To create and implement a cybersecurity strategy that satisfies a company’s business goals, cybersecurity architects work consistently with executives and practitioners in IT security, privacy, and other positions throughout the organization. As a result, the value of the Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect (SC-100) exam is increasing rapidly. This has created a level of competition amongst those looking for jobs in cybersecurity by passing this certification exam.
Therefore, it is crucial to cover each and every detail with a good strategy to enhance the preparation level. To help in this, we have curated the study resources, details, topics, and other references to have a better start.
What is the Microsoft SC-100 Exam?
The Microsoft SC-900 test is designed for those who are skilled in developing cybersecurity strategies to safeguard an organization’s goals and operational procedures throughout all aspects of the enterprise architecture. Your ability to develop a Zero Trust strategy and architecture, as well as security measures for data, apps, access control, identity, and infrastructure, is therefore validated. Additionally, skills in Governance Risk Compliance (GRC) technological plans and security operations strategies.
Knowledge area:
- You should have advanced expertise and understanding in a variety of security engineering fields, such as identity and access, platform protection, security operations, data security, and application security, in order to pass this test.
- Secondly, knowledge of cloud and hybrid implementations
Exam Format:
- Number of questions: 40-60 questions
- Exam cost: $165 USD
- Questions types: Multiple choice, build list, case studies, and additionally, it includes the introductory screens and instructions
- Passing score: 700
- Language: English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Chinese (Traditional), Italian, Indonesian (Indonesia)
How to begin with SC-100 Exam Preparation?
The very first thing that the SC-100 exam validates is your cybersecurity expertise and how you support businesses in developing their cybersecurity strategy. Additionally, it tests your ability to defend a company’s purpose and operational procedures across all facets of its enterprise architecture. Therefore, in order to achieve excellence, you must focus on these areas; for additional helpful techniques, see the points below.
– Clear the prerequisites
By the heading, it means, that passing the SC-100 exam will for sure help you earn the title of Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert. But, in order to appear for the SC-100 exam, it is required to pass any one prerequisite exam. The list of exams includes:
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate
- Exam: AZ-500
- Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate
- Exam: SC-300
- Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate
- Exam: MS-500
- Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate
- Exam: SC-200
– Understand the Exam Topics
Your technical expertise is assessed on the Microsoft SC-100 test in a number of different areas. Because these concepts are probably the ones that need to be well grasped in order to pass this certification test, you should concentrate on them. These tasks include a list of the exam’s objective, test domains, and weightings. The topics for SC-100 include:
Design solutions that align with security best practices and priorities (20–25%)
Design a resiliency strategy for ransomware and other attacks based on Microsoft Security Best Practices
- Design a security strategy to support business resiliency goals, including identifying and prioritizing threats to business-critical assets (Microsoft Documentation: Define a security strategy, Business resilience)
- Design solutions for business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR), including secure backup and restore for hybrid and multicloud environments (Microsoft Documentation: Security features to help protect hybrid backups that use Azure Backup)
- Design solutions for mitigating ransomware attacks, including prioritization of BCDR and privileged access (Microsoft Documentation: Backup cloud and on-premises workloads to cloud, Quickly deploy ransomware preventions)
- Evaluate solutions for security updates (Microsoft Documentation: Security design principles)
Design solutions that align with the Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architectures (MCRA) and Microsoft cloud security benchmark (MCSB)
- Design solutions that align with best practices for cybersecurity capabilities and controls (Microsoft Documentation: Design solutions that align with security best practices)
- Design solutions that align with best practices for protecting against insider, external, and supply chain attacks
- Design solutions that align with best practices for Zero Trust security, including the Zero Trust Rapid Modernization Plan (RaMP) (Microsoft Documentation: Zero Trust security)
Design solutions that align with the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure and the Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework
- Design a new or evaluate an existing strategy for security and governance based on the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and the Microsoft Well-Architected Framework (Microsoft Documentation: Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework, Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure)
- Recommend solutions for security and governance based on the the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure and the Microsoft Well-Architected Framework (Microsoft Documentation: Security in the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure)
- Design solutions for implementing and governing security by using an Azure landing zone
- Design a DevSecOps process that aligns with best practices in the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF)
Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities (25–30%)
Design solutions for security operations
- Design a solution for detection and response that includes extended detection and response (XDR) and security information and event management (SIEM) (Microsoft Documentation: extended detection and response (XDR))
- Design a solution for centralized logging and auditing, including Microsoft Purview Audit
- Design monitoring to support hybrid and multicloud environments (Microsoft Documentation: Introduction to hybrid and multicloud)
- Design a solution for security orchestration automated response (SOAR), including Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender XDR (Microsoft Documentation: What is Microsoft Sentinel?, Microsoft Sentinel SOAR content catalog, Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) in Microsoft Sentinel)
- Design and evaluate security workflows, including incident response, threat hunting, and incident management (Microsoft Documentation: Understand threat intelligence in Microsoft Sentinel)
- Design and evaluate threat detection coverage by using MITRE ATT&CK matrices, including Cloud, Enterprise, Mobile, and ICS (Microsoft Documentation: Understand security coverage by the MITRE ATT&CK® framework)
Design solutions for identity and access management
- Design a solution for access to software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), hybrid/on-premises, and multicloud resources, including identity, networking, and application controls (Microsoft Documentation: What is PaaS?, IaaS, SaaS, public, private and hybrid clouds)
- Design a solution for Microsoft Microsoft Entra ID, including hybrid and multi-cloud environments
- Design a solution for external identities, including business-to-business (B2B), business-to-customer (B2C), and Decentralized Identity
- Design a modern authentication and authorization strategy, including Conditional Access, continuous access evaluation, risk scoring, and protected actions (Microsoft Documentation: Continuous access evaluation, Azure Active Directory IDaaS in security operations)
- Validate the alignment of Conditional Access policies with a Zero Trust strategy
- Specify requirements to secure Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) (Microsoft Documentation: Active Directory Domain Services Overview)
- Design a solution to manage secrets, keys, and certificates (Microsoft Documentation: About Azure Key Vault)
Design solutions for securing privileged access
- Design a solution for assigning and delegating privileged roles by using the enterprise access model (Microsoft Documentation: Least privileged roles by task in Azure Active Directory)
- Evaluate the security and governance of Microsoft Entra ID, including Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM), entitlement management, and access reviews
- Evaluate the security and governance of on-premises Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), including resilience to common attacks
- Design a solution for securing the administration of cloud tenants, including SaaS and multicloud infrastructure and platforms (Microsoft Documentation: Hybrid and multicloud solutions)
- Design a solution for cloud infrastructure entitlement management that includes Microsoft Entra Permissions Management (Microsoft Documentation: Permissions Management, What is entitlement management?)
- Evaluate an access review management solution that includes Microsoft Entra Permissions Management
- Design a solution for Privileged Access Workstation (PAW) and bastion services (Microsoft Documentation: Securing devices as part of the privileged access story, Privileged access deployment)
Design solutions for regulatory compliance
- Translate compliance requirements into a security solution
- Design a solution to address compliance requirements by using Microsoft Purview (Microsoft Documentation: Microsoft Purview compliance portal)
- Design a solution to address privacy requirements, including Microsoft Priva (Microsoft Documentation: Learn about Microsoft Priva)
- Design Azure Policy solutions to address security and compliance requirements (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Policy?)
