SC-900 Study Guide Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals

Microsoft just released a couple of new Microsoft certifications focused on security. Of course, these exams are on my list to take, so that is why I want to share my SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Certification Exam Study Guide for 2021 with you. To learn and prepare for the exam, I usually use a couple of online resources, mainly Microsoft Docs and Microsoft Learn, which I am going to share with you. You can find more information about how I prepare for a Microsoft Certification exam on my blog post: How to prepare and pass Microsoft Certification Exam.

Also, check out other Microsoft Azure Certification Exam Study Guides:

• Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-303: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-304: Microsoft Azure Architect Design Certification Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-305: Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-600: Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack Hub Exam Study Guide
• Exam AZ-700: Microsoft Azure Network Engineer Exam Study Guide
• Exam SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Exam Study Guide
• Exam DP-300: Azure Database Administrator Exam Study Guide

If you want to learn more about how to get started with Azure, I recommend my blog post: How to get started learning Microsoft Azure and Cloud Computing

Here is my SC-900Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Certification Exam Study Guide

It is essential to get familiar with the exam objectives and skills measured first. That is why I recommend reading the description of the exam and the skills measured.

Exam SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals
This certification is targeted to those looking to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of security, compliance, and identity (SCI) across cloud-based and related Microsoft services.

This is a broad audience that may include business stakeholders, new or existing IT professionals, or students who have an interest in Microsoft security, compliance, and identity solutions.

Candidates should be familiar with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 and want to understand how Microsoft security, compliance, and identity solutions can span across these solution areas to provide a holistic and end-to-end solution.

Microsoft Learn

The high-level view of the skills measured in the exam:

• Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity (5-10%)
• Describe the capabilities of Microsoft identity and access management solutions (25-30%)
• Describe the capabilities of Microsoft security solutions (30-35%)
• Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions (25-30%)

You can find more information on the exam website.

Free Online Microsoft Learn SC-900 Exam Study Guide resources

Free Online Microsoft Learn AZ-900 Exam Study Guide resources

I personally believe if you are going through the Azure Fundamentals learning path on Microsoft Learn, you should be able to pass the exam. Microsoft Learn provides you with free online training and learning paths for different Microsoft technologies. They not just offer reading material, but also control questions and free online labs. Here are some relevant Microsoft Learn modules and learning paths for the SC-900 Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Certification Exam. Microsoft Learn is an important part of my SC-900 exam study guide.

• SC-900 part 1: Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity
• SC-900 part 2: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Identity and access management solutions
• SC-900 part 3: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft security solutions
• SC-900 part 4: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions

Free Azure Account

I also highly recommend that you create a free Azure account to try out the Azure services and get familiar with the Azure platform.

Create a free Azure Account 

If you don’t have an Azure account yet, you can sign up today for your free Azure account and receive 12 months of free popular services, $200 free credit, and 25+ always free services.

Microsoft Docs SC-900 study guide resources

One thing I always used to prepare for my Microsoft exams is Microsoft Docs. Here are the relevant Microsoft Docs which I used to prepare and study for the SC-900 exam.

Describe the Concepts of Security, Compliance, and Identity (5-10%)

Describe security methodologies

• describe the Zero-Trust methodology
  • Zero Trust Deployment Center
  • Zero Trust Security – microsoft.com
  • Zero-trust methodology
• describe the shared responsibility model
  • Shared responsibility in the cloud
• define defense in depth
  • Describe defense in depth

Describe security concepts

• describe common threats
  • Understanding malware & other threats
• describe encryption
  • Azure encryption overview
  • Describe ways encryption hashing and signing can secure your data

Describe Microsoft Security and compliance principles

• describe Microsoft’s privacy principles
  • Microsoft Privacy Principles | Microsoft Trust Center
• describe the offerings of the service trust portal
  • Get started with the Microsoft Service Trust Portal

Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Identity and Access Management Solutions (25-30%)

Define identity principles/concepts

• define identity as the primary security perimeter
  • Azure Identity Management and access control security best practices
• define authentication
  • What is Azure Active Directory authentication?
• define authorization
  • Authentication vs. authorization
• describe what identity providers are
  • Identity and access management
  • Identity Providers for External Identities
• describe what Active Directory is
  • Active Directory Domain Services Overview
• describe the concept of Federated services
  • Active Directory Federation Services in Azure
• define common Identity Attacks
  • Azure AD Identity Protection

Describe the basic identity services and identity types of Azure AD

• describe what Azure Active Directory is
  • What is Azure Active Directory?
• describe Azure AD identities (users, devices, groups, service principals/applications)
  • What are managed identities for Azure resources?
  • Manage app and resource access using Azure Active Directory groups
  • Securing service principals
• describe what hybrid identity is
  • What is hybrid identity with Azure Active Directory?
• describe the different external identity types (Guest Users)
  • What are External Identities in Azure Active Directory?

Describe the authentication capabilities of Azure AD

• describe the different authentication methods
  • What is Azure Active Directory authentication?
  • What authentication and verification methods are available in Azure Active Directory?
• describe self-service password reset
  • Tutorial: Enable users to unlock their account or reset passwords using Azure Active Directory self-service password reset
• describe password protection and management capabilities
  • Eliminate bad passwords using Azure Active Directory Password Protection
  • Enforce on-premises Azure AD Password Protection for Active Directory Domain Services
• describe Multi-factor Authentication
  • How it works: Azure AD Multi-Factor Authentication
• describe Windows Hello for Business
  • Windows Hello for Business Overview

Describe access management capabilities of Azure AD

• describe what conditional access is
  • What is Conditional Access?
• describe uses and benefits of conditional access
  • What is Conditional Access?
• describe the benefits of Azure AD roles
  • Azure AD built-in roles
  • Overview of role-based access control in Azure Active Directory

Describe the identity protection & governance capabilities of Azure AD

• describe what identity governance is
  • What is Azure AD Identity Governance?
• describe what entitlement management and access reviews is
  • What are Azure AD access reviews?
• describe the capabilities of PIM
  • What is Azure AD Privileged Identity Management?
• describe Azure AD Identity Protection
  • What is Identity Protection?

Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Security Solutions (30-35%)

Describe basic security capabilities in Azure

• describe Azure Network Security groups
  • Network security groups
• describe Azure DDoS protection
  • Azure DDoS Protection Standard overview
• describe what Azure Firewall is
  • What is Azure Firewall?
• describe what Azure Bastion is
  • What is Azure Bastion?
• describe what Web Application Firewall is
  • What is Azure Web Application Firewall on Azure Application Gateway?
• describe ways Azure encrypts data
  • Azure encryption overview
  • Data encryption in Azure

Describe security management capabilities of Azure

• describe the Azure Security center
  • What is Azure Security Center?
• describe Azure Secure score
  • Secure score in Azure Security Center
• describe the benefit and use cases of Azure Defender – previously the cloud workload protection platform (CWPP)
  • Introduction to Azure Defender
• describe Cloud security posture management (CSPM)
  • Function of cloud security posture management
• describe security baselines for Azure
  • Security baselines for Azure

Describe security capabilities of Azure Sentinel

• define the concepts of SIEM, SOAR, XDR
  • What is Azure Sentinel?
• describe the role and value of Azure Sentinel to provide integrated threat protection
  • Quickstart: Get started with Azure Sentinel

Describe threat protection with Microsoft 365 Defender (formerly Microsoft Threat Protection)

• describe Microsoft 365 Defender services
  • Microsoft 365 Defender
• describe Microsoft Defender for Identity (formerly Azure ATP)
  • What is Microsoft Defender for Identity?
• describe Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (formerly Office 365 ATP)
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365 in the Microsoft 365 security center
• describe Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (formerly Microsoft Defender ATP)
  • Redirecting accounts from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to the Microsoft 365 security center
• describe Microsoft Cloud App Security
  • Microsoft Cloud App Security overview

Describe security management capabilities of Microsoft 365

• describe the Microsoft 365 Security Center
  • The unified Microsoft 365 security center overview
• describe how to use Microsoft Secure Score
  • Microsoft Secure Score
• describe security reports and dashboards
  • Smart reports and insights in the Security & Compliance Center
• describe incidents and incident management capabilities
  • Manage incidents in Microsoft 365 Defender

Describe endpoint security with Microsoft Intune

• describe what Intune is
  • Microsoft Intune is an MDM and MAM provider for your devices
• describe endpoint security with Intune
  • Manage endpoint security in Microsoft Intune
• describe the endpoint security with the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center
  • Manage endpoint security in Microsoft Intune

Describe the Capabilities of Microsoft Compliance Solutions (25-30%)

Describe the compliance management capabilities in Microsoft

• describe the compliance center
  • Microsoft 365 compliance center
• describe compliance manager
  • Microsoft Compliance Manager
• describe use and benefits of compliance score
  • Compliance score calculation

Describe information protection and governance capabilities of Microsoft 365

• describe data classification capabilities
  • Microsoft Information Protection in Microsoft 365
  • Know your data – data classification overview
• describe the value of content and activity explorer
  • Get started with activity explorer
• describe sensitivity labels
  • Learn about sensitivity labels
• describe Retention Policies and Retention Labels
  • Get started with retention policies and retention labels
• describe Records Management
  • Learn about records management in Microsoft 365
• describe Data Loss Prevention
  • Overview of data loss prevention

Describe insider risk capabilities in Microsoft 365

• describe Insider risk management solution
  • Learn about insider risk management in Microsoft 365
• describe communication compliance
  • Learn about communication compliance in Microsoft 365
• describe information barriers
  • Learn about information barriers in Microsoft 365
• describe privileged access management
  • Privileged access management in Microsoft 365
• describe customer lockbox
  • Customer Lockbox in Office 365

Describe the eDiscovery capabilities of Microsoft 365

• describe the purpose of eDiscovery
  • eDiscovery solutions in Microsoft 365
• describe the capabilities of the content search tool
  • Content Search
• describe the core eDiscovery workflow
  • Get started with Core eDiscovery
• describe the advanced eDisovery workflow
  • Overview of Microsoft 365 Advanced eDiscovery

Describe the audit capabilities in Microsoft 365

• describe the core audit capabilities of M365
  • Search the audit log in the compliance center
• describe purpose and value of Advanced Auditing
  • Advanced Audit in Microsoft 365

Describe resource governance capabilities in Azure

• describe the use of Azure Resource locks
  • Lock resources to prevent unexpected changes
  • Azure Resource Locks (thomasmaurer.ch)
• describe what Azure Blueprints is
  • What is Azure Blueprints?
• define Azure Policy and describe its use cases
  • What is Azure Policy?
  • Azure Policy (thomasmaurer.ch)
• describe cloud adoption framework
  • What is the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure?

SC-900 Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Study Guide Tips and Resources

I hope this SC-900 Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Certification Exam Study Guide helps you pass the exam and get other Microsoft Security certifications. I also recommend that you open a free Azure account if you don’t have one yet. You can create your free Azure account here. Also, check out my blog posts about Microsoft Azure Certification:

• Why you should become Microsoft Azure certified
• How to pick the right Azure exam certification path
• How to prepare and pass a Microsoft Azure exam
• Learn Microsoft Azure in 2021

I hope you enjoyed my SC-900 Study Guide and it helps you with exam prep. Did I miss any link, or do you have any recommended SC-900 Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Certification Exam Study resources? Let me know in the comments.