SC-401 Real Exam Questions
Administering Information Security in Microsoft 365. Everything you need to prepare, practice, and pass.
164
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3
Exam Domains
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Certification Overview
SC-401 assesses technical competency in three critical areas: configuring information protection controls (sensitivity labels, encryption, permissions) within Microsoft Purview; implementing and managing data loss prevention policies across Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, and endpoints; and monitoring organizational risk through insider risk management, alerts, and activity audit trails. Strong emphasis on practical administration of Microsoft 365 security features rather than theoretical security concepts.
What This Certification Proves
The SC-401 certification validates expertise in administering information security within Microsoft 365 environments, specifically focusing on information protection, data loss prevention, and risk management capabilities. This cert demonstrates proficiency with Microsoft Purview, sensitivity labels, retention policies, and insider risk controls—essential skills for organizations securing cloud-based collaboration and data.
Who Should Take This Exam
Microsoft 365 administrators and security professionals with 1-2 years of Microsoft 365 management experience. Suitable for those transitioning from on-premises security roles to cloud security, or administrators expanding beyond basic user management into data protection and compliance domains.
Topic Breakdown
3 domains covering 163 questions
| Domain | Questions | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Implement Data Loss Prevention And Retention | 71 | 44% |
| Implement Information Protection | 49 | 30% |
| Manage Risks, Alerts, And Activities | 43 | 26% |
Study Plans
Choose a study plan that matches your schedule and experience level
30 Days
Intensive Sprint
Week 1-2
- Master fundamentals: Implement Data Loss Prevention And Retention
- Read Microsoft official documentation
- Complete 6 questions daily
Week 3
- Deep dive: Implement Information Protection
- Review weak areas from results
- Take 2 full-length exams
Week 4
- Review all flagged questions
- Timed exams to build stamina
- Final revision of key concepts
60 Days
Balanced Approach
Week 1-2
- Survey all exam domains
- Set up study environment
- Begin with foundational topics
Week 3-4
- Focus: Implement Data Loss Prevention And Retention
- Focus: Implement Information Protection
- 3 questions daily
Week 5-6
- Focus: Manage Risks, Alerts, And Activities
- Hands-on labs if applicable
- Review explanations for wrong answers
Week 7-8
- Complete all 164 questions
- Identify and eliminate weak areas
- Take 3 full-length timed tests
90 Days
Comprehensive Study
Month 1
- Learn all exam domains at a comfortable pace
- Build strong foundational knowledge
- 2 questions daily
Month 2
- Deep dive into each domain
- Hands-on practice and labs
- Take weekly timed exams
Month 3
- Work through all 164 questions
- Identify and eliminate weak areas
- Take 3 full-length timed exams
SC-401-Specific Tips
- Hands-on experience is critical: set up sensitivity labels and DLP policies in a test tenant to understand real-world configuration and policy matching behavior
- Focus deeply on Microsoft Purview—understand how the unified dashboard integrates information protection, DLP, retention, and insider risk across services
- Practice distinguishing between sensitivity labels (for protection/classification) and retention labels (for lifecycle management)—these overlap in the UI but serve different functions
- Study SharePoint Online and Teams-specific DLP scenarios since cloud collaboration is heavily tested; understand where policies apply and where they don't
- Review insider risk management use cases and workflow—setup policies, configure indicators, and understand review/escalation processes
- Pay attention to Endpoint DLP configuration separate from standard DLP—this covers device-level protection policies for sensitive data
- Take full-length practice exams to identify weak spots; the 164 available questions should map to the three core domains
Relevant Career Roles
Sample Questions
Try 5 free questions from the SC-401 question bank
You have a Microsoft 365 E5 subscription. You plan to implement retention policies for Microsoft Teams. Which item types can be retained?
Note: This question is part of a series of questions that present the same scenario. Each question in the series contains a unique solution that might meet the stated goals. Some question sets might have more than one correct solution, while others might not have a correct solution. After you answer a question in this section, you will NOT be able to return to it. As a result, these questions will not appear in the review screen. You have a Microsoft 365 tenant and 500 computers that run Windows 11. The computers are onboarded to Microsoft Purview. You discover that a third-party application named Tailspin_scanner.exe accessed protected sensitive information on multiple computers. Tailspin_scanner.exe is installed locally on the computers. You need to block Tailspin_scanner.exe from accessing sensitive documents without preventing the application from accessing other documents. Solution: From the Microsoft 365 Endpoint data loss prevention (Endpoint DLP) settings, you add a folder path to the file path exclusions. Does this meet the goal?
Note: This question is part of a series of questions that present the same scenario. Each question in the series contains a unique solution that might meet the stated goals. Some question sets might have more than one correct solution, while others might not have a correct solution. After you answer a question in this section, you will NOT be able to return to it. As a result, these questions will not appear in the review screen. You have a Microsoft 365 subscription. You have a user named User1. Several users have full access to the mailbox of User1. Some email messages sent to User1 appear to have been read and deleted before the user viewed them. When you search the audit log in the Microsoft Purview portal to identify who signed in to the mailbox of User1, the results are blank. You need to ensure that you can view future sign-ins to the mailbox of User1. Solution: You run the Set-AdminAuditLogConfig -AdminAuditLogEnabled $true - AdminAuditLogCmdlets *Mailbox* command. Does that meet the goal?
Note: This question is part of a series of questions that present the same scenario. Each question in the series contains a unique solution that might meet the stated goals. Some question sets might have more than one correct solution, while others might not have a correct solution. After you answer a question in this section, you will NOT be able to return to it. As a result, these questions will not appear in the review screen. You have a Microsoft 365 subscription. You have a user named User1. Several users have full access to the mailbox of User1. Some email messages sent to User1 appear to have been read and deleted before the user viewed them. When you search the audit log in the Microsoft Purview portal to identify who signed in to the mailbox of User1, the results are blank. You need to ensure that you can view future sign-ins to the mailbox of User1. Solution: You run the Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity "User1" -User [email protected] - AccessRights Owner command. Does that meet the goal?
You have a Microsoft 365 E5 subscription. You plan to use Microsoft Purview insider risk management. You need to create an insider risk management policy that will detect data theft from Microsoft SharePoint Online by users that submitted their resignation or are near their employment termination date. What should you do first?
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