- Evaluate and validate alignment with regulatory standards and benchmarks by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Design security solutions for infrastructure (25–30%)
Design solutions for security posture management in hybrid and multicloud environments
- Evaluate security posture by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud, including the Microsoft cloud security benchmark (MCSB) (Microsoft Documentation: Evaluate security posture and recommend technical strategies to manage risk, Introduction to the Microsoft cloud security benchmark)
- Evaluate security posture by using Microsoft Secure Score (Microsoft Documentation: Secure score)
- Design integrated security posture management solutions that include Microsoft Defender for Cloud in hybrid and multi-cloud environments
- Select cloud workload protection solutions in Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Design a solution for integrating hybrid and multicloud environments by using Azure Arc (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Arc overview)
- Design a solution for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management (Defender EASM) (Microsoft Documentation: Defender EASM Overview)
- Specify requirements and priorities for a posture management process that uses Exposure Management attack paths, attack surface reduction, security insights, and initiatives
Specify requirements for securing server and client endpoints
- Specify security requirements for servers, including multiple platforms and operating systems (Microsoft Documentation: Supported operating systems, platforms and capabilities)
- Specify security requirements for mobile devices and clients, including endpoint protection, hardening, and configuration (Microsoft Documentation: Use security baselines to configure Windows devices in Intune)
- Specify security requirements for IoT devices and embedded systems (Microsoft Documentation: Getting Started with Windows IoT Enterprise)
- Design a solution for securing operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) by using Microsoft Defender for IoT
- Specify security baselines for server and client endpoints
- Evaluate Windows Local Admin Password Solution (LAPS) solutions
Specify requirements for securing SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services
- Specify security baselines for SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services (Microsoft Documentation: Design a strategy for securing PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS services)
- Specify security requirements for IoT workloads (Microsoft Documentation: Security in your IoT workload)
- Specify security requirements for web workloads
- Specify security requirements for containers (Microsoft Documentation: Security considerations for Azure Container Instances)
- Specify security requirements for container orchestration
- Evaluate solutions that include Azure AI Services Security
Evaluate solutions for network security and Security Service Edge (SSE)
- Evaluate network designs to align with security requirements and best practices
- Evaluate solutions that use Microsoft Entra Internet Access as a secure web gateway
- Evaluate solutions that use Microsoft Entra Internet Access to access Microsoft 365, including cross-tenant configurations
- Evaluate solutions that use Microsoft Entra Private Access
Design security solutions for applications and data (20–25%)
Design solutions for securing Microsoft 365
- Evaluate security posture for productivity and collaboration workloads by using metrics, including Secure Score and Defender for Cloud secure score
- Evaluate solutions that include Microsoft Defender for Office and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
- Evaluate device management solutions that include Microsoft Intune
- Evaluate solutions for securing data in Microsoft 365 by using Microsoft Purview
- Evaluate data security and compliance controls in Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 services
Design solutions for securing applications
- Evaluate the security posture of existing application portfolios
- Evaluate threats to business-critical applications by using threat modeling (Microsoft Documentation: Integrating threat modeling with DevOps)
- Design and implement a full lifecycle strategy for application security
- Design and implement standards and practices for securing the application development process (Microsoft Documentation: Secure development best practices on Azure)
- Map technologies to application security requirements (Microsoft Documentation: Security in the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure)
- Design a solution for workload identity to authenticate and access Azure cloud resources (Microsoft Documentation: Workload identity federation)
- Design a solution for API management and security
- Design solutions that secure applications by using Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF)
Design solutions for securing an organization’s data
- Evaluate solutions for data discovery and classification
- Specify priorities for mitigating threats to data (Microsoft Documentation: Mitigate threats by using Windows 10 security features)
- Evaluate solutions for encryption of data at rest and in transit, including Azure KeyVault and infrastructure encryption
- Design a security solution for data in Azure workloads, including Azure SQL, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Azure Cosmos DB (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Synapse Link for Azure Cosmos DB?, Configure and use Azure Synapse Link for Azure Cosmos DB)
- Design a security solution for data in Azure Storage
- Design a security solution that includes Microsoft Defender for Storage and Microsoft Defender for Databases
– Make use of Microsoft Learning Path to better comprehend the topics.
You may get exam-related knowledge via a variety of courses on Microsoft’s learning path. You may find these study materials on the Microsoft SC-100 exam’s official website. The methods for getting ready for tests include:
– Design a Zero Trust strategy and architecture
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/sc-100-design-zero-trust-strategy-architecture/
Learn the process of designing an organization’s security strategy, including security operations and identifying based on the principles of Zero Trust.
