and workloads. These solutions are not isolated; they work together to create a layered, intelligent defense that aligns with a Zero Trust security model.

The SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification includes a dedicated focus on Microsoft’s security solutions. These tools are built to secure modern enterprises at every level—from user authentication to automated threat detection and remediation. In this article, we’ll explore Microsoft’s major security offerings and show how they help organizations detect, protect, and respond to security threats.

A Modern Approach to Security

Traditional security relied heavily on network boundaries, VPNs, and firewalls. In today’s world, those boundaries are blurred. Employees work remotely, data resides in the cloud, and attackers increasingly use identity-based methods to bypass defenses.

To address these changes, Microsoft advocates for a Zero Trust security model. Zero Trust assumes that no user, device, or service should be trusted automatically. Access is granted only after verifying identity, device health, and compliance with organizational policies.

Microsoft’s security solutions are deeply embedded in its platforms and offer visibility, control, and protection across identity, endpoints, applications, email, and infrastructure.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is an enterprise endpoint security platform that helps prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats. It goes beyond traditional antivirus by using behavior-based analytics, cloud-delivered threat intelligence, and machine learning to detect anomalies.

This solution provides real-time monitoring of all devices—laptops, desktops, and mobile phones—connected to your environment. Defender for Endpoint captures telemetry from operating systems and applications to detect threats based on patterns of behavior, rather than just known signatures.

Key capabilities include:

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) for investigating incidents
Attack surface reduction to minimize exploitable entry points
Threat and vulnerability management for proactive risk reduction
Automated investigation and remediation to resolve issues without human intervention

These capabilities allow security teams to identify potential threats early, respond quickly, and reduce overall risk.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Email remains one of the most common attack vectors. Phishing, malware attachments, and credential harvesting are frequent tactics used by attackers to compromise users. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 protects Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive from such threats.

This tool safeguards communication channels by scanning incoming emails, attachments, and links. It uses machine learning models to detect sophisticated attacks like zero-day phishing attempts or business email compromise.

Features of Defender for Office 365 include:

Safe Attachments to analyze and detonate potentially malicious files
Safe Links that dynamically check URLs before opening
Anti-phishing policies that use heuristics and sender intelligence
Attack simulation training for end-user awareness and preparedness

By integrating directly with Microsoft 365, Defender for Office 365 protects users without requiring separate third-party security layers.

Microsoft Defender for Identity

Microsoft Defender for Identity is designed to detect identity-based threats within hybrid environments. It uses signals from Active Directory to identify risky behaviors and detect suspicious access patterns.

Attacks such as lateral movement, credential stuffing, pass-the-ticket, and brute-force attacks can be identified in near real time. Defender for Identity correlates data from domain controllers, Microsoft Entra ID, and Microsoft 365 to form a complete picture of user activity.

This tool helps security teams:

Detect known attack techniques through behavioral analytics
Investigate suspicious logins and identity compromise.
Monitor for insider threats and abnormal access attempts.
Integrate alerts into Microsoft Sentinel for deeper correlation

Identity is the gateway to critical systems, and Defender for Identity provides visibility into one of the most targeted areas of any environment.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

As organizations move workloads to the cloud, securing cloud-native services becomes a top priority. Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers protection for Azure resources, multi-cloud environments (like AWS and GCP), and on-premises servers.

This solution enables continuous assessment of cloud configurations, identifies vulnerabilities, and recommends actions to reduce risk. It also integrates threat detection, allowing organizations to respond to real-time attacks against virtual machines, databases, storage, and containers.

With Defender for Cloud, you can:

Secure hybrid environments through agent-based and agentless monitoring
Apply security benchmarks and regulatory compliance standards.s
Receive prioritized alerts based on risk impact and severity.
Protect Kubernetes clusters, serverless functions, and storage accounts

Defender for Cloud supports a defense-in-depth approach by ensuring that infrastructure remains secure, regardless of where it resides.

Microsoft Sentinel

Security information and event management (SIEM) tools collect, analyze, and act on large volumes of security data from across the enterprise. Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM and SOAR (security orchestration, automation, and response) platform that centralizes monitoring and threat response.

