Microsoft SC-100 Exam Dumps & Practice Test Questions
Question No 1:
As you are creating a modern security operations plan for your organization, you are focusing on implementing a Zero Trust security model, which emphasizes the "never trust, always verify" principle. The objective is to reduce the workload on Tier 1 analysts within your Microsoft Security Operations Center (SOC), enabling them to focus on higher-priority tasks and improving response times to routine security incidents.
To help achieve this, you are evaluating automation features within Microsoft 365 Defender that could assist in streamlining incident response and minimize the need for manual intervention from junior analysts.
Which action should you implement to best reduce the operational load on Tier 1 SOC analysts?
A. Enable built-in compliance policies in Azure Policy
B. Enable self-healing in Microsoft 365 Defender
C. Automate data classification
D. Create hunting queries in Microsoft 365 Defender
Correct Answer: B. Enable self-healing in Microsoft 365 Defender
Explanation:
In a Zero Trust model, security requires constant validation at every access point to ensure that trust is never assumed. In a busy SOC environment, Tier 1 analysts are typically inundated with alerts, and manual intervention for repetitive security issues can lead to delayed responses and analyst fatigue.
Microsoft 365 Defender's self-healing feature automates remediation of common threats such as malware or unauthorized configuration changes, significantly reducing manual effort. With self-healing enabled, Defender can automatically investigate and respond to potential threats by actions such as isolating infected devices, removing malicious files, or rolling back harmful system changes.
This automated remediation process ensures that Tier 1 analysts can focus their attention on more complex incidents requiring human judgment. The primary advantage here is that by automating common, low-level tasks, you improve both security efficiency and response times, ultimately optimizing the security operations workflow in a Zero Trust model.
Let's look at why the other options are less appropriate:
Option A (Azure Policy) addresses compliance and governance but doesn't directly impact incident response or SOC workload.
Option C (Automate data classification) is beneficial for organizing data but doesn't streamline the incident response process for Tier 1 analysts.
Option D (Hunting queries) is typically a task for more advanced analysts (Tier 2 or Tier 3), making it less relevant for reducing Tier 1 analyst workload.
Thus, enabling self-healing is the best way to minimize the workload for Tier 1 analysts and streamline security operations in line with Zero Trust principles.
Question No 2:
You are tasked with designing a comprehensive security solution for an organization that uses Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services. The organization needs to implement a robust security strategy to safeguard against potential threats and data breaches. The company has strict compliance requirements, including GDPR and HIPAA, and needs to ensure that sensitive data is protected, monitored, and that any security incidents are responded to swiftly.
As part of the strategy, you need to configure security monitoring, threat detection, and automated responses. Which of the following Microsoft solutions would be the most appropriate for this use case?
A. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
B. Microsoft Sentinel
C. Microsoft Intune
D. Microsoft Defender for Identity
Correct Answer: B. Microsoft Sentinel
Explanation:
The scenario describes a need for a comprehensive security strategy that includes monitoring, threat detection, and automated incident response in an environment that spans Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services. Let's break down the available options and explain why Microsoft Sentinel is the best fit for this requirement.
Microsoft Sentinel (Option B) is a cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system that provides intelligent security analytics across an organization’s entire IT infrastructure. It integrates well with both Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services to collect data, monitor activity, and detect security threats in real-time. Sentinel allows for automated threat detection, threat hunting, and incident response, making it a key solution for organizations that need to adhere to strict compliance requirements, such as GDPR and HIPAA.
Sentinel’s capabilities also include custom alerting, automated responses to detected threats, and integration with other Microsoft security tools like Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Microsoft Defender for Identity, ensuring comprehensive protection across endpoints, identities, and cloud environments. This centralized monitoring and response system ensures that security incidents are detected early, and automated responses can minimize the impact of threats.
Now, let’s review the other options:
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (Option A) is a robust endpoint protection platform designed to protect individual devices such as desktops, laptops, and mobile devices from security threats like malware, ransomware, and phishing. While it plays an important role in an overall security strategy, it does not provide the comprehensive monitoring and incident response capabilities that Microsoft Sentinel offers across an entire organization’s infrastructure. It is focused specifically on endpoint security, making it a valuable but narrower solution.
Microsoft Intune (Option C) is primarily a Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Mobile Application Management (MAM) service. It helps organizations secure mobile devices, enforce security policies, and manage application access. While it is useful for controlling device access and ensuring device security, it does not provide the broad security monitoring and threat detection capabilities required for monitoring threats across the organization.
