Manage Security Operations Quiz Answers + Review

In this post, I’m sharing a quick review of the Manage Security Operations course, along with useful insights to support your prep for the AZ-500 certification exam.

Just completed this sixth course in the Microsoft Azure Security Engineer Associate Professional Certificate? You’re now stepping into the operational side of cloud security — where monitoring, detection, and quick response are key to protecting cloud infrastructure. This course dives into Azure Monitor, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and Microsoft Sentinel, equipping you with essential tools to track security events, analyze threats, and implement real-time defense mechanisms. If you’re preparing for a role that involves proactive threat management in Azure, this course is a must — and I’ve got the review to help guide your next steps.

Module quiz: Configure and manage Azure Monitor Quiz Answers

Question 1)
Robert, a Security Engineer at a multinational organization that heavily relies on cloud services for its operations, is responsible for ensuring the security of the company’s cloud resources. The organization has recently experienced a significant data breach that resulted in a substantial loss of customer information. Robert needs to address this breach and strengthen the company’s security posture to prevent similar incidents in the future. Which of the following recommendations should he consider? Select all that apply.

Implement Microsoft Defender for Cloud as a defense in depth measure and utilize resource-specific features.
Evaluate network flow logs via Azure Network Watcher.
Use open-source monitoring tools to track and analyze cloud resource activities.
Utilize Azure Application Insights to monitor Azure Functions and review policy requirements.
Assign full administrative privileges to all cloud users for seamless resource management.

Question 2)
Suppose you’re a Security Analyst using Azure Monitor and Microsoft Defender for Cloud. You want to leverage Kusto Query Language (KQL) for log analysis to extract insights from the log data and use it for visualizations and alert rules. Additionally, you want to stream the collected monitor data to a partner SIEM tool. Which of the following statements regarding these capabilities are correct? Select all that apply.

Azure Monitor requires manual extraction of log data for integration with a partner SIEM tool.
Azure Monitor directly streams monitoring data to the partner SIEM tool without the need for Azure Event Hubs.
KQL allows you to create and test queries for log analysis, which can be saved for visualizations or alert rules.
Azure Monitor integrates with Microsoft Defender for Cloud to provide centralized logging and monitoring capabilities.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud only collects log data from Azure resources and does not integrate with partner solutions.

Question 3)
You’re a Cloud Administrator responsible for monitoring a complex Azure environment. You need to configure data collection for Azure Monitor logs and optimize the workspace setup. Which statements accurately describe the configuration and usage of Log Analytics workspaces? Select all that apply.

A Log Analytics workspace is a unique environment for log data from Azure Monitor and other Azure services.
It is mandatory to create multiple Log Analytics workspaces to use Azure Monitor logs effectively.
The number of Log Analytics workspaces you create depends on factors such as geographic location, access rights, and configuration settings.
Data collection in Azure Monitor logs happens automatically once a Log Analytics workspace is created.
Each Log Analytics workspace has its own data repository and configuration settings, isolating it from other workspaces.

Question 4)
Rachel, an Azure Security Engineer, has received an alert regarding a potential security risk in her organization’s infrastructure. The alert indicates the presence of suspicious user accounts and malicious IP addresses attempting unauthorized access to sensitive information. Rachel needs to decide on how to effectively respond to this alert. What steps should Rachel take to address this immediate security risk and mitigate potential breaches? Select all that apply.

Notify stakeholders and collaborate on response.
Ignore the alert, as it could be a false positive or minor issue.
Deploy additional monitoring tools.
Investigate and block suspicious accounts and IPs.
Temporarily shut down infrastructure for investigation.

Question 5)
Suppose you’re a DevOps Engineer for a web application hosted on Azure. Recently, there have been reports of intermittent performance issues and errors experienced by users. As part of the troubleshooting process, you need to retrieve log query results from Azure Monitor logs to identify the cause of the issues. Which methods would you use? Select all that apply.

