SC-401 Exam: Key Focus Areas and Preparation Guide

The SC-401 (Microsoft Information Security Administrator Associate) exam focuses on advanced data security, compliance, and AI integration within Microsoft Purview. Below are critical topics and practical steps to help you prepare.

You Should Know:

1. Trainable Classifiers & Custom Sensitive Info Types

• Use PowerShell to create a trainable classifier:

  New-DlpSensitiveInformationType -Name "Financial Data" -Description "Detects financial patterns" -Pattern @(([bash]"\b\d{4}-\d{4}-\d{4}-\d{4}\b")) 
  

• Deploy via Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal:

  Compliance Center > Data Classification > Trainable Classifiers 
  

2. Insider Risk Management (HR Connector)

• Configure HR data ingestion:

  Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName [email protected] 
  New-InsiderRiskManagementHRInvestigation -Name "HR Connector" -HRSystem "Workday" 
  

3. Retention Policies for SharePoint, Exchange, Teams

• Apply retention via PowerShell:

  New-RetentionCompliancePolicy -Name "Global Retention" -TeamsChannelLocation All 
  Set-RetentionComplianceRule -Policy "Global Retention" -RetentionDuration 365 -ExpirationDateOption CreationAgeInDays 
  

4. Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) for AI

• Onboard AI models in Purview:

  az purview account create --name "AIDSPM" --resource-group "RG-Purview" --location "eastus" 
  

5. Regular Expressions (Regex) for Data Matching

• Example regex for credit card detection:

  \b(?:\d{4}[ -]?){3}\d{4}\b 
  

• Test regex in PowerShell:

  "4111-1111-1111-1111" -match "\b(?:\d{4}[ -]?){3}\d{4}\b" 
  

6. Alert Management in Microsoft Sentinel

• Modify alert aggregation:

  SecurityAlert | where AlertName == "Suspicious PowerShell Execution" | summarize AggregatedValue=count() by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h) 
  

7. Adaptive Scopes for Dynamic Policy Assignment

• Define adaptive scope via PowerShell:

  New-AdaptiveScope -Name "Finance Dept" -UserGroupFilter "Department -eq 'Finance'" 
  

What Undercode Say:

• Linux Admins: Use `grep` for log analysis in Sentinel:

  grep "Failed login" /var/log/auth.log | awk '{print $1, $2, $3, $9}' 
  

• Windows Security: Check Purview logs via Event Viewer:

  Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-Purview/Operational" | Where-Object {$_.Id -eq 5000} 
  

• AI & Compliance: Automate DSPM with Python:

  import azure.mgmt.purview 
  client = azure.mgmt.purview.PurviewManagementClient(credentials, subscription_id) 
  client.accounts.begin_create("RG-Purview", "AIDSPM", {...}) 
  

• Prediction: AI-driven compliance policies will dominate Microsoft Purview by 2025, reducing manual rule creation by 60%.

Expected Output:

• A structured SC-401 study plan with hands-on commands.
• Enhanced readiness for exam topics like retention policies, regex, and AI security.
• Automated scripts for Purview, Insider Risk, and Sentinel integration.

Reference: Microsoft SC-401 Exam Guide

References:

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