SC-400: Microsoft Azure Information Protection Administrator Associate Exam Study Guide

The SC-400 Certification offered by Microsoft is designed to assess a candidate’s technical knowledge in areas such as information protection, data loss prevention, and information governance. 

In this article, I have discussed the exam details, who the Microsoft Information Protection Administrator is, who this certification is for, and the responsibilities of a Microsoft Information Protection Administrator. 

I have also highlighted the benefits of taking the SC-400 exam, including career opportunities and salary benefits. Additionally, I have provided information on the prerequisites for taking the exam, and the retake policy. 

Overall, the SC-400 certification is an excellent way for IT administrators to validate skills in Microsoft information protection solutions and stay up-to-date with the latest tech trends.

SC-400 Certification Overview?

It is an exam offered by Microsoft. This exam assesses a candidate’s technical knowledge in areas such as information protection, data loss prevention, and information governance. 

This exam covers configuring and managing Azure Information Protection, including labeling, protecting, and managing access.

An applicant who passes the test receives the Microsoft Certified: Information Protection Administrator Associate designation.

Are you new to Azure Cloud? Do check out our blog post on the Azure Certification Path and choose the best certification for you.

Who Is Microsoft Information Protection Administrator?

A Microsoft information protection administrator is a person who implements controls that meet organizational information protection and governance requirements. 

They also ensure that information protection requirements and controls are put into practice.

They assist IT departments, business application owners, human resources departments, and legal departments in implementing technology solutions.

Furthermore, they evaluate and develop policies that address the full breadth of enterprise risk associated with their work.

They define policies and controls and evaluate IT processes and operations. Also, they create policies and rules for data classification, data loss prevention, governance, and protection.

Who This Certification Is For?

• Exam SC-400 is for IT administrators who want to validate their ability to implement and manage Microsoft information protection solutions.
• Also, it’s a good exam if you work in a role involving information security, or if you’re considering moving into one.

If you understand information security concepts well, you can pass the exam even if you don’t have direct experience with Microsoft information protection solutions.

Check Out: What is Microsoft Cloud Background Check?

Why SC-400 Certification?

After taking the SC-400 certification you avail the following benefits in your career:

• The majority of organizations and enterprises seek IT experts with knowledge and skills to plan and implement organizational compliance controls. As a result, job opportunities have increased.
• In the Microsoft SC-400 exam syllabus, you’ll learn about many vital IT domains. Thus, by taking the Microsoft Information Protection Administrator certification, you’ll stay on top of the latest tech trends.
• Additionally, organizations are spending a lot of money on Microsoft-certified professionals as a result of the soaring demand.
• There’s an attractive salary and other perks with promotions. SC-400 will also boost your career. 
• As it can be hard to get an internal promotion, taking a SC-400 exam is a way to prove your skills and knowledge and get promoted.
• By achieving the SC-400 exam, you can get the following roles:

1. Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)
2. Chief data officer (CDO)
3. Risk Practitioner
4. Security Engineer
5. IT Auditors
6. Administrator
7. Technical Officers
8. Governance Professionals
9. Compliance Professionals
10. Cybersecurity Professionals
11. IT Enterprise Architects

Microsoft Information Protection Administrator Responsibilities

Following are the responsibilities of a Microsoft Information Protection Administrator:

• The Information Protection Administrator plans and performs controls that comply with regulations.
• They translate requirements into technical implementations.
• They also help organizational control owners stay compliant.
• They collaborate with IT professionals, business application owners, HR stakeholders, and lawyers to implement technology to meet regulatory requirements.
• Additionally, they work with compliance and security leadership to estimate the full breadth of enterprise risk and develop policies.
• Their job is to test IT methods and operations against policies and controls.
• In addition to content classification, they design rules for data loss prevention and governance.

Also Check: What’s the Difference Between AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud?

SC-400 Exam Details

SC-400 Exam Skills Measured

How to Register for SC 400 Certification Exam

You can register for the Microsoft Information Protection Administrator Exam (SC-400) by going to the Official Microsoft Page.

Prerequisite for SC-400 Certification

You should review Microsoft’s prerequisites before taking the SC-400 exam to prepare for the exam. The prerequisites are:

• Understanding Microsoft 365 security and compliance features    
• Security and compliance experience with Microsoft 365    
• Compliance and security knowledge
• Candidate should know about Azure Information Protection, Azure Security Center, and Intune

SC-400 Exam Study Guide

Implement information protection (35–40%)

Create and manage sensitive information types

• Plan for sensitive information types
• Select a sensitive information type based on an organization’s requirements
  • Classify data using sensitive information types
• Create and manage custom sensitive information types
  • Create custom sensitive information types in the compliance portal
  • Create and manage custom sensitive information types
• Create custom sensitive information types with exact data match
  • Describe custom sensitive information types with exact data match
• Implement document fingerprinting
  • Document Fingerprinting
  • Implement document fingerprinting
• Create and use a keyword dictionary
  • Create a keyword dictionary
  • Create keyword dictionary

Create and manage trainable classifiers

• Identify when to use trainable classifiers
  • Classify data using trainable classifiers
• Design and create a trainable classifier
  • How to create a trainable classifier
• Test a trainable classifier
  • Testing content
  • Test
• Retrain a classifier
  • Retraining classifiers