Metrics explorer
PowerShell cmdlets
Logic Apps
Azure Monitor workbooks
Azure command-line interface (CLI)

Question 6)
You are responsible for monitoring and optimizing the performance of your organization’s application. You recently integrated Application Insights to gain insights into your application’s dependencies and analyze its performance. Now, you want to understand how Application Insights can help you identify the slowest requests and investigate performance issues in detail.
Which option in Application Insights allows you to view the slowest requests for an instance and investigate performance further?

Performance monitoring  
Availability testing  
Alert configuration
Application map

Question 7)
You are a cloud administrator responsible for managing a Log Analytics workspace in Azure. The Log Analytics workspace is configured to collect and analyze data from various connected sources, including virtual machines, web applications, and containers. As part of your responsibilities, you must understand the different methods available to effectively manage these connected sources. Which methods can you use to manage connected sources for Log Analytics in Azure? Select all that apply.

Azure Monitor Agent
Azure Diagnostics Extension
Azure Logic apps
Azure Data Factory
Azure Log Analytics agent

Question 8)
As a Data Analyst in a multinational organization, you are tasked with analyzing performance data from multiple computers in your Log Analytics workspace. You must determine the average CPU utilization across all computers during a specific period. You plan to use Kusto Query Language (KQL) for retrieving and analyzing the required data. Which type of Kusto query statement will you use to calculate the average CPU utilization for the specified period?

Pattern statement
Tabular expression statement
Set statement
Let statement

Question 9)
Keith, an IT Administrator at a large financial organization, has successfully migrated several applications from on-premises to Azure virtual machines (VMs) and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). The management team wants to ensure adequate resource provisioning and performance for these cloud resources. Which Azure tools can provide comprehensive visibility, allowing Keith to troubleshoot specific nodes and containers? Select all that apply.

Azure VM Insights
Azure Storage Explorer
Azure Container Insights
Azure Logic Apps
Azure Functions

Question 10)
________ monitors your data and captures a signal that indicates something is happening on the specified resource.

An alert rule
An alert processing rule
An alert condition
An action group

Module quiz: Enable and manage Microsoft Defender for Cloud Quiz Answers

Question 1)
You are a security professional working on a software development project. You want to adopt strong security practices immediately and ensure robust defense against potential attacks. Which capability of Defender for Cloud will help you achieve these goals?

Safeguarding code management environments and pipelines.
Gaining insights into the security posture of your development environment.
Protecting the code, infrastructure, and runtime levels.
Enhancing DevOps security across multiple pipelines.

Question 2)
In your organization, you have multiple levels at which you can enable Microsoft Defender for various services. Based on the information provided, which service can be enabled at both the subscription and resource levels?

Microsoft Defender for SQL
Microsoft Defender for Servers
Microsoft Defender for Storage accounts
Microsoft Defender for open-source relational databases

Question 3)
You are responsible for deploying Defender for Servers to protect your organization’s resources. You want to ensure a smooth deployment process and understand the key stages involved. Let’s test your knowledge with the following question:
Question: Which stage of the Defender for Servers deployment process involves setting up a connector, configuring auto-provisioning settings, and deploying the necessary agents and extensions?

Enable Defender for Servers
Protect AWS/GCP machines
Protect on-premises servers
Start protecting resources

Question 4)
You are responsible for ensuring the security of your cloud solutions on Azure. As part of this responsibility, you must monitor the security baseline and its recommendations for Windows Virtual Machines. The security baseline follows the guidelines provided in the Azure Security Benchmark version 1.0. It groups the content based on the security controls defined by the benchmark and the applicable guidance for Windows Virtual Machines.
You must choose the right tool to monitor the security baseline and its recommendations. Which of the following options would you select?

Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Azure Policy definitions
Azure Security Benchmark
Windows Virtual Machines

Question 5)
You are responsible for managing the security of your organization’s cloud infrastructure. You must enable Microsoft Defender for various resources as part of your role. Let’s test your knowledge about enabling Microsoft Defender for different components in the Azure ecosystem. Where can you enable Microsoft Defender for Storage accounts? Select the correct option for the given scenario.

