SC-401 WriteUp
Why
I took the SC-401, Microsoft Certified: Information Security Administrator Associate, to both challenge myself, add value to my job, learn more, and well, it was free, so add to my trophy cabinet as they say. At worst, I was out my time spent driving, sitting, and wallowing in my sorrows (if I failed.)
Background of my subject knowledge
I’ve been in my current role, specific to Information Protection/DLP, for less than a year. My experience related to information security lies outside of data security almost entirely, although I had some residual experience with DLP and file/data access policies from my previous roles. Vendor-wise my experience was also very much outside of the scope of Microsoft besides CA policies, and previous interaction with Entra, Exchange (way way back), and general security posture like RBAC, etc. I did have around 5 years or so of experience managing multiple on-prem/hybrid Microsoft environments from servers to workstations, including identities (as mentioned).
TLDR: I wouldn’t say I was a novice with data security controls, but expert is also not a term I’d attribute to myself. I have enough knowledge surrounding the concept that I can adapt and learn quickly.
Exam Prep
The prep largely consisted of on the job work, Microsoft Learn modules, and a handful of Youtube videos to reinforce what I was learning. My time commitment was somewhere around 5 dedicated hours a week with a couple weeks towards the end being 10ish hours. Overall the study time took me 3-4 months, with total time commitment being somewhere around 100 hours, which does not include on the job work of figuring out complex problems related to Purview.
Day of Exam/Exam Experience
I’ve taken several vendor exams before, Cisco, Microsoft, etc and this was mostly inline with the others.
I had 100 minutes for the exam, and it was “open book”, meaning that I had access to Microsoft Learn for the duration of the exam. This was incredibly useful and I think it’s actually a great step in the right direction for exam centers.
While I don’t see any details on Microsoft’s own Learn site restricting me from sharing exam details, I don’t want to lose my credentials… but others have written write ups with exam details and they are inline with my experience.
What Worked
I don’t really advise cramming, but I do advise putting a ton of effort in. As previously mentioned, my day job consisted of working in Purview for 90%+ of my day. If you are going after this cert without Purview being a primary part of your job, I suggest you spend more study time than I did.
Overall, I think MS Learn is going to be one of the most underrated tools you can use. One, because MS Learn is accessible during the exam, so familiarizing yourself with navigation of Learn and how MS organizes Learn is something that helped me confirm several of the answers on my exam. Two, MS Learn is the literal source of all of the information contained in the exam. Third party vendors providing test banks/answers might have unique answers which make you think, but they’re sourcing their knowledge from MS Learn as well.
I did end up buying a practice test from a certified vendor, which was useful, but the only thing it helped with was preparing me for the format of the exam, which Microsoft allows you 20 minutes to do so before starting it.
If you have access to a learning platform, like Udemy, Pluralsight, etc, it certainly might benefit you to use their trainings as it offers a guided breakdown of the study guide, lead by someone who is an expert on the topic.
What Didn’t Work
Maybe “What Didn’t Work” is a poor title for this section, but I wanted to keep the alliteration… sorry. Honestly, I think any time you sit learning something is by definition “progress” or “work”, so I don’t know that anything didn’t work during my studies. I will say that I could have spent a little more time in certain areas, as it was evident I didn’t do as well in those areas on the exam (again leaving out details, don’t sue me Satya). These are things that can’t be predicted, so I wish I put more effort into going through each of the Learn modules and trying to perfect the quizzes at the end.
Outcome
I didn’t explicitly state this, but I passed. Now, I can’t immediately say if this will have boosted my salary or given me any perks outside of putting it on my resume/LinkedIn, but I can say that it’s confirmed my knowledge in the topic and given me more confidence.
Whether or not I take another MS exam or not, remains to be determined, however I likely will look at doing so down the line.
Overall I’d say the test was quite challenging. I think some of the questions were confusing at best and downright misleading at worst, although that is seemingly more and more common with cert exams. I talk about this another blog post.
Until next time…