Prerequisites:
- Advanced experience and knowledge in identity and access, platform protection, security operations, securing data, and securing applications.
- Knowledge and experience with hybrid and cloud implementations.
Modules in this learning path:
- Building an overall security strategy and architecture
- Designing a security operations strategy
- Designing an identity security strategy
– Evaluate Governance Risk Compliance (GRC) technical strategies and security operations strategies
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/sc-100-evaluate-governance-risk-compliance/
Understand the process of evaluating cybersecurity strategies for Governance and Risk Compliance as well as security operations (SecOps).
Prerequisites:
- Advanced experience and knowledge in identity and access, platform protection, security operations, securing data, and securing applications.
- Knowledge and experience with hybrid and cloud implementations.
Modules in this learning path:
- Evaluating a regulatory compliance strategy
- Evaluating security posture and recommending technical strategies to manage risk
– Design security for infrastructure
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/sc-100-design-security-for-infrastructure/
Understand the process of designing infrastructure security, including architecture best practices, endpoint security, and cloud security for several service models (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS).
Prerequisites:
- Advanced experience and knowledge in identity and access, platform protection, security operations, securing data, and securing applications.
- Knowledge and experience with hybrid and cloud implementations.
Modules in this learning path:
- Understanding architecture best practices and how they are changing with the Cloud
- Designing a strategy for securing server and client endpoints
- Designing a strategy for securing PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS services
– Design a strategy for data and applications
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/sc-100-design-strategy-for-data-applications/
Understand the process of designing a cybersecurity strategy for data and applications.
Prerequisites:
- Advanced experience and knowledge in identity and access, platform protection, security operations, securing data, and securing applications.
- Knowledge and experience with hybrid and cloud implementations.
Modules in this learning path:
- Specifying security requirements for applications
- Designing a strategy for securing data
– Enhance your skills with Instructor-led Training
Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect
This course is for advanced, expert-level individuals. So, it is strongly advised to have taken and completed another associate-level certification in the security, compliance, and identity portfolio before enrolling in this course, however it is not necessary (examples include AZ-500, SC-200, or SC-300). Those who complete this course will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to build and assess cybersecurity strategies in the following domains: data and apps, governance risk compliance (GRC), security operations (SecOps), and zero trust.
Furthermore, you will also learn how to establish security needs for cloud infrastructure in various service models and develop and construct solutions utilizing zero trust concepts (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS).
Audience Profile:
Experienced cloud security engineers who have already earned a certification in the security, compliance, and identity portfolio should take this course. In particular, you should be well-versed in a variety of security engineering fields, such as identity and access, platform protection, security operations, data security, and application security. Additionally, you must be familiar with cloud and hybrid systems.
– Utilizing practice tests
The fact that the test will cover a range of topics must be kept in mind. Thus, before the exam, you should get as much experience as you can. The most efficient way to do this is to take practice exams. By completing the Microsoft SC-100 Exam sample exams, you may better understand your study plan and become ready for the real thing. By recognizing your weak areas with the help of these example tests, you may take action to strengthen them. You’ll be able to manage your time more effectively if you can comprehend the test’s question format and develop your answer abilities.
– Join the Microsoft Community
Join the Microsoft community to exchange best practices and gain access to the most recent Microsoft Exam material. You may get assistance from these forums with everything from technical support and breaking/fixing issues to help & education on pertinent topics. Group discussions with subject-matter specialists about your inquiries will help you keep informed about test changes.
Final Words
Passing the SC-100 test won’t be a problem for you if you have the ability to work with leaders and practitioners in IT security, privacy, and other positions within an organization to create and implement a cybersecurity strategy that satisfies the business goals of an organization. However, in order to achieve total excellence in this, attempt to improve your study skills, apply the training materials mentioned above, become familiar with the subject area, and pass the test.