Microsoft Defender for Identity (Option D) focuses on protecting user identities and detecting threats that target organizational accounts. It helps to detect malicious activities such as lateral movement or privilege escalation within an organization’s identity environment. While critical for protecting identity and authentication systems, it is not a comprehensive security monitoring solution on its own and would need to be integrated with broader monitoring tools like Microsoft Sentinel for complete coverage.
In conclusion, Microsoft Sentinel is the most appropriate choice because it provides a centralized, cloud-native platform for threat detection, security monitoring, and automated incident response across Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services, making it well-suited for an organization with strict compliance requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA.
Question No 3:
You are tasked with auditing an organization’s Azure environment to ensure compliance with defined standards. During this process, it is essential that no resources are modified or blocked. Your goal is to evaluate whether the current configuration of resources aligns with the specified standards, without making any changes.
Which Azure Policy effect should you use to evaluate compliance without modifying or enforcing any resource changes?
A. Deny
B. Modify
C. Append
D. Disabled
Correct Answer: D. Disabled
Explanation:
Azure Policy provides organizations with a way to assess and enforce compliance with standards across their resources. The effect specified in an Azure Policy defines how the policy should interact with the resources when evaluated.
In scenarios where you need to evaluate compliance without making any changes or blocking resource behavior, the Disabled effect is the most appropriate choice. This effect allows the policy to exist and be evaluated, but it does not enforce or take any actions on the resources. It effectively disables the policy's enforcement mechanism, which is useful during the testing or auditing phase.
While the Disabled effect might seem counterintuitive, it is a critical tool for policy testing and development phases when you want to validate a policy without causing any impact. However, in typical compliance evaluation (if the Audit effect were available), the Audit effect would log compliance violations without affecting resources. Since Audit is not one of the available options here, Disabled ensures that no resource is modified or blocked.
Let’s briefly review the other options:
Deny prevents resource creation or updates if they do not meet the policy, making it unsuitable for compliance evaluation.
Modify changes resource configurations to match policy requirements, which would alter the environment, contrary to the goal of non-intrusive evaluation.
Append adds settings to resources during creation, which would also modify resource behavior.
Thus, the Disabled effect is the best option for evaluating compliance without any changes or enforcement.
Question No 4:
Your organization has an active Azure subscription with Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhanced security features. Your organization has recently entered into a contractual agreement with a U.S. federal agency, requiring your cloud environment to adhere to the NIST 800-53 regulatory framework.
To begin the compliance evaluation process, you need to assess how well your current Azure environment aligns with the NIST 800-53 standards and where any compliance gaps may exist.
What is the first step you should take to evaluate your Azure environment's compliance with NIST 800-53 standards?
A) Use Azure Policy to assign a built-in compliance initiative targeting the subscription scope.
B) Configure the Microsoft Defender for Cloud data connector in Microsoft Sentinel.
C) Access the Azure Security Benchmark audit report in Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
D) Create an access policy for cloud apps in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
To assess compliance with NIST 800-53 in your Azure environment, the first critical step is to assign the NIST SP 800-53 R5 built-in compliance initiative using Azure Policy. Microsoft provides built-in initiatives for various regulatory frameworks, including NIST 800-53, which can be easily applied to your subscription.
By assigning this initiative, Azure Policy evaluates your resources against predefined policy definitions mapped directly to the NIST 800-53 controls. This will give you an assessment of where your Azure environment stands concerning compliance. Additionally, it provides a compliance score that highlights non-compliant resources, helping you identify areas for remediation.
Options like configuring Microsoft Sentinel (Option B) or reviewing the Azure Security Benchmark (Option C) are important for broader security monitoring but do not directly assess compliance with NIST 800-53. Similarly, creating access policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (Option D) is more focused on access control rather than compliance assessment.
In summary, Azure Policy is the most effective tool for initiating a compliance evaluation against NIST 800-53, laying the foundation for tracking and improving compliance over time.
Question No 5:
You have an active Azure subscription with Microsoft Defender for Cloud enabled. Your organization also maintains a deployment in Amazon Web Services (AWS). You are planning to extend your Azure-based security framework to cover your AWS resources. However, you will not use Azure Arc in this solution.
Given this scenario, which three Microsoft security services can be used to secure and provide insights into your AWS resources?
