SC-401 Administering Information Security in Microsoft 365 Questions and Answers

Box 1: When creating a Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management case, you must first select a risky user to investigate. The case will be built around this specific user’s activities, linking alerts and risk signals to the investigation.

Box 2: The Insider Risk Management role groups determine who can access and contribute to cases:

● Admin1 (Insider Risk Management Admins) → Full admin access.

● Admin2 (Insider Risk Management Analysts) → Analysts who review cases.

● Admin3 (Risk Management Investigators) → Investigators who work on cases.

● Admin4 (Insider Risk Management Auditors) → Auditors who oversee cases.

All these roles have default access to insider risk cases in Microsoft Purview, so all four admins are added as contributors.

Since you need to automatically apply a sensitivity label to resumes based on their content and structure (work experience, education, accomplishments), a trainable classifier is the best choice.

Trainable classifiers use machine learning to identify unstructured data, such as resumes, contracts, or legal documents. Instead of relying on predefined patterns (like keywords or regular expressions), a trainable classifier learns from sample documents and can accurately identify resumes even if they are formatted differently.

Final Approach:

● Train a trainable classifier using sample resumes.

● Deploy the classifier in Microsoft Purview.

● Configure a sensitivity label to be automatically applied when a document matches the classifier.

A Preservation Lock in Microsoft Purview Retention Policies enforces strict compliance and prevents certain modifications to ensure data is retained according to compliance requirements.

When a Preservation Lock is applied:

1. You cannot disable or delete the policy.

2. You cannot remove locations from the policy.

3. You cannot decrease the retention period.

4. You can add locations to the policy.

5. You can increase the retention period.

You can expand the retention policy to cover additional locations (e.g., more Exchange mailboxes, SharePoint sites). You can extend the retention duration (e.g., increase from 5 years to 10 years) since this aligns with stricter compliance.

To create a keyword dictionary for a sensitive information type in Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP), you must use a plain text (.txt) file where each keyword is on a separate line.

Format Example (TXT file):

confidential

sensitive

classified

top secret

This format is simple, efficient, and directly compatible with Microsoft 365 DLP policies for keyword dictionaries.

How to use the keyword dictionary?

● Create a text file with one keyword per line.

● Upload it to Microsoft Purview under Data Classification > Sensitive Info Types.

● Use the dictionary in a DLP policy to identify and protect sensitive information.

To meet the requirement that all administrative users must be able to create Microsoft 365 sensitivity labels, we need to assign the Sensitivity Label Administrator role to the correct users.

Sensitivity Label Administrator Role Responsibilities

This role allows users to:

● Create and manage sensitivity labels in Microsoft Purview.

● Publish and configure auto-labeling policies.

● Modify label encryption and content marking settings.

Review of Admin Roles from the Table:

A screenshot of a computer AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Users that must be assigned the Sensitivity Label Administrator role:

● Admin2 (Compliance Data Administrator)

● Admin3 (Compliance Administrator)

● Admin1 (Global Reader) (should be assigned this role to fulfill the requirement that all admins can create labels).

A white paper with black text AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Understanding Site4's Retention Policies:

● Site4RetentionPolicy1 deletes items older than 2 years from creation. If a file was created on January 1, 2021, it would be deleted after January 1, 2023.

● Site4RetentionPolicy2 retains files for 4 years from creation. If a file was created on January 1, 2021, it will be kept until January 1, 2025, but not deleted after that (policy states "Do nothing").

Statement 1 - Yes, because Site4RetentionPolicy2 ensures files are retained for 4 years.

Statement 2 - Yes, because Site4RetentionPolicy2 retains the file for 4 years (until January 1, 2025).

Statement 3 - No, because retention is only for 4 years (until January 1, 2025). After that, the policy does "nothing," meaning the file is no longer recoverable after that period.

A screenshot of a questionnaire AI-generated content may be incorrect.

The goal is to automatically label documents in Site1 that contain credit card numbers. To achieve this, we need a sensitivity label with an auto-labeling policy based on a sensitive info type that detects credit card numbers.

Step 1: Create a Sensitive Info Type

● A sensitive info type is needed to detect credit card numbers in documents.

● Microsoft Purview includes built-in sensitive info types for credit card numbers, but we can also create a custom one if necessary.

Step 2: Create a Sensitivity Label

● A sensitivity label is required to classify and protect documents containing sensitive information.

● This label can apply encryption, watermarking, or access controls to credit card data.

Step 3: Create an Auto-Labeling Policy

● An auto-labeling policy ensures that the sensitivity label is applied automatically when credit card numbers are detected in Site1.

● This policy is configured to scan files and automatically apply the correct sensitivity label.

The requirement states that all Microsoft 365 data for users must be retained for at least one year. In Microsoft 365, retention policies must be configured for each type of data storage.