Sentinel aggregates logs and telemetry from Microsoft 365, Azure, third-party systems, and on-premises infrastructure. It applies built-in machine learning and analytics to detect unusual patterns and generate incidents that security teams can investigate.

What sets Sentinel apart is its ability to automate common responses. Security playbooks can be built using Azure Logic Apps to handle tasks such as isolating devices, resetting passwords, or escalating tickets to the right team.

Sentinel’s features include:

Scalable log ingestion and storage for large enterprises
AI-based detection to identify complex attack chains
Investigation tools with visual timelines and queries
Automation to reduce manual workload and response time

Sentinel helps organizations reduce mean time to detection and response, ultimately minimizing the damage caused by successful attacks.

Microsoft Intune and Endpoint Manager

Security isn’t limited to protecting data in the cloud—it must also extend to the devices that users carry every day. Microsoft Intune and Endpoint Manager provide mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) capabilities.

These tools allow administrators to manage device health, enforce compliance policies, deploy applications, and remotely wipe data if necessary. Whether users are on corporate laptops or personal smartphones, Intune ensures that only compliant and secure devices can access corporate resources.

With Endpoint Manager, organizations can:

Enforce encryption, antivirus, and update policies
Control which apps can be used and how they access data
Enable conditional access based on device status.
Support bring-your-own-device scenarios securely.y

By integrating with Microsoft Entra ID, Intune plays a vital role in Conditional Access enforcement and Zero Trust architecture.

Defender XDR – Unifying Microsoft Defender Capabilities

Microsoft Defender XDR (Extended Detection and Response) is the platform that brings all Microsoft Defender tools into a unified experience. It correlates data across identities, endpoints, email, apps, and cloud resources to provide a consolidated view of threats.

Instead of managing individual alerts from multiple products, Defender XDR provides incident-level views that help security analysts see the full scope of an attack. This streamlines investigations and prioritizes response efforts.

Through Defender XDR, you gain:

Unified incident tracking across security products
AI-driven prioritization of high-impact threats
Integration with Sentinel and Intune for faster remediation
Better visibility across attack surfaces and kill chains

This unified platform supports end-to-end defense by connecting the dots across complex enterprise environments.

Integration with Microsoft Entra ID and Compliance Tools

All Microsoft security tools integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Entra ID, ensuring that identity is central to security strategy. Conditional Access policies, multifactor authentication, and role-based access control can be enforced consistently across all Defender and Sentinel tools.

Security alerts triggered by suspicious activity, such as impossible travel, unusual login locations, or access to sensitive data, can automatically invoke identity protection policies, blocking or challenging access attempts.

Integration with compliance tools such as Microsoft Purview ensures that detected threats involving sensitive data are linked to regulatory risk. For instance, if malware attempts to exfiltrate files labeled as confidential, security alerts can trigger compliance actions or incident reporting.

This cohesive integration ensures that security is not just reactive but intelligent and connected across identity, compliance, and infrastructure.

Security Training and Simulations

Microsoft understands that humans are often the weakest link in security. To address this, tools like Microsoft Defender for Office 365 include security awareness training and attack simulations.

Organizations can create phishing simulations to test employees’ responses and deliver targeted training based on performance. This reduces the risk of social engineering attacks and promotes a security-conscious culture.

Attack simulation training also helps organizations meet security compliance requirements by demonstrating active efforts to improve user awareness and reduce insider risk.

Microsoft’s security solutions provide a comprehensive, intelligent, and interconnected defense across all aspects of a modern enterprise. From securing endpoints with Defender for Endpoint to orchestrating responses with Sentinel and enforcing device policies with Intune, these tools form the foundation of Microsoft’s security ecosystem.

For SC-900 certification candidates, understanding how these solutions fit together and support a Zero Trust approach is critical. These tools are not just technologies—they are enablers of business continuity, trust, and resilience.

In this series, we will examine Microsoft’s compliance solutions. We’ll explore how data governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance are managed within Microsoft 365, and how organizations can build secure, compliant environments while enabling productivity.