A) Microsoft Defender for Containers
B) Microsoft Defender for Servers
C) Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Conditional Access
D) Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Privileged Identity Management (PIM)
E) Azure Policy
Correct Answers: A, B, C
Explanation:
In this scenario, Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides centralized security monitoring across multi-cloud environments, including AWS, without the need for Azure Arc. Several services within Defender for Cloud can be extended to protect AWS resources.
Microsoft Defender for Containers: This service offers protection for containerized workloads, such as those running on Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service). It provides vulnerability assessments, compliance checks, and runtime protection, extending Azure’s security capabilities to containers in AWS.
Microsoft Defender for Servers: This service ensures endpoint protection for virtual machines, including Amazon EC2 instances. It integrates with AWS without needing Azure Arc and offers real-time threat detection, vulnerability management, and compliance tracking.
Azure AD Conditional Access: Conditional Access policies can be extended to AWS resources when Azure AD is used for identity federation. This allows you to enforce access control policies (like MFA) for AWS management consoles, ensuring secure, verified access to cloud resources.
Why not the other options?
Azure AD PIM focuses on managing access within Azure AD roles and Azure resources. It is not applicable to AWS resources directly.
Azure Policy helps enforce governance across Azure but does not manage AWS resources without Azure Arc. Since Azure Arc is excluded in this scenario, it does not apply here.
In summary, the three suitable services for securing AWS resources are Microsoft Defender for Containers, Microsoft Defender for Servers, and Azure AD Conditional Access.
Question No 6:
Your organization operates in a hybrid environment with an on-premises network in Seattle and an Azure cloud subscription. The organization uses a dedicated Remote Desktop (RDP) server for managing Azure resources. The company has hired an external software development team based in France, who accesses the RDP server from their location and manages Azure virtual machines via tools installed on that server.
The RDP server’s network traffic is closely monitored and filtered by a firewall, allowing access only from specific IP addresses located in France.You are tasked with recommending a modern security solution based on the Zero Trust model to enhance security and reduce latency for the remote developers.
Which three actions should you recommend?
A) Configure Network Security Groups (NSGs) to allow access only from specific logical groupings of IP address ranges.
B) Deploy a Remote Desktop server to an Azure region located in France.
C) Migrate from the Remote Desktop server to Azure Virtual Desktop.
D) Implement Azure Firewall to restrict host pool outbound access.
E) Configure Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Conditional Access with multi-factor authentication (MFA) and named locations.
Correct Answers: C, D, E
Explanation:
In this scenario, the company faces challenges such as high latency due to routing through Seattle, potential security risks from exposed RDP access, and outdated access control. Adopting a Zero Trust architecture addresses these challenges by never trusting implicitly and verifying every access attempt.
Migrate from the RDP server to Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD): AVD is a modern, cloud-native service that allows secure remote access to Azure-hosted desktops and applications. By moving the remote desktop session to an Azure region closer to the development team in France, you reduce latency and ensure better access to cloud-based resources. Additionally, AVD integrates with Azure’s security policies for a more scalable, secure environment.
Implement Azure Firewall: Azure Firewall can be configured to monitor and control outbound traffic from the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool, ensuring that traffic adheres to Zero Trust principles. This adds an additional layer of security by strictly managing the traffic flow and enforcing traffic control policies for internal services.
Azure AD Conditional Access with MFA and named locations: This policy enhances identity-based security by requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users trying to access the Azure resources. Conditional Access also ensures that only verified users from trusted locations (like France) can access the environment, which aligns with the Zero Trust principle of verifying access explicitly and applying least privilege.
Why not the others?
NSGs (A): While Network Security Groups can provide segmentation, they alone are not sufficient to enforce Zero Trust or manage access control in a modern hybrid environment.
Deploying a Remote Desktop server in France (B): This approach would reduce latency but is a workaround rather than a modern security solution and does not address other security concerns like identity verification and least privilege.
In summary, Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure Firewall, and Azure AD Conditional Access with MFA are the most effective solutions for adopting a Zero Trust model and securing the remote access environment.
Question No 7:
Your organization operates in a hybrid cloud environment, utilizing both on-premises and cloud resources. In the near future, there are plans to onboard a large number of temporary employees for a short-term project, requiring access to internal applications and data hosted on the on-premises network.
Due to strict security policies, personal devices cannot be used by these employees to access company resources. The solution must ensure secure access, adhere to security policies, and be able to scale quickly based on demand.
As a cloud solutions architect, which solution would you recommend to fulfill these requirements?