Step 1: Identifying Where Data is Stored

From the case study, users store data in the following locations:

● SharePoint Online sites

● OneDrive accounts

● Exchange email

● Exchange public folders

● Teams chats

● Teams channel messages

Since these locations fall under two broad categories:

● Microsoft Exchange data (Emails, Public folders)

● SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams data

Step 2: Required Retention Policies

1️. A single retention policy can cover:

● SharePoint Online

● OneDrive

● Microsoft Teams

2. A second retention policy is required for:

● Exchange (Emails & Public Folders)

Thus, the minimum number of retention policies required to meet the requirement is 2.

Microsoft 365 retention policies can be applied broadly across multiple services with just two policies:

● One for Exchange & Public Folders

● One for SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams

There's no need for separate policies for each individual workload unless different retention durations are required, which is not stated in the requirement.

A screenshot of a computer AI-generated content may be incorrect.

To detect and protect confidential documents, we need a custom rule to identify project codes that start with 999 (since they are classified as confidential).

Box 1: A Sensitive Info Type (SIT) allows Microsoft Purview DLP policies to recognize structured data (e.g., project codes). DLP policies require a sensitive info type to detect content based on patterns, keywords, or dictionary terms. A sensitivity label alone does not define detection logic—it is used for classification and protection after content is identified.

Box 2: Since project codes follow a structured 10-digit pattern, we should use a Regular Expression (Regex) to match project codes that start with 999.

Example Regex pattern:

999\d{7}

This pattern detects a 10-digit number starting with "999".

The issue where users sometimes can upload files to cloud services and sometimes cannot suggests inconsistent enforcement of Endpoint DLP policies. This can be caused by the unallowed browsers in the Microsoft 365 Endpoint DLP settings are NOT configured. Also, there are file path exclusions in the Microsoft 365 Endpoint DLP settings.

Endpoint DLP can block uploads only when using unallowed browsers. If unallowed browsers are not configured, users might be able to bypass restrictions by switching to a different browser. This could explain why uploads sometimes work and sometimes don’t, depending on which browser is used.

File path exclusions allow certain files or folders to be exempt from DLP restrictions. If a specific file location is excluded, files stored there won’t trigger DLP policies, leading to inconsistent behavior. This could result in some uploads being blocked while others are allowed.

The Service domains setting in Microsoft 365 Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (Endpoint DLP) allows administrators to block or allow specific domains for file uploads. The goal is to prevent users from uploading DLP-protected documents to web1.contoso.com and web2.contoso.com.

Setting the Service domains to "web1.contoso.com and web2.contoso.com" precisely targets the two specific third-party websites, minimizing administrative effort while ensuring strict control.

To ensure Azure Storage Account keys are encrypted when sent via email, you need a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy that detects Azure Storage Account keys using a sensitive information type and automatically encrypts emails containing these keys.

A DLP policy with Exchange email as the only location meets this requirement because it identifies sensitive data in email messages and it applies protection actions, such as encryption, blocking, or alerts.

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management flags high-impact users based on various risk factors, including role, access to confidential data, and influence within an organization. Let's analyze each user:

User1 (Regional Manager, assigned Reader role, manages department managers)

Risk Factors:

● Holds a managerial position (regional manager).

● Manages multiple department managers, indicating organizational influence.

● Access to critical business information.

Flagged? -Yes (Managerial role and access to confidential data).

User2 (HR department manager, no Microsoft Entra roles, manages HR department users)

Risk Factors:

● Manages HR department users, meaning they likely handle sensitive employee data.

● HR roles are often considered high-risk due to access to personal and payroll data.

Flagged? -Yes (HR role and access to sensitive employee data).

User3 (Developer, reports to User2, only user in compliance, assigned Compliance Administrator role)

Risk Factors:

● Compliance Administrator role grants access to sensitive security and regulatory data.

● Only person in the compliance department, meaning they hold a critical role.

● Potentially high impact on compliance and security settings.

Flagged? -Yes (Privileged Compliance Administrator role).

User4 (Assistant to User1, no Entra roles, handles confidential data on behalf of User1)

Risk Factors:

● Handles a high volume of confidential data on behalf of a regional manager.

● Assistants with access to sensitive data are considered insider risk candidates.

Flagged? -Yes (High access to sensitive information).

Since all four users fit high-impact criteria (managerial roles, privileged compliance access, handling sensitive data), Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management will flag all of them.

To ensure Azure Storage Account keys are encrypted when sent via email, you need a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy that detects Azure Storage Account keys using a sensitive information type and automatically encrypts emails containing these keys.

Text patterns in mail flow rules are not as reliable as sensitive information types in DLP.

Mail flow rules lack advanced content detection and machine learning-based classification, making them less effective than DLP.