Both at the subscription and resource levels
Microsoft Defender cannot be enabled at the subscription level.
Microsoft Defender cannot be enabled at the resource level
Microsoft Defender cannot be enabled for Storage accounts

Question 6)
You are using the Secure score pane in Azure to review security recommendations for your resources. Some recommendations can be fixed directly from the dashboard, while others require additional steps on the resource. What can you expect when selecting a recommendation from the secure score pane in Azure?

You will be directed to a screen where you can migrate virtual machines to new Azure Resource Manager resources for the respective recommendation.
You will receive a list of affected resources that need updates and a Windows Update Services (WSUS) solution to address the issue.
You will receive a detailed explanation of the security risk associated with the recommendation but no specific steps for remediation.
You will receive a comprehensive list of steps to remediate the issue for recommendations requiring manual intervention manually.

Question 7)
Nora, a Security Engineer at a medium-scale enterprise that uses cloud services for its operations, is responsible for ensuring the security of the company’s cloud resources. The organization has recently encountered several brute-force attacks, which have resulted in a significant leak of critical confidential information. Which of the following actions should Nora take to protect against such attacks? Select all that apply.

Implement IT hygiene.
Use multifactor authentication.
Enable the public IP address.
Increase the number of login attempts.
Implement a Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA).

Question 8)
Anita, a security engineer at a cloud-based enterprise, recently detected a brute force attack on some virtual machines (VMs). She has decided to disable the public IP address to reduce the chances of another attack. Which of the following will be a suitably secure connection method?

Keeping Remote Desktop open for unrestricted access.
Using a private IP address.
Keeping the Secure Shell (SSH) port open for unrestricted access.
Using Azure ExpressRoute.

Question 9)
When you are enabling just-in-time (JIT) virtual machine (VM) access, you need to have the enhanced security features of ____________.

Azure Event Hubs
Azure DevOps
Microsoft Azure Management
Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Question 10)
Computer systems that interact ________ with users are considered endpoint systems.

Virtually
Indirectly
Directly
Remotely

Module quiz: Configure and monitor Microsoft Sentinel Quiz Answers

Question 1)
You are a security analyst working with Microsoft Sentinel, a cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM) system. You receive an alert about a suspicious login attempt from an unknown IP address to a critical server in your organization. You investigated further and found that the user account associated with the login attempt has administrative privileges. You suspected a possible compromise and wanted to take immediate action. Which of the following should be your initial step while handling such a suspicious login attempt in Microsoft Sentinel?

Restart the critical server to terminate any active sessions.
Collect and analyze additional relevant logs and events.
Disable the user account associated with the login attempt.
Report the incident to your manager and escalate it to the incident response team.

Question 2)
You are a security analyst at a large organization using Microsoft Sentinel. As a part of your role, you need to transform or customize data at ingestion time to ensure it is properly formatted and enriched before entering the Sentinel environment. To perform this task, which of the following is correct regarding the primary method and query language to transform and customize data at ingestion time in Microsoft Sentinel? Select all that apply.

Data connectors
Structured Query Language (SQL)
Playbooks
Kusto Query Language (KQL)

Question 3)
You are a cybersecurity analyst working for a large organization. Your team has recently implemented a new analytics tool that helps detect anomalies in the network. You want to find anomaly rules covering the “Execution” technique in the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Which filter criteria should you use to narrow down the list of anomaly rules?

Tactics: Credential Access
Data sources: Firewall logs
Azure Status: Enabled
Techniques: Lateral Movement

Question 4)
In Microsoft Sentinel, imagine you want to create incidents to track and investigate security events in your organization’s environment. Which of the following statement is true to achieve this?

Delete incidents after they are generated to free up storage space.
Configure rules to generate incidents based on predefined conditions automatically.
Manually create incidents by providing details about the security events.
Import incidents from third-party security tools into Microsoft Sentinel.

Question 5)
You are responsible for configuring playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel, a cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM) system. Playbooks allow you to automate and orchestrate responses to security incidents. While configuring the playbook, which of the following step did you find inappropriate?