A) Deploy Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Conditional Access, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
B) Redesign the VPN infrastructure by adopting a split tunnel configuration
C) Deploy Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Conditional Access
D) Migrate the on-premises applications to cloud-based applications
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
The best solution for this scenario is Option A, which involves deploying Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Conditional Access, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.
Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) enables organizations to provide secure, virtual desktops that are centrally managed in Azure. This allows temporary employees to access corporate resources through company-owned, managed virtual desktops, rather than using their personal devices. This approach aligns with the strict security requirement of preventing personal device access to sensitive data.
Azure AD Conditional Access enforces granular access controls, ensuring that only compliant devices and users are allowed access. For example, you can enforce policies that only grant access to the virtual desktop if certain conditions are met, such as the user being authenticated through Azure AD, and the device being compliant with security policies.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps adds an additional layer of security by providing real-time monitoring and security enforcement for cloud applications. It can detect risky behaviors, provide alerts, and apply session controls, further enhancing data protection.
This solution is ideal for short-term scalability, as virtual desktops can be quickly provisioned or deprovisioned to accommodate the fluctuating number of temporary employees. Additionally, the centralized management provided by AVD allows for easier enforcement of security policies, ensuring compliance with organizational security standards.
Other options fail to meet the requirements:
Option B (VPN with split tunneling) poses security risks and doesn’t prevent personal device access.
Option C (Microsoft Endpoint Manager + Azure AD Conditional Access) requires device enrollment, which may not be feasible for temporary users.
Option D (Migrating applications to the cloud) is a long-term solution and not suitable for the short-term needs of this project.
Thus, Option A is the most effective, secure, and scalable solution for this situation.
Question No 8:
Your organization is beginning its journey toward cloud adoption and is focused on establishing a secure foundation for its Azure landing zones. As part of this initiative, your goal is to improve the organization's Microsoft Secure Score by implementing preventative security controls.
Which two of the following Azure-native security solutions should you deploy to directly improve the Secure Score through preventative measures?
A. Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF)
B. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Privileged Identity Management (PIM)
C. Microsoft Sentinel
D. Azure Firewall
E. Microsoft Defender for Cloud alerts
Correct Answers:
B. Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM)
D. Azure Firewall
Explanation:
As your organization begins to migrate to the cloud, ensuring a secure Azure environment is a priority. Improving the Microsoft Secure Score requires the deployment of effective preventative security measures to reduce the likelihood of security breaches.
Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) is an essential tool for managing access to critical Azure resources. It enforces the principle of least privilege by providing just-in-time (JIT) access to administrative roles. PIM ensures that only authorized users can perform high-privilege tasks, and all actions are logged for accountability. By limiting persistent admin access and implementing approval workflows, PIM directly enhances your Secure Score under identity and access management, thus reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
Azure Firewall is a robust stateful network security service that filters inbound and outbound traffic across your Azure Virtual Network. It acts as a security barrier against unauthorized access and malicious traffic by applying strict rules. As a preventative network control, Azure Firewall plays a key role in defending your cloud resources and directly contributes to improving your Secure Score by strengthening your network security posture.
Why not the others?
Option A (Azure WAF) protects web applications from common threats but is more of a mitigative control, not a preventative one, thus not having a significant impact on the Secure Score.
Option C (Microsoft Sentinel) is a SIEM/SOAR tool designed for threat detection and response, rather than prevention, which does not directly contribute to a preventative security posture.
Option E (Microsoft Defender for Cloud alerts) provides reactive notifications about vulnerabilities and threats but does not implement preventative security measures by itself.
Therefore, the best preventative security solutions to increase your Secure Score are PIM and Azure Firewall.
Question No 9:
You are working on implementing data security in your organization's Azure landing zone, which must meet specific compliance and privacy standards. The organization requires that:
Cardholder data be encrypted using encryption keys managed internally by the organization.
Insurance claim files be encrypted using encryption keys stored on-premises.
Based on these requirements, which two of the following configurations will ensure compliance?
(Note: Each correct choice represents a part of the solution. Each correct answer is worth one point.)
A. Store the cardholder data in an Azure SQL Database using Microsoft-managed keys for encryption.
B. Store the insurance claim data in Azure Blob Storage encrypted using customer-provided keys.
C. Store the cardholder data in an Azure SQL Database encrypted using keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM.
D. Store the insurance claim data in Azure Files, encrypted using keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM.