Exploring Microsoft Compliance Solutions – Building Trust Through Governance and Risk Management

Modern enterprises operate in a world where compliance is no longer optional. From protecting sensitive data to aligning with regional regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, or ISO 27001, organizations must adopt effective data governance and risk management strategies. Microsoft’s compliance solutions are designed to help organizations achieve this while ensuring productivity and operational efficiency.

The SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification ensures that learners understand how Microsoft’s compliance tools support regulatory standards, internal policies, and secure collaboration. This final part of our series focuses on Microsoft’s compliance portfolio, how these tools work together, and how they help organizations maintain integrity, trust, and legal standing in today’s data-driven landscape.

Understanding the Compliance Landscape

Compliance is a complex domain involving legal requirements, internal controls, ethical guidelines, and risk management. Organizations must safeguard personal and confidential data, prevent unauthorized access or data leakage, and respond effectively to regulatory inquiries or breaches.

Microsoft’s compliance solutions are part of Microsoft Purview, a suite of tools that address the full compliance lifecycle—governance, risk, and data discovery. These solutions are integrated into Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Entra ID, which ensures that compliance is not a siloed function but a native capability embedded into the tools people use every day.

Microsoft Purview Overview

Microsoft Purview brings together capabilities for data governance, information protection, compliance management, and risk mitigation. Formerly known as Microsoft 365 Compliance, Purview consolidates key services into a single interface for compliance officers, IT administrators, and risk analysts.

The Microsoft Purview portal offers a centralized dashboard that includes:

Data lifecycle management and retention policies
Information protection and sensitivity labels
Insider risk management tools
Compliance score and regulatory templates
Communication compliance for workplace monitoring

By integrating these functions, Purview helps organizations stay ahead of data risks while improving transparency and accountability.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Data Loss Prevention is a critical capability that allows organizations to monitor and control the flow of sensitive data across endpoints, cloud apps, email, and messaging platforms. Microsoft Purview DLP helps prevent accidental or intentional sharing of confidential information outside the organization.

DLP policies are created using predefined or custom sensitive information types, such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, or medical records. Once a DLP policy is in place, it can automatically detect data exposure and take action, such as warning the user, blocking the action, or reporting the incident to administrators.

DLP works across:

Microsoft Teams chats and messages
Exchange Online emails and attachments
SharePoint and OneDrive documents
Windows 10/11 endpoints through integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Third-party cloud apps via Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

This cross-platform support ensures that compliance is enforced consistently across all user interactions.

Information Protection and Sensitivity Labels

Microsoft Purview Information Protection enables classification, labeling, and encryption of documents and emails based on their sensitivity. Sensitivity labels are customizable tags that users or automated systems apply to content to define how it should be handled.

Labels can include actions such as:

Encrypting emails or files
Restricting access based on user roles or groups
Adding watermarks, headers, or footers
Blocking sharing outside the organization

For example, a file labeled “Confidential – Finance” may be accessible only to members of the finance department and automatically encrypted when shared via email.

These protections persist even if the content is moved outside the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. This ensures that sensitive information remains protected regardless of location or device.

Insider Risk Management

While external threats dominate headlines, insider risks can be equally damaging. Microsoft Purview’s Insider Risk Management module identifies risky behavior and policy violations by users within the organization.

Using signals from Microsoft Teams, Exchange, SharePoint, Defender for Endpoint, and other tools, the system flags behaviors such as:

Unauthorized data downloads or transfers
Attempted bypass of security policies
Unusual access to sensitive files
Use of personal email or cloud storage to move data

Insider risk policies can be tailored to detect potential data theft, harassment, code-of-conduct violations, or workplace conflicts. Once a risk is identified, analysts can investigate through anonymized workflows that protect user privacy while enabling decisive action.

This capability is vital for maintaining organizational trust, especially in hybrid work scenarios where traditional oversight may be limited.

Compliance Score and Regulatory Templates

Microsoft Purview includes a compliance score dashboard that provides a real-time view of an organization’s compliance posture. The score is calculated based on implemented controls, recommended actions, and risk-weighted measures.

Each organization’s compliance needs vary, depending on industry and geography. Microsoft Purview provides regulatory templates for standards like:

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
ISO/IEC 27001
NIST 800-53
SOC 2
CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)

These templates include pre-mapped controls that help organizations quickly align with complex regulations. Recommendations are provided along with guidance for implementing necessary configurations and policies.