Assigning a playbook to a data connector
Defining a trigger condition
Configuring custom alert rules
Creating a logic app or Azure function

Question 6)
When deleting and recreating a watchlist, when should you submit a support ticket?

When you see deleted and recreated entries together in Log Analytics for a longer period of time
When you don’t see both deleted and recreated the entries within the SLA for data ingestion
When you see both deleted and recreated entries within the SLA for data ingestion
When you see only one of deleted and recreated entries within the SLA for data ingestion

Question 7)
You are a security analyst at a large organization using Microsoft Sentinel. As a part of your role, you must ensure that health events are logged in the SentinelHealth table. One such event is a Data health status change, which is logged hourly. Which of the following are some ways this health event is useful? Select all that apply.

It provides details regarding the polling errors during the given hour.
It allows Microsoft Sentinel to overcome a transient issue in the backend and catch up with the data.
Monitoring hourly helps to prevent redundant auditing and reduce table size.
It allows your team to take proactive and immediate action.

Question 8)
You are a cybersecurity analyst tasked with hunting and investigating potential breaches in Microsoft Sentinel. During your investigation, you see an alert indicating a suspicious login attempt from an unrecognized IP address. What should be your immediate course of action?

Immediately block the IP address to prevent further unauthorized access.
Report the alert to the system administrator and await further instructions.
Analyze the log data associated with the login attempt to gather more information.
Ignore the alert since unrecognized IP addresses are common and usually harmless.

Question 9)
Claiming not to have deleted database records is a threat example that refers to which element In the STRIDE framework?

Information disclosure
Tampering
Repudiation
Spoofing

Question 10)
A space where you can drag and drop elements to quickly and efficiently build a model refers to which element of the Threat Modeling Tool?

Canvas
Diagram
Report
Stencil

Graded assessment: Manage Security Operations Quiz Answers

Question 1)
As the Security Administrator for your organization, you need to effectively manage and analyze logs from Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender for Cloud to ensure the security of your infrastructure. You’re looking for a centralized storage and management location that allows you to collect, aggregate, and analyze logs related to application performance, infrastructure performance, and security. Which service should you use?

Azure Storage 
Log Analytics workspaces 
Event Hubs 
Logic Apps

Question 2)
Suppose you’re a Data Analyst. You’re tasked with retrieving and analyzing data from a Log Analytics workspace. Which statements accurately describe log query capabilities and the relationship between Log Analytics and Azure Data Explorer? Select all that apply.

The structure of the tables within Log Analytics and Azure Data Explorer is different.
Log queries in Log Analytics can only be used within the workspace and cannot be incorporated into alert rules or workbooks.
Log queries in Log Analytics are written in Kusto Query Language (KQL), the same query language used by Azure Data Explorer.
Data from a Log Analytics workspace can be included in an Azure Data Explorer query, enabling cross-environment analysis and integration.

Question 3)
You are responsible for ensuring the performance and availability of your organization’s critical applications. As part of your monitoring strategy, you want to configure alert rules in Application Insights to detect and handle performance and availability issues. You also want to specify the conditions that trigger an alert and determine who should be notified. Which feature in Application Insights allows you to configure alert rules for your application’s performance and availability?  

Application map
Availability testing  
Alert configuration
Performance monitoring

Question 4)
State whether True or False.
Configuring data sources for Log Analytics can be managed through the “Manage connected sources” option.

True
False

Question 5)
You are a System Administrator responsible for monitoring servers’ health and performance. You use Azure Monitor and Log Analytics to collect and analyze data from various sources. You have identified each server’s most recent heartbeat record to ensure they are actively reporting their status. In the given scenario, which Kusto query should you use to retrieve each server’s most recent heartbeat record?

