The Microsoft SC-400 exam is required for obtaining the Microsoft Certified: Information Protection Administrator Associate certification. This evaluation aims to measure the knowledge and skills of professionals required for planning and implementation of controls that meet the compliance needs of an organization.

Who Are Target Audience For The Microsoft SC-400 Exam?

The target audience for the Microsoft SC-400 test consists of individuals performing various job roles, including Administrator, Risk Practitioner, Information Protection Administrator, and Security Engineer. These professionals play a significant role in translating compliance controls and requirements into technical implementation to help the owners of organizational control to stay compliant. The target candidates should be capable of determining applicable requirements and testing IT operations and processes against policies and controls. They should also have skills in creating policies and rules for governance, content classification, data loss prevention, and protection.

The Microsoft SC-400 Exam Details

To pass the Microsoft SC-400 test from the first attempt, the candidates need to be familiar with its structure. The vendor doesn’t usually reveal the details of its exams such as the exact number of questions and their format. However, according to general practice for the Microsoft certification tests, the applicants will find from 40 to 60 questions in their evaluation. The test-takers will be given a total of 100 minutes to answer all the inquiries. To qualify for the associated certificate, the examinees need to achieve a minimum passing score of 700 points out of a possible 1000. The certification test is available in four languages, including English, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. To register for the Microsoft SC-400 exam, the candidates need to follow the link on the official webpage and pay an entry fee of $165. This cost may vary depending on the country where the test is proctored, so the applicants need to check the pricing for their location on the exam website.

Skills Validated By The Microsoft SC-400 Exam

The syllabus of the Microsoft SC-400 test encompasses three extensive topics that the candidates need to develop competency in. Specifically, they need to possess a mastery of the following knowledge areas:

• Implementation of information protection: this topic measures the examinees’ competency in creating and managing the types of sensitive information, implementing and managing sensitivity labels, creating and managing trainable classifiers, planning and implementing encryption for email messages.
• Implementation of data loss prevention: this covers the skills in creating and managing policies for data loss prevention, managing and monitoring policies and activities related to data loss prevention, as well as implementing and monitoring data loss prevention related to Microsoft Endpoint.
• Implementation of information governance: the section revolves around expertise in configuring retention policies and labels, implementing records management within Microsoft 365, as well as managing data retention within Microsoft 365.

Preparation Resources For The Microsoft SC-400 Exam

Once the candidates have got familiar with the skills measured in the certification test, they can proceed to pick up the proper prep resources. If you don’t know where to start, using the official training tools offered on the vendor’s website would be the best solution. See the available resources developed by Microsoft below.

• Course SC-400T00: Microsoft Information Protection Administrator

  This course is designed specifically for the individuals that are planning to take the SC-400 exam. It is intended for two days of learning experience and has an intermediate level of difficulty. The course contains both lectures delivered by authorized Microsoft instructors and hands-on labs. Before attending this training course, the learners are required to develop some prerequisite knowledge. This includes a basic understanding of Microsoft security and compliance technologies as well as data protection concepts. Besides, the applicants should demonstrate a solid comprehension of cloud computing concepts in addition to familiarity with Microsoft 365 products and services. The training follows the structure of the exam’s syllabus and contains three modules. The first module introduces the attendees to the Microsoft 365 data protection & governance solutions. The students will know how to protect sensitive information, how to utilize various types of sensitive information to support strategy for data protection, as well as how to use sensitive labels to categorize and secure business data. The second unit focuses on the implementation of different methods for securing Microsoft 365 data. The learners will know how to address and mitigate violations of data loss policy, how to implement policies for data loss prevention, how to integrate these policies with Microsoft Cloud App Security, and more. The last section of the course teaches the candidates to plan and implement strategies for data governance within a specific enterprise. The students will get an understanding of managing retention for Microsoft 365, using intelligent classification to automate the retention schedule for legal, regulatory, and business-critical records, among other competencies.

• SC-400 part 1: Implement Information Protection in Microsoft 365

  This is one of three online learning paths that are offered by the vendor free of charge. These are intended for self-study and can be accessed by the candidates at any time. The first learning part splits into 8 modules with a total duration of 5 hours. The opening unit of this learning path introduces the attendees to data protection and governance in Microsoft 365, while the second one teaches them to prevent data loss. The focus of the third module is to equip the learners with the skills required to classify data for protection & governance. The following chapter is devoted to the utilization of sensitive data types to support the strategy for information protection. The following units of the learning path cover Microsoft 365 encryption, deploying message encryption in Office 365, protecting data in Microsoft 365, as well as applying and managing sensitivity labels.

• SC-400 part 2: Implement Data Loss Prevention

  The learning path consists of three modules and it takes around 2 hours to complete them. The first module familiarizes the candidates with preventing data loss in Microsoft 365, while the second one focuses on configuring DLP policies for Microsoft Cloud App Security and Power Platform. The last unit of the learning path teaches the candidates to respond to and mitigate data loss policy violations.

• SC-400 part 3: Implement Information Governance in Microsoft 365

  The learning path is intended for approximately three hours of learning experience and contains three modules covering governing information in Microsoft 365, managing data retention in Microsoft 365 workloads, as well as managing records in Microsoft 365.

Conclusion

The Microsoft SC-400 evaluation is not easy to crack, but with thorough preparation, you can sail through it without any stress. You can start your learning journey by exploring the available offerings on the vendor’s website. Thus, you can register for the instructor-led course and then cement the acquired knowledge with the help of online learning paths. Start your preparation process right away and success will not be long in coming!