Microsoft Information Security Administrator Associate (SC-401) Cert Prep by Microsoft Press

6h 4mIntermediate2026-03-11

Authors

Microsoft Press

Microsoft

Sarah Young

Course details

The Microsoft Information Security Administrator Associate (SC-401) certification validates your ability to protect sensitive data, manage compliance, and reduce risk in Microsoft 365 environments. This course prepares you for the exam by covering data classification, sensitivity labels, and data loss prevention policies in Microsoft Purview. Along the way, learn how to deploy security policies across Windows, file shares, and Exchange; manage insider risk; and monitor alerts and activities to maintain a strong compliance posture. By the end of this course, you’ll be equipped with the skills you need to tackle the SC-401 exam and effectively manage information security in your organization.

Learning objectives
Implement information protection.
Implement data loss prevention and retention.
Manage risks, alerts, and activities.

Concepts

Introduction

Exam SC-401 administering information security in Microsoft 365 - Introduction

Implement and Manage Data Classification

Module introduction
Learning objectives
Identify sensitive information requirements for an organization s data
Translate requirements into built-in or custom sensitive info types
Create and manage custom sensitive info types
Implement document fingerprinting
Create and manage exact data match (EDM) classifiers
Create and manage trainable classifiers
Monitor classification with data explorer and content explorer
Configure optical character recognition (OCR) support for sensitive info types

Implement and Manage Sensitivity Labels in Microsoft Purview

Learning objectives
Implement roles and permissions for sensitivity labels
Define and create sensitivity labels for items and containers
Configure protection settings and content marking for sensitivity labels
Configure and manage publishing policies for sensitivity labels
Configure and manage autolabeling policies for sensitivity labels
Apply sensitivity labels to containers, such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, Microsoft Power BI, and Microsoft SharePoint
Apply sensitivity labels by using Defender for Cloud Apps

Implement Information Protection for Windows, File Shares, and Exchange

Learning objectives
Implement protection for Windows, file shares, and Exchange
Plan and implement the Purview Information Protection client
Manage files using the Purview client
Apply bulk classification to on-premises data by using the Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner
Design and implement Microsoft Purview Message Encryption
Design and implement Microsoft Purview Advanced Message Encryption

Create and Configure Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Policies

Module introduction
Learning objectives
Design DLP policies based on an organization s requirements
Implement roles and permissions for DLP
Create and manage DLP policies
Configure DLP policies for Adaptive Protection
Interpret policy and rule precedence in DLP
Create file policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps by using a DLP policy

Implement and Monitor Microsoft Purview Endpoint DLP

Learning objectives
Specify device requirements for Endpoint DLP, including extensions
Configure advanced DLP rules for devices in DLP policies
Configure Endpoint DLP settings
Configure just-in-time protection
Monitor endpoint activities

Implement and Manage Retention

Learning objectives
Plan for information retention and disposition by using retention labels
Create, configure, and manage adaptive scopes
Create retention labels for data lifecycle management
Configure retention label policies (publish autoapply)
Interpret the results of policy precedence, including using policy lookup
Create and configure retention policies
Recover retained content in Microsoft 365

Implement and Manage Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management

Module introduction
Learning objectives
Implement roles and permissions for Insider Risk Management
Plan and implement Insider Risk Management connectors
Plan and implement integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Configure and manage Insider Risk Management settings
Configure policy indicators
Select an appropriate policy template
Create and manage Insider Risk Management policies
Manage forensic evidence settings
Enable and configure insider risk levels for Adaptive Protection
Manage insider risk alerts and cases
Manage Insider Risk Management workflow, including notice templates

Manage Information Security Alerts and Activities

Learning objectives
Assign Microsoft Purview Audit (Premium) user licenses
Investigate activities by using Microsoft Purview Audit
Configure audit retention policies
Analyze Purview activities by using activity explorer
Respond to data loss prevention alerts in the Microsoft Purview portal
Investigate insider risk activities by using the Microsoft Purview portal
Respond to Purview alerts in Microsoft Defender XDR
Respond to Defender for Cloud Apps file policy alerts
Perform searches by using Content search

Protect Data Used by AI Services

Learning objectives
Implement controls in Microsoft 365 workloads to protect content in an environment that uses AI services
Implement prerequisites for Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) for AI
Manage roles and permissions for DSPM for AI
Configure DSPM for AI policies
Monitor activities in DSPM for AI
Implement controls in Microsoft Purview to protect content in an environment that uses AI services

Conclusion

Course summary