Heartbeat | summarize arg_min(TimeGenerated, *) by ComputerName
Heartbeat | summarize max(TimeGenerated) by ComputerName
Heartbeat | summarize min(TimeGenerated) by ComputerName
Heartbeat | summarize arg_max(TimeGenerated, *) by ComputerName

Question 6)
Sandra is a DevOps Engineer responsible for managing a large-scale Kubernetes environment in Azure. She has recently enabled Azure Container Insights to monitor the health and performance of her Kubernetes workloads. Sandra wants to set up alerts to be notified when the CPU usage of a specific container exceeds a certain threshold. Additionally, she wants to ensure alerts are sent to a group of recipients via email. Which of the following options should she choose to achieve this?

Configure alert rules in Azure Virtual Machine (VM) Insights and specify the CPU usage threshold for the specific container. Set up email notifications as the alert delivery method.
Configure alert rules in Azure Container Insights and specify the CPU usage threshold for the specific container. Set up email notifications as the method of alert delivery.
Configure alert rules in Azure Monitor Insights and specify the memory utilization threshold for the specific container. Set up email notifications as the alert delivery method.
Configure alert rules in Azure Container Insights and specify the memory utilization threshold for the specific container. Set up email notifications as the alert delivery method.

Question 7)
Each Azure resource requires its own diagnostic setting; which of the following defines its criteria?

Policies and subscriptions
Subscription and storage
Sources and destinations
Configuration and data categories

Question 8)
As a security analyst, you are responsible for handling security alerts generated by Defender for Cloud. Today, you received an alert regarding a potential threat. What should be your next course of action? Select all that apply.

Export the alert to Microsoft Sentinel for further analysis and investigation.
Trigger a logic app to automate the remediation steps recommended in the alert.
Ignore the alert and mark it as a false positive.
Export the alert to a third-party Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system for analysis.

Question 9)
You are a cloud administrator responsible for managing security policies in a Microsoft Azure environment. You want to make changes to the security policies at the subscription and resource group levels. However, you need to ensure that you have the necessary permissions. Which of the following statements is correct pertaining to making changes to security policies?

You can modify security policies at the resource group level without requiring any specific permissions.
You need Owner or Contributor permissions at the subscription level to modify security policies.
Ignore the alert and mark it as a false positive.
You can modify security policies at the subscription level without requiring any specific permissions.

Question 10)
To effectively monitor and audit operations on virtual machine resources in your Azure environment, which option would you choose?

Enable the diagnostic extension to collect guest OS diagnostic data on VMs
Use activity logs
Enable Azure Monitor for VMs
Enable Application Insights

Question 11)
As a cybersecurity analyst, you understand the importance of having security initiatives in your toolkit. How do security initiatives function and benefit your cybersecurity efforts?

They simplify policy administration and reinforce security measures as a unified entity
They streamline communication and collaboration among cybersecurity professionals
They act as individual components working independently to achieve security objectives
They optimize workload by reducing the number of policies required for effective security

Question 12)
You are reviewing security recommendations for your Azure resources and must decide which recommendation to remediate first. The goal is to prioritize the security controls with the highest potential to increase your secure score. When following the remediation steps for a recommendation in Azure, what happens once you have completed the instructions?

The recommendation is automatically marked as resolved in the secure score pane.
The secure score of your Azure resources is immediately updated based on the completed remediation.
You receive a summary report indicating the impact of the completed remediation on your secure score.
A notification is displayed informing you about the resolved issue.

Question 13)
You can create a new virtual machine (VM) using __________.

Azure DevOps 
Azure Functions
Azure SQL Database
Azure Cloud Shell

Question 14)
James is a software developer working on a project handling sensitive user data. He wants to secure the application and employ threat modeling to identify potential vulnerabilities. He starts by gathering a team of security experts and stakeholders to begin the threat modeling process. They carefully analyze the application’s architecture, data flows, and user interactions to identify potential threats and attack vectors. Through this process, they uncover a vulnerability in the authentication mechanism that could lead to unauthorized access to user data. By addressing this issue early in development, they can implement proper security controls and prevent a major data breach. Why will you use a data flow diagram to visualize the data flow within the application?

