How to Pass the SC-400: Microsoft 365 Compliance and Information Protection Admin Guide

In an era marked by relentless cyber threats, rigid regulatory frameworks, and soaring data volumes, the role of information compliance has undergone a metamorphosis. Organizations no longer treat data governance as a postscript to IT strategy—it now stands at the very core. This paradigm shift has created a demand for skilled professionals who can enforce data compliance standards, implement protection mechanisms, and ensure robust information lifecycle governance.

Microsoft’s SC-400 certification—formally titled Microsoft Information Protection and Compliance Administrator—addresses this niche. It validates your expertise in implementing Microsoft Purview compliance solutions, classifying data with precision, and establishing resilient information governance frameworks within Microsoft 365 environments. This three-part series is dedicated to providing a definitive guide to passing the SC-400 exam. We will explore the certification’s intricacies, domain breakdowns, key tools, and preparation strategies in depth.

In Part 1, we delve into the purpose of the certification, the role of a compliance administrator, and an exhaustive review of the first domain—Information Protection.

The Purpose of the SC-400 Certification

The SC-400 certification is designed to assess your ability to plan, implement, and manage information protection and compliance solutions using Microsoft Purview. While the credential is tailored primarily for administrators, it also benefits security analysts, data stewards, and even privacy officers who want a technical grasp of compliance tooling in Microsoft 365.

This certification demonstrates your capacity to:

Classify, retain, and protect sensitive information using Microsoft Purview
Mitigate data loss and regulatory non-compliance risks
Collaborate with stakeholders to interpret requirements and design solutions
Manage auditing and investigation workflows

By achieving SC-400 certification, professionals signify that they can address data governance not only as a matter of policy but also through meticulous technical execution.

Who Should Consider SC-400?

This exam is ideal for those who actively participate in a company’s compliance strategy or intend to transition into such a role. Common job titles aligned with this certification include:

Compliance Administrator
Microsoft 365 Security and Compliance Engineer
Information Governance Analyst
Risk and Compliance Consultant
Data Protection Officer (DPO)

Candidates should be comfortable configuring Microsoft 365 workloads, managing security policies, and interpreting compliance needs. A working knowledge of Microsoft Purview is especially beneficial.

Exam Details and Format

Before you embark on the preparation journey, it’s essential to understand the mechanics of the SC-400 exam. As of the latest update:

Exam Code: SC-400
Format: Multiple choice, drag-and-drop, scenario-based questions
Duration: Approximately 120 minutes
Passing Score: 700 out of 1000
Cost: Varies by region, typically around $165 USD
Language Availability: English and select additional languages

The exam is broken down into three primary domains, each with its own weight:

Implement Information Protection (35–40%)

Implement Data Loss Prevention (30–35%)

Implement Information Governance and Compliance (25–30%)

Now let us begin our deep dive into the first and most heavily weighted domain—Information Protection.

Implementing Information Protection in Microsoft Purview

Information Protection is a cornerstone of the SC-400 certification. It encompasses a robust set of features and policies used to classify, label, and safeguard sensitive content across Microsoft 365.

The Philosophy Behind Information Protection

The foundation of Microsoft Purview’s information protection strategy revolves around data classification. Instead of relying solely on users to manually protect documents, organizations leverage automation to discover, tag, and control access to sensitive content.

Classification leads to labeling, which subsequently governs access, encryption, and retention policies. The ultimate goal is to ensure that sensitive data is protected throughout its lifecycle, regardless of where it travels.

Sensitivity Labels

At the crux of data classification are sensitivity labels, which allow administrators to tag content based on its confidentiality level. For instance, labels like “Confidential,” “Internal,” or “Public” can be configured with varying degrees of restrictions.

Key capabilities of sensitivity labels include:

Encryption: Applying rights management to restrict access (e.g., only certain departments can open files).
Content marking: Adding headers, footers, or watermarks for visual cues.
Endpoint protection: Integrating with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to enforce label-based policies on devices.

Understanding how to create, configure, and publish these labels is essential for the exam. Microsoft 365 Compliance Center provides a central hub to manage label policies.

Auto-Labeling Policies

While users can apply sensitivity labels manually, the true power lies in auto-labeling. This feature uses data classification rules to automatically apply labels based on the content of files or emails. For instance, a document containing a U.S. Social Security Number could automatically receive a “Highly Confidential” label with encryption enforced.