This makes it easier for compliance teams to track their progress, prioritize high-impact actions, and demonstrate due diligence to regulators or stakeholders.

Communication Compliance

Communication Compliance is a powerful feature designed to monitor internal communications for violations of company policies, legal requirements, or ethical standards.

Organizations can define policies to flag:

Inappropriate language or harassment
Insider trading discussions
Data sharing in unapproved channels
Sensitive keywords in messages

Communication data from Teams, Outlook, Yammer, and even third-party platforms like Zoom or Slack can be ingested for analysis.

This tool uses machine learning models to detect context and intent, reducing false positives and improving detection accuracy. Reviews are conducted in a secure environment with role-based access, ensuring privacy and minimizing reputational risk.

Communication compliance supports a safer, more respectful workplace culture while helping organizations meet regulatory obligations.

eDiscovery and Audit

Legal and regulatory events often require organizations to collect, preserve, and review electronic data. Microsoft Purview’s eDiscovery and Audit tools simplify this process.

eDiscovery (Standard and Premium tiers) allows organizations to:

Create legal holds to preserve content
Search across mailboxes, documents, and Teams messages.
Export data in standardized formats for legal use
Analyze relationships and timelines in advanced investigations

The audit logs in Microsoft Purview provide visibility into user and admin activities across Microsoft 365. These logs include actions like file access, email forwarding, login attempts, and permission changes.

Audit data is crucial for forensic analysis, internal investigations, and incident response. Organizations can retain logs for years, ensuring long-term visibility and compliance with recordkeeping requirements.

Integration with Microsoft Entra ID and Security Tools

Compliance and security are deeply interconnected. Microsoft Purview integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) to enforce access controls based on sensitivity levels and policy requirements.

Conditional Access policies can restrict access to sensitive content unless specific conditions are met, such as using a compliant device, multifactor authentication, or geographic restrictions.

Alerts from Microsoft Defender tools can also feed into Purview for combined analysis. For instance, if a user downloads a large number of confidential files and then attempts to share them externally, a coordinated alert across Insider Risk Management and Defender for Endpoint can trigger an automated investigation.

This convergence ensures that security events are not treated in isolation but linked to broader compliance and governance contexts.

Empowering End Users with Built-in Guidance

Microsoft’s compliance tools are designed not just for administrators but for end users as well. Through policy tips, email alerts, and built-in recommendations, users are educated in real time about the impact of their actions.

For example:

A user trying to send an email with a financial report may see a tip reminding them that the content is labeled Confidential and should not be shared externally.
If someone attempts to upload sensitive data to a personal OneDrive account, DLP policies may block the action and notify them of the policy breach.

These in-context prompts help create a compliance-aware culture, reducing reliance on IT departments and promoting self-governance.

Preparing for the SC-900 Exam

Understanding Microsoft’s compliance solutions is a key pillar of the SC-900 exam. Exam objectives in this area include:

Describing the capabilities of Microsoft Purview
Understanding how DLP, sensitivity labels, and retention policies work
Explaining the purpose of Insider Risk Management and Communication Compliance
Knowing how eDiscovery and Audit features support investigations and legal requirements
Understanding how compliance integrates with identity and security platforms

Candidates should become familiar with the Microsoft Purview interface, the types of policies available, and how these solutions align with regulatory needs.

Practical experience, such as setting up DLP policies, exploring compliance issues, or navigating eDiscovery cases, can significantly improve readiness for the certification.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft’s compliance solutions are essential tools for organizations navigating the complex landscape of privacy, data protection, and ethical conduct. By embedding compliance into Microsoft 365, these tools empower organizations to meet their obligations without compromising productivity or user experience.

The SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification provides a foundational understanding of how compliance fits into a broader security and identity strategy. Whether you’re in IT, risk management, or support, understanding these tools will help you contribute to a safer, more accountable workplace.

With this article, we’ve now completed a four-part exploration of the SC-900 journey—from core concepts to security, identity, and compliance. Each domain plays a critical role in Microsoft’s vision for secure digital transformation.