Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals is an entry-level credential earned by passing exam SC-900. It validates foundational understanding of security, compliance, identity, and the Microsoft services that support those goals across Azure and Microsoft 365. The current skills outline, effective November 7, 2025 and active in 2026, covers core concepts, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft security solutions, and Microsoft compliance solutions.

Microsoft provides 45 minutes to complete the assessment and uses a scaled passing score of 700. Microsoft does not publish one guaranteed question count for every exam delivery, so the practice maximum on Certoga is used for session configuration rather than as a promise about the live assessment. The exam is conceptual but expects candidates to distinguish overlapping products and explain how they contribute to Zero Trust, identity protection, threat detection, data governance, and regulatory work.

Major technologies include Microsoft Entra ID, Conditional Access, multifactor authentication, identity governance, Privileged Identity Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Sentinel, and Microsoft Purview. Candidates should understand shared responsibility, defense in depth, Zero Trust, authentication, authorization, federation, encryption, risk, compliance, data classification, data loss prevention, eDiscovery, audit, retention, and insider risk. Current product naming is important because older study materials may still use Azure AD or previous compliance product names.

SC-900 is intended for business stakeholders, students, new or existing IT professionals, and anyone who wants to understand Microsoft security, compliance, and identity capabilities. It is useful for help desk staff, administrators, junior security professionals, compliance teams, sales specialists, project managers, and cloud practitioners who work with Azure or Microsoft 365.

Candidates should have basic familiarity with Azure and Microsoft 365 but do not need deep configuration experience. The credential can precede role-based security, identity, or compliance certifications. Experienced security engineers may find it too introductory unless they need Microsoft product orientation. Candidates should concentrate on matching requirements to product capabilities and understanding where identity, threat protection, cloud posture, SIEM, and data governance fit together.

Create a product map before memorizing features. Microsoft Entra handles identity and access; Defender for Cloud addresses cloud posture and workload protection; Defender XDR correlates cross-domain threat signals; Sentinel provides cloud-native SIEM and SOAR; and Microsoft Purview covers data security, governance, risk, and compliance capabilities. Connect each product to a realistic business requirement.

Review current Microsoft naming and avoid relying on outdated Azure AD or legacy compliance branding. Compare MFA with Conditional Access, RBAC with identity governance, Defender for Cloud with Defender XDR, and Sentinel with Purview Audit. Use Microsoft Learn and the official practice assessment. For each missed question, record whether the gap was a security concept or confusion between products, because those require different review.

Certoga's SC-900 practice bank follows the current four-domain outline and contains 150 original questions on Zero Trust, Entra ID, Conditional Access, PIM, Defender, Sentinel, DLP, sensitivity labels, and eDiscovery. The bank uses short concept checks and practical requirement-to-service scenarios. Explanations highlight product boundaries, helping candidates avoid choosing a related Microsoft service that does not directly meet the stated need.