Auto-labeling policies can be scoped across:

SharePoint document libraries
OneDrive folders
Exchange mailboxes
Teams chats and channels

As an SC-400 candidate, you need to understand how to configure auto-labeling templates, test policies before deployment, and analyze labeling analytics.

Trainable Classifiers

One of the more nuanced features within Microsoft Purview is the concept of trainable classifiers. These use machine learning to identify data that cannot be reliably detected with pattern matching alone.

For example, suppose your organization frequently deals with financial analyses. A classifier can be trained on documents that represent this content type, enabling the system to identify similar documents in the future.

Steps involved in creating a trainable classifier:

Upload positive and negative samples of the content type.

Train the classifier to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant documents.

Publish the classifier to a sensitive info type or auto-labeling policy.

This ML-based approach enhances the precision of automated classification, making it invaluable for enterprises with bespoke data categories.

Information Protection on Endpoints

Another vital component is extending information protection beyond the cloud and into endpoints. Integration with Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention for endpoints and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint allows labels to persist and policies to be enforced even on local devices.

You should be able to:

Configure Microsoft Endpoint Manager to support labeling
Monitor and audit label usage via Defender dashboards
Prevent data exfiltration based on sensitivity labels

The exam may present scenario-based questions where endpoint protection needs to align with the label assigned to a file, particularly in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments.

Co-Authoring with Protection

In collaborative workplaces, it’s common for multiple users to edit documents simultaneously. Microsoft 365 supports co-authoring of protected files through Azure Rights Management.

The key is ensuring that labels configured for encryption also permit the necessary permissions for editing. Otherwise, encryption might block collaboration. Candidates must understand how to configure user rights templates and ensure compatibility across Office apps.

This nuanced interplay between collaboration and protection is a common exam topic that tests your ability to balance security with usability.

Common Pitfalls in Information Protection Implementation

As you prepare for SC-400, be wary of common misconfigurations or misunderstandings that can trip up administrators:

Scope creep in label policies: Applying labels too broadly can overwhelm users or misclassify content.
Improper testing of auto-labeling: Deploying auto-labeling without simulation can lead to incorrect tagging.
Missing licensing requirements: Certain features, such as trainable classifiers, require Microsoft 365 E5 or relevant add-ons.
Overreliance on manual labeling: Relying solely on end-users often results in inconsistent data protection.

Understanding these pitfalls and how to avoid them is as crucial as knowing the technical steps.

Tools and Portals to Master

A successful SC-400 candidate is expected to navigate multiple Microsoft portals. Familiarize yourself with:

Microsoft Purview compliance portal: The central location for labels, policies, and compliance dashboards.
Microsoft Purview content explorer: Helps visualize how information types are distributed across your tenant.
Microsoft 365 Security and Compliance Center (legacy): Still hosts certain legacy configurations.
PowerShell modules: Specifically, ExchangeOnlineManagement, Microsoft.Graph, and ComplianceCenter.

Proficiency in these tools not only strengthens your technical grip but also accelerates real-world implementation capabilities.

Best Practices for Mastering Domain 1

To solidify your expertise in the Information Protection domain:

Set up a test tenant using Microsoft 365 Developer Program.
Create and apply multiple sensitivity labels with varied configurations.
Experiment with auto-labeling in Exchange and SharePoint.
Train a classifier and publish it to simulate real-world detection.
Review Microsoft Learn modules related to Purview Information Protection.
Practice navigating the Compliance portal’s dashboards and policy wizards.

Microsoft also offers labs and sandbox environments. Practical experimentation often outpaces passive reading in retention and understanding.

The Information Protection domain is the most expansive component of the SC-400 certification and arguably the most vital in practice. From the foundational structure of sensitivity labels to the complexity of trainable classifiers and endpoint integration, this domain tests both breadth and depth of knowledge.

Mastering this area lays the groundwork for successfully tackling the remainder of the exam. In the next installment of this series, we will explore Data Loss Prevention (DLP)—another crucial aspect of Microsoft’s compliance architecture. DLP policies, rule tuning, incident management, and cross-platform data enforcement will all be discussed in detail.

By building expertise in each domain sequentially, you not only prepare to pass the SC-400 but also equip yourself to lead in the domain of information governance and digital compliance.