To evaluate the performance of the application
To determine the user interface design of the application
To identify potential vulnerabilities in the flow of data within the application
To estimate the development effort required for the application

Question 15)
You are a threat hunter with Microsoft Sentinel, a cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system. Your organization has detected suspicious activity on a user’s account and suspects a potential compromise. As a threat hunter, your task is to investigate the incident using Microsoft Sentinel’s capabilities. Based on the information provided, what do SOC analysts use to conduct threat hunting in Microsoft Sentinel to investigate the potential compromise of the user’s account?

SOC analysts can enable built-in analytics alerts within your Microsoft Sentinel workspace and edit a few as per your requirements.
SOC analysts can edit the built-in workbooks within Microsoft Sentinel to meet your requirements or create your workbooks from scratch.
SOC analysts can use built-in investigation queries to investigate suspicious activity.
SOC analysts can automate some of your security operations and make your SOC more productive with the ability to respond to incidents automatically.

Question 16)
You are designing a sample workspace in Microsoft Sentinel to monitor and respond to security incidents for a large organization. As part of the setup, you want to ensure effective data retention while maintaining compliance with data privacy regulations. What is the recommended maximum data retention period for security data in Microsoft Sentinel?

180 days
90 days
365 days
30 days

Question 17)
You are a security analyst responsible for monitoring and analyzing data in Microsoft Sentinel. As part of your role, you need to visualize data effectively to gain insights into potential security threats.
Which tool will allow you to visualize data and gain insights into security threats?

Azure Log Analytics
Azure Monitor
Azure Sentinel
Azure Dashboard

Question 18)
Imagine John is a cloud administrator. He is learning how to create a new Azure Monitor workbook to visualize and monitor data. He followed the documentation but found it confusing. In this question, you are asked to help John create a workbook. Are the below-given steps correct for creating a workbook?

Sign in to the Azure portal
Search and select Monitor
Under the Monitoring section, select Workbooks
Select Add workbook on the workbook page
You can select Open to open the existing workbook template
Select Edit to edit the workbook
Enter queries, visualization, and other information
Select Done editing you have completed the edit
Select Save.

Yes
No

Question 19)
The IT department of your organization has recently encountered a security breach where compromised users have been moving around the network and stealing information. As a security engineer, you have been tasked with creating an automated, multifaceted response to such incidents generated by rules that detect compromised users. Which of the following actions will you take?

Use Microsoft Sentinel to create a playbook with the required automation rules
Use Microsoft Defender for comprehensive threat prevention, detection, and response
Use Microsoft Dev Box to streamline the development of secure workstations in the cloud
Use Microsoft Entra to implement consistent security policies for every user

Question 20)
You are a Security Analyst responsible for investigating incidents with Microsoft Sentinel. You need to find a specific incident with the Incident ID, INC-123456. Which of the following steps should you take to locate this particular incident?

Enable the Auto-refresh incidents option to automatically update the incident search results.
Enter INC-123456 in the search box above the incidents grid and press Enter.
From the Advanced search dropdown list, choose the Title parameter, enter INC-123456, and select Apply.
From the Advanced search dropdown list, choose the Incident ID parameter, enter INC-123456, and select Apply.

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Review

I recently completed the Manage Security Operations course on Coursera, and it’s a practical guide to strengthening your organization’s cloud security posture through visibility and control. Spanning four modules, the course covers the setup and use of Azure Monitor and Application Insights, alongside deployment and configuration of Microsoft Defender for Cloud and just-in-time VPN access.

What I found especially useful was the integration of monitoring and threat protection tools. Creating log queries, configuring alerts, and monitoring diagnostic logs helped me see how security operations can be automated and scaled. The course also introduces just-in-time access controls — a critical step to minimize exposure to brute-force attacks — and emphasizes continuous threat assessment using Defender for Cloud.

If you’re getting ready for the AZ-500 or managing security across Azure workloads, this course bridges the gap between setup and ongoing defense. It’s a strong asset for anyone looking to operationalize security in a cloud-native environment.

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