Correct Answers:
B. Store the insurance claim data in Azure Blob Storage encrypted using customer-provided keys.
C. Store the cardholder data in an Azure SQL Database encrypted using keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM.
Explanation:
To meet the compliance and privacy requirements, the organization must ensure that data is encrypted using encryption keys that are either managed on-premises or within the organization's control, depending on the data type.
For cardholder data, the organization requires the encryption keys to be managed internally. Azure Key Vault Managed HSM (Hardware Security Module) provides an ideal solution for this requirement. HSMs are designed to keep encryption keys within the organization's control, ensuring full compliance with the internal key management policy. Option C satisfies this by encrypting Azure SQL Database using keys stored in Managed HSM, thereby retaining full control over the keys and ensuring compliance with the internal encryption key management requirement.
For insurance claim data, the requirement is to use on-premises encryption keys. Azure supports Customer-Provided Keys (CPK) for Azure Blob Storage, allowing you to supply an encryption key from your own on-premises system at the time of each request. This ensures that the encryption key never resides within Azure, fully meeting the organization’s requirement to keep the key on-premises. Option B fulfills this requirement by storing the insurance claim data in Azure Blob Storage, encrypted with keys that the organization provides from an on-premises source.
Why not the others?
Option A (Microsoft-managed keys) does not satisfy the requirement to manage the encryption keys internally, as Microsoft-managed keys are not under the organization's control.
Option D (Azure Files, encrypted using keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM), while secure, uses keys stored in Azure Key Vault rather than on-premises, which does not meet the requirement for on-premises key management.
Therefore, the correct configurations that comply with the organization’s encryption requirements are Options B and C.
Question No 10:
You are tasked with designing a security strategy for a multi-cloud environment, where your organization uses both Microsoft Azure and AWS. The company wants to improve its ability to detect and respond to threats across both platforms.
Which of the following Azure services would best support the company’s needs for continuous security monitoring and threat detection in this multi-cloud environment?
A) Azure Sentinel
B) Azure Firewall
C) Azure Security Center
D) Azure Bastion
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
In this scenario, the company needs a solution that offers continuous security monitoring and threat detection across both Microsoft Azure and AWS environments. Here’s a breakdown of each option:
A) Azure Sentinel:
Azure Sentinel is a cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM) solution. It provides intelligent security analytics, threat detection, and automated response across multi-cloud environments, including both Azure and AWS. Sentinel integrates with various data sources and can ingest logs, metrics, and alerts from both Azure and non-Azure resources (including AWS), making it an ideal choice for monitoring threats in a multi-cloud environment. Additionally, Sentinel utilizes machine learning and AI to detect anomalies and suspicious activity in real-time. This service would allow the company to establish continuous monitoring, detect potential threats, and initiate automated responses to security incidents.B) Azure Firewall:
Azure Firewall is a cloud-native, stateful firewall service that protects Azure Virtual Network resources by controlling inbound and outbound traffic. It can be used to secure traffic flows in the Azure environment, but it is not designed for cross-cloud monitoring or advanced threat detection across multi-cloud environments like Azure and AWS. While it is a critical part of network security, it does not provide the comprehensive threat monitoring or analytics capabilities that Azure Sentinel offers.C) Azure Security Center:
Azure Security Center is a unified security management system for Azure resources that provides tools for threat protection, security posture management, and compliance monitoring. While it is excellent for monitoring and securing resources within Azure, it is not as effective for monitoring threats across non-Azure environments like AWS. Azure Security Center does offer integration with Azure Sentinel, so it can work together with Sentinel to provide broader coverage. However, Azure Sentinel on its own is more suitable for cross-cloud threat detection and response.D) Azure Bastion:
Azure Bastion is a fully managed service that allows secure RDP and SSH connectivity to Azure virtual machines without exposing them to the public internet. While it improves security by ensuring that VMs are not directly accessible, it does not provide threat detection, security monitoring, or multi-cloud analytics. Its primary purpose is to protect against RDP/SSH brute-force attacks and other direct access vulnerabilities but does not address the full scope of security monitoring required in a multi-cloud environment.
In conclusion, Azure Sentinel (A) is the most appropriate choice for continuous security monitoring and threat detection in a multi-cloud environment. Its advanced SIEM capabilities, integration with various data sources (including AWS), and ability to analyze and respond to threats across both Azure and non-Azure platforms make it the ideal solution for the company’s needs.