Implementing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) with Microsoft Purview

Data is a precious resource—one that can unravel reputations and invite punitive action when mismanaged. As digital collaboration soars and organizations adopt remote work and BYOD practices, sensitive data moves fluidly across networks, endpoints, and cloud services. Within this high-velocity environment, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) has emerged as a sentinel—a proactive guardrail that identifies, monitors, and protects data at risk of exposure.

In this second installment of our SC-400 preparation series, we unpack the second domain: Implementing Data Loss Prevention (30–35%). You will gain an intricate understanding of how DLP functions within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, its integration with other compliance technologies, and the pivotal role it plays in passing the SC-400 certification exam.

Understanding Microsoft Purview’s DLP Framework

Microsoft’s DLP framework revolves around preventing the accidental or malicious leakage of sensitive information across multiple vectors—email, cloud storage, endpoints, and collaboration tools.

DLP is powered by Microsoft Purview and leverages a rich set of sensitive information types (SITs), trainable classifiers, and policy templates to detect and restrict risky content movement. It integrates seamlessly with:

Microsoft Exchange Online
SharePoint Online
OneDrive for Business
Microsoft Teams
Windows 10/11 endpoints
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (formerly MCAS)

Unlike traditional firewalls or AV software, DLP operates at the content level—its logic is concerned with what data is, not just where it’s going.

Key Concepts to Master for the Exam

To prepare for SC-400’s DLP questions, it’s vital to understand the following foundational components:

Sensitive Information Types (SITs)

These are data definitions used to identify content that matches sensitive patterns, such as:

U.S. Social Security Numbers
Credit card numbers
Passport details
Health record identifiers

Microsoft includes over 200 prebuilt SITs, and you can also define custom types. You’ll need to understand how to modify confidence levels, keyword dictionaries, and proximity rules for SIT tuning.

Policy Conditions and Rules

A DLP policy comprises conditions, actions, and exceptions. For example, a policy could:

Detect emails containing credit card numbers
Trigger an incident report
Block the email
Notify the user with a policy tip

Conditions include combinations of SITs, file types, user groups, and content location. Understanding how to layer these conditions and prioritize rule evaluation order is critical for fine-tuning DLP behavior.

Policy Tips and User Notifications

To foster a culture of compliance without disruption, Microsoft provides policy tips—inline messages that warn users about potential violations before data is shared. You’ll be tested on:

Customizing policy tip messages
Allowing user overrides (with justifications)
Enabling end-user reporting of false positives

This area tests your ability to balance security imperatives with user productivity and autonomy.

Configuring and Publishing DLP Policies

The DLP Policy Lifecycle

Implementing a DLP policy involves a structured approach:

Planning: Define business and regulatory needs (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA)

Creation: Use the Microsoft Purview portal to select templates or build custom policies

Testing: Run policies in simulation mode to validate triggers without enforcement

Tuning: Adjust thresholds, SIT confidence levels, and exceptions

Enforcement: Turn on policy enforcement and monitor impact

The SC-400 exam may include case studies where a DLP policy needs to be deployed in phases—starting with audit-only mode and then escalating to hard blocks.

Configuring Locations

You must choose where DLP policies apply. Microsoft 365 supports DLP across:

Exchange Online: Scan subject lines, body, and attachments
SharePoint Online and OneDrive: Monitor document libraries and sync folders
Teams: Detect sensitive data in chats and channel messages
Devices: Extend DLP to Windows endpoints with Microsoft Purview endpoint DLP
Cloud apps: Monitor third-party apps through Defender for Cloud Apps

The exam frequently tests your understanding of location scope. For instance, configuring a policy to apply only to Teams messages but not SharePoint content.

Templates vs. Custom Policies

Microsoft offers DLP templates for common regulations like PCI-DSS, GLBA, and U.S. PII. These templates are excellent starting points. However, enterprise use cases often require custom policies.

In the exam, expect scenario questions where you must:

Modify a prebuilt template
Create custom conditions using multiple SITs
Add exclusion logic (e.g., ignore internal traffic)

Proficiency in both default and custom configurations is essential.

Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (Endpoint DLP)

Endpoint DLP allows organizations to monitor and control the movement of sensitive data on physical devices—across USB drives, clipboard transfers, print operations, and network shares.