Implement and manage sensitivity labels

• Design and implement roles and permissions for administering sensitivity labels
  • Permissions required to create and manage sensitivity labels
• Design and create sensitivity labels
• Configure and manage sensitivity label policies
  • Configure sensitivity label policies
• Apply sensitivity labels to Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 groups, Microsoft Power BI, and Microsoft SharePoint sites
  • Apply sensitivity labels to Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 groups, and SharePoint sites
• Configure and publish auto-labelling policies
  • Configure auto-labeling policies
• Monitor data classification and label usage by using label analytics tools such as Content explorer and Activity explorer
  • Monitor label performance using label analytics
• Apply bulk classification to on-premises data by using the AIP unified labelling scanner
  • Configure on-premises labeling for the Unified Labeling Scanner
• Manage protection settings and marking for applied sensitivity labels
  • What sensitivity labels can do
• Administer reporting, tracking, and access of sensitivity labels and protected content
• Create or extend existing sensitivity labels to Microsoft Purview

Design and implement encryption for email messages

• Design an email encryption solution based on methods available in Microsoft 365
• Implement Microsoft Purview Message Encryption
  • Message Encryption
  • Implement Microsoft Purview Message Encryption
• Implement Microsoft Purview Advanced Message Encryption
  • Advanced Message Encryption
  • Implement Microsoft Purview Advanced Message Encryption

Implement data loss prevention (30–35%)

Create and configure data loss prevention (DLP) policies

• Recommend a DLP solution for an organization
  • Learn about data loss prevention
• Configure permissions for DLP
• Create, test, and tune DLP policies
  • Create and Deploy data loss prevention policies
  • Test your Data Loss Prevention policies
• Configure DLP for policy and rule precedence
  • Data Loss Prevention policy reference
• Configure DLP policies for Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Power BI, and on-premises repositories
  • Learn about data loss prevention
• Configure DLP policies for use in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
  • Configure DLP policies for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and Power Platform
• Configure file policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps to use DLP policies

Implement and monitor Microsoft Endpoint DLP

• Create and maintain DLP policies for endpoints
• Configure endpoint DLP settings
  • Prepare Endpoint DLP
• Specify a deployment method for device onboarding
• Identify endpoint requirements for device onboarding
• Monitor endpoint activities
  • Endpoint activities you can monitor and take action on
  • Monitored files
• Implement Microsoft Purview Extension

Analyze and respond to data loss prevention policies and activities

• Analyze data loss prevention reports
  • Review and analyze data loss prevention reports
• Analyze data loss prevention activities by using Activity explorer
• Remediate data loss prevention policy violations in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal
• Remediate data loss prevention violations in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Implement information governance (25–30%)

Retain and delete data by using retention labels

• Plan for information retention and disposition by using retention labels
• Create retention labels
  • Configure retention labels
  • Publish retention labels and apply them in apps
• Configure and manage adaptive scopes
• Configure and publish retention label policies
• Configure and publish auto-apply label policies
  • Configure auto-apply retention label policies
  • Automatically apply a retention label to retain or delete content

Manage data retention in Microsoft 365

• Create and apply retention policies for Microsoft SharePoint Online and OneDrive
  • Learn about retention for SharePoint and OneDrive
  • Explain retention in SharePoint Online and OneDrive
• Create and apply retention policies for Microsoft Teams
  • Create and manage retention policies for Teams
  • Explain retention in Microsoft Teams
• Configure preservation locks
• Recover retained content in Microsoft 365
  • Recover content in Microsoft 365 workloads
• Implement retention policies and tags in Microsoft Exchange Online
  • Retention tags and retention policies in Exchange Online
  • Activate archive mailboxes in Microsoft Exchange
• Apply mailbox holds in Microsoft Exchange Online
  • Litigation Hold and In-Place Hold
  • Apply mailbox holds in Microsoft Exchange
• Implement Microsoft Exchange Online archiving policies
  • Customize an archive and deletion policy for mailboxes in your organization

Implement records management in Microsoft 365

• Plan for records management
• Configure labels for records management
  • Configure retention labels
• Manage retention requirements with a file plan
  • Import a file plan
  • Import retention labels into your file plan
• Configure automatic retention using file plan descriptors
  • Use file plan to create and manage retention labels
• Classify records using retention labels and policies
  • Publish retention labels and apply them in apps
• Implement in-place records management in Microsoft SharePoint Online
• Manage event-based retention
  • Configure event driven retention
• Manage disposition of records
  • Disposition of records

SC-400 Exam Retake Policy

Here is how you can retake the Microsoft Exam SC-400

• Those who do not pass the exam on their first attempt must wait at least 24 hours before taking it again.
• Those who fail the second time must wait 14 days before retaking the exam.
• A 14-day waiting period also applies to the fourth and fifth retakes.

Conclusion

The SC-400 certification offered by Microsoft is a valuable tool for IT administrators. The exam demonstrates the candidate’s technical knowledge in information protection, data loss prevention, and information governance.

The Microsoft Information Protection Administrator has several responsibilities, including planning and performing controls that meet compliance requirements, translating requirements into technical implementations, and working with compliance and security leadership to develop policies.

By passing the SC-400 exam, IT professionals can validate their skills in Microsoft information protection solutions and stay up-to-date with the latest tech trends. 

This certification can open up job opportunities in various roles, such as Chief Compliance Officer, Cybersecurity Professional, and IT Enterprise Architect. 

So, if you are considering a career in information security or want to advance your career, the SC-400 certification is worth pursuing.

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