Core Features

With Endpoint DLP, you can:

Audit or block copying sensitive content to removable media
Detect screen capture or printing of confidential files
Prevent pasting sensitive data into unauthorized apps
Integrate with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for advanced threat insights

This functionality is activated through Microsoft Purview compliance policies and enforced via Microsoft Endpoint Manager (Intune).

Requirements and Configuration

To use Endpoint DLP, the following are required:

Microsoft 365 E5/A5 or equivalent add-ons
Windows 10/11 with telemetry enabled
Onboarded devices in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Intune or Group Policy-based configuration profiles

The exam will assess your understanding of:

Mapping DLP policies to device groups
Monitoring Endpoint DLP activity through Activity Explorer
Responding to policy matches with alerts and evidence capture

Understanding how to set up device onboarding, create device groups, and correlate endpoint events with cloud policies is a high-yield topic.

Integrating DLP with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (MCAS)

Defender for Cloud Apps (formerly Microsoft Cloud App Security) extends DLP functionality into the shadow IT space—enabling inspection and control over third-party SaaS platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, or Salesforce.

Use Cases

Discover unsanctioned apps handling sensitive data
Apply DLP policies to third-party cloud storage
Monitor session activity in real time
Enforce access controls (block download, apply watermark)

Cloud Discovery helps you visualize risk across applications used by employees, and Conditional Access App Control allows you to set session-level policies.

For SC-400, expect questions that evaluate your ability to extend Purview DLP to ungoverned apps or to control risky behavior in sanctioned services.

Alerting, Incident Management, and Analytics

Alerts and Policies

Each DLP policy can generate alerts when a rule is matched. Alerts are configured with severity, thresholds, and escalation rules. Alerts are visible in:

Microsoft Purview Compliance portal
Microsoft Defender portal
SIEM integrations (e.g., Microsoft Sentinel)

Understanding how to tune alert noise and route incident data effectively is often overlooked yet crucial in the exam.

Investigating Incidents

DLP alerts often form the tip of a larger iceberg. Through Microsoft Purview Audit and Activity Explorer, you can trace incident context:

Who attempted to share or exfiltrate data
What device and location were involved
Which DLP rule triggered enforcement
Whether it was an intentional breach or user error

The exam may challenge you with an incident response scenario where you must correlate DLP logs and take corrective action.

Reports and Dashboards

Use the Data Loss Prevention report and Activity Explorer for ongoing assessment. These tools let you analyze:

Policy match trends over time
Top users triggering violations
Most common SITs detected
Effectiveness of policy tips and overrides

Quantifying this data allows organizations to revise policies and conduct user training campaigns.

DLP Policy Best Practices

Passing the SC-400 requires not just memorization but a sound grasp of policy design principles. Here are practices that resonate both in the real world and on the exam:

Start in audit mode: Validate logic before enforcement to avoid workflow disruption
Keep policies focused: Avoid multi-purpose policies that mix too many conditions
Minimize false positives: Overly broad SITs or rules lead to alert fatigue
Enable user justifications: Encourage accountability without hampering workflows
Log everything: Use activity explorer and audit logs to drive improvements
Align to regulation: Map policies to legal obligations—this will feature heavily in scenario-based questions

Licensing and Limitations

Many advanced DLP features require specific licenses:

Microsoft 365 E5/A5/G5
Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (for endpoint DLP)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Make sure to understand the license matrix—questions may include case studies where licensing impacts solution design.

Hands-On Study Plan for Mastering DLP

A recommended hands-on approach includes:

Creating test users and groups
Building at least three DLP policies: Exchange, SharePoint, and Endpoint
Using simulation mode to validate effectiveness
Modifying SITs and creating custom types
Configuring alerts and thresholds
Viewing events in Activity Explorer

Practical familiarity accelerates retention and fosters troubleshooting instincts crucial for the exam.

Data Loss Prevention is the heart of digital stewardship. In Microsoft 365, DLP is not a standalone shield but a tapestry—woven across endpoints, cloud apps, communications platforms, and storage solutions. It demands strategic planning, cross-domain coordination, and continual refinement.

Mastering Information Governance, Insider Risk, and eDiscovery

In the age of data ubiquity, managing information throughout its lifecycle is not merely operational—it’s strategic. Organizations grapple daily with sprawling data estates, shadow IT, and a deluge of regulatory expectations. Within Microsoft 365, Information Governance, Insider Risk Management, and eDiscovery form the triad of proactive compliance—empowering administrators to classify, retain, dispose, and investigate data across digital boundaries.

This third and final part of the SC-400 guide offers a deep dive into these advanced topics. With approximately 30–35% of the SC-400 exam weighted toward these subjects, this is where nuanced understanding truly separates confident test-takers from the unprepared.

Foundations of Information Governance

At the core of Microsoft 365’s governance strategy lies the principle of data lifecycle management. Rather than merely storing data indefinitely, the platform encourages intelligent curation: retain what is required, discard what is redundant.

Microsoft Purview’s Information Governance tools empower administrators to:

Define retention policies and labels
Implement record management workflows
Enable auto-application of classification
Audit and monitor policy effectiveness

The exam will assess your ability to configure these systems for regulatory alignment and operational efficiency.

Retention Policies and Retention Labels

Retention in Microsoft 365 is primarily executed using two vehicles:

1. Retention Policies – Broad rules applied across workloads like Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.

Retention Labels – Granular classification applied to individual documents or emails, either manually or automatically.

You should understand the difference in behavior:

Retention policies are ideal for location-based retention, such as retaining all Teams messages for three years.
Retention labels provide item-level granularity, allowing for records declaration, disposition review, and immutable labeling.

Exam scenarios often focus on combining both methods—for instance, applying a label that marks a document as a “legal contract” and retains it for seven years post-modification.

Auto-Application of Retention Labels

Manual labeling depends on user action, which often falters in large organizations. Hence, Microsoft supports auto-application based on:

Sensitive Information Types (SITs): e.g., label all content with a U.S. SSN
Keyword Matching: e.g., “Confidential HR Report”
Trainable Classifiers: e.g., learn to identify resumes or contracts
Event-based triggers: e.g., retain employee files for 5 years post-termination

These configurations feature heavily on SC-400, especially trainable classifiers—a topic often misunderstood. You’ll need to grasp:

How classifiers are trained with seed sets
How to test accuracy using predictions
How classifier-based labels differ from keyword-based ones

Managing Records with Immutable Labels

Compliance sometimes necessitates immutable records, preventing edits or deletions during retention.

Labels configured with record declaration ensure that once applied, content cannot be modified or purged until expiration. You must understand:

How to create record labels
How to auto-declare records based on metadata
The behavior of declared records in SharePoint and Exchange

SC-400 will test your familiarity with policies that align to regulations like SEC 17a-4, which demand immutable storage.

Disposition Review and Proof of Deletion

Governance doesn’t end at retention—it culminates in disposition, the controlled deletion of content once its lifecycle ends.

Microsoft Purview supports:

Manual disposition reviews: Human review before deletion
Audit logs of deletions: Proof that policies executed
Retention reports: Insights into content age and pending deletions

Expect exam questions around configuring disposition reviewers, assigning reviewer roles, and viewing activity via the Disposition dashboard.

Insider Risk Management

Security threats aren’t always external. Disgruntled employees, inadvertent mistakes, or compromised credentials often pose the greatest risks.

Microsoft’s Insider Risk Management (IRM) framework detects and responds to suspicious behavior using machine learning, behavioral baselines, and preconfigured policies.

Core Components

IRM policies can detect signals like:

Mass downloads or exfiltration of data
Unusual file sharing with personal accounts
Data deletion or renaming
Anomalous access post-resignation notice

IRM integrates signals from:

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD)
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

This multi-signal architecture enables holistic behavior modeling.

Policy Templates and Indicators

SC-400 candidates should be proficient with prebuilt policy templates, such as:

Potential data leaks
Data theft by departing users
Security policy violations
Risky browser activity

Each policy contains indicators, which define what behaviors trigger alerts. You’ll be expected to:

Understand thresholds (e.g., how many files downloaded in what time)
Configure indicator sensitivity
Tailor policies for departments or risk groups

Scenarios on the exam may involve tuning policies to reduce false positives or focusing detection on specific high-risk roles.

Investigating and Responding to Alerts

When a risk signal is detected, administrators can:

View user timelines
Correlate activities across services
Initiate remediation actions, such as sending a notice or referring to HR

While Microsoft Purview’s IRM isn’t an enforcement tool per se, it does integrate with Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR for broader response capabilities.

You’ll be tested on how to:

Assign appropriate roles (e.g., Insider Risk Investigator)
Configure alert thresholds and case creation rules
Protect user privacy through anonymization settings

Understanding role-based access control (RBAC) in the context of IRM is crucial.

Communication Compliance

This often-overlooked module enables organizations to monitor communications for policy violations, such as:

Harassment
Inappropriate language
Sensitive data sharing

Built for HR and compliance teams, Communication Compliance provides templates and ML classifiers to flag risky messages across Teams, Exchange, Yammer, and more.

For SC-400, key competencies include:

Creating communication compliance policies
Defining review workflows
Responding to flagged messages
Ensuring privacy with supervision policies

You’ll encounter use cases involving multinational compliance needs (e.g., flagging inappropriate content in multilingual environments).

eDiscovery and Audit

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Standard and Premium)

eDiscovery is the backbone of legal and investigative workflows in Microsoft 365. SC-400 emphasizes both Standard and Premium eDiscovery.

Standard eDiscovery allows case management, content search, and basic export.

Premium eDiscovery (formerly Advanced eDiscovery) enables:

Legal holds on mailboxes, Teams chats, and files
Review sets and tagging
Analytics and data reduction
Custodian notification workflows

The exam will test your ability to:

Initiate and manage cases
Place holds without disrupting productivity
Filter and analyze large datasets
Export evidence while preserving metadata

You must also understand RBAC roles, like eDiscovery Manager, Case Admin, and Reviewers.

Search and Export Capabilities

Proficiency in Content Search is essential. You’ll need to:

Use KQL (Keyword Query Language)
Filter by author, date range, or keywords
Export results in PST or native formats

Questions may include scenarios such as:

Narrowing a search to Teams messages by a specific user
Exporting content shared with external guests

Audit Logging

Audit logs are foundational for investigations and compliance assessments. Microsoft Purview’s Audit Search lets you trace user and admin activity.

You’ll need to know:

How to enable auditing
Searching audit logs by user, activity, or workload
Retention durations based on licensing

Common test topics include:

Investigating deletion of SharePoint files
Auditing role changes or policy edits
Exporting logs for third-party tools

Advanced Audit (requires Microsoft 365 E5) provides longer retention and high-value event tracking.

Privacy, Compliance Score, and Organizational Readiness

Privacy Settings and Data Subject Requests

The SC-400 exam may touch on GDPR and privacy frameworks. You’ll be expected to understand:

Configuring Data Subject Requests (DSRs)
Exporting or deleting user data
Managing data classification reports to assess exposure

This topic intersects with both eDiscovery and retention management.

Microsoft Purview Compliance Score

The Compliance Score dashboard quantifies your organization’s posture. It calculates a numerical value based on implemented controls across:

Information protection
Data governance
Insider risk
Endpoint security

You’ll need to interpret recommendations, implement improvement actions, and track progress toward industry benchmarks like ISO 27001 or NIST.

Readiness Assessments and Improvement Actions

Expect exam scenarios where you must:

Prioritize which improvement actions to complete
Justify control implementations
Monitor residual risk over time

Understanding the scoring methodology (weighted controls, assessments, and impact levels) is key.

Tips for Exam Readiness

By this point, you’ve covered all three SC-400 domains. Here’s how to finalize your preparation:

Use Microsoft Learn SC-400 modules for structured study
Practice deploying labels, policies, and classifiers in a trial tenant
Dive into case management and investigation simulations
Read Microsoft 365 compliance documentation thoroughly
Review licensing implications to know what features are available to which plans

Simulated test environments and practice labs will reinforce procedural knowledge and boost confidence.

Conclusion

The SC-400 exam is more than a measure of technical proficiency; it’s a testament to your ability to govern, protect, and navigate information with precision and foresight. In Part 3, you’ve dissected the intricacies of Information Governance, Insider Risk Management, and eDiscovery—tools that form the nucleus of a modern compliance strategy.

By integrating knowledge from all three parts of this series, you now hold the keys to Microsoft 365’s compliance kingdom. Passing the SC-400 certification exam is not just within reach—it’s an inevitability when approached with diligence, hands-on practice, and holistic understanding.

You’re no longer just a user of Microsoft’s compliance tools. You are their orchestrator.