AssociateVendor-specificMicrosoft· issued from US

SC-400

Microsoft Certified Information Protection Administrator Associate

Official page at Microsoft ↔ Compare with another cert

Exam fee

$165

Ongoing

—

Study time

60–120 hrs

Delivery

Hybrid

Validity

1 yr (renewal cycle)

› Quality score

29.0 / 40

Four-axis SecProve rubric, each 0–10. SecProve editorial assessment — each axis carries a written justification so you can push back on any single call without dismissing the whole score.

Blueprint rigor

How well-defined and rigorous the exam blueprint is.

MS Information Protection Administrator ECO covers Purview, DLP, IRM.

7.5/10

Practical evidence

Hands-on labs / written reports vs pure MCQ.

Case studies + scenario items.

5.5/10

Currency & upkeep

How aggressively content is kept current with the field.

Refreshed alongside Purview platform changes.

9.0/10

Market recognition

How often this signal actually moves a hiring decision.

Common on Microsoft-stack data-protection roles.

7.0/10

› Exam format

40–60 questions (multiple-choice + case studies), 120 minutes. Proctored via Pearson VUE. Passing score: 700/1000.

Retake policy

Fee: $165 per attempt

Wait: 1d between attempts

24-hour wait after first fail; 14 days between attempts 2-4. Max 5 attempts per 12-month window.

› Recertification

Valid for 1 year. Free online renewal exam on Microsoft Learn.

› NICE Framework work roles

The NIST NICE work-role IDs this cert maps to. NICCS lookup.

PD-WRL-003OG-WRL-008PD-WRL-001IO-WRL-006

Recognition

Global

Exam languages

› Core domains covered

The 2 domains this cert is centrally about. Passing the exam demonstrates working knowledge of each.

A12Data Security, Privacy & Protection

Data classification, encryption-at-rest/in-transit, DLP, tokenization, privacy-by-design, plus the regulatory stack (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA) that sets the bar.

A6Identity & Access Management

AuthN/AuthZ, SSO, MFA, PAM, RBAC/ABAC, identity governance, FIDO2/passkeys, plus non-human identity: service accounts, workload identity, agent / plugin identities.

› Prerequisites

Experience

No formal prerequisites. Recommended: Experience with Microsoft Purview, DLP, Information Protection.

› Progression

requiredrecommended

Where this cert fits in the typical learning path. Required edges are vendor-gated; recommended edges reflect de facto industry progression.

Required prereqs (0)

No vendor-gated prereqs.

Recommended priors (1)

SC-900Microsoft

SC-400

Microsoft

Required by (0)

No certs require this one.

Recommended next (0)

No follow-on certs reference this one yet.

› Common exam traps to study

Cybersecurity cert exams reuse the same 25 distractor patterns over and over — category confusion, RTO vs RPO, IDS vs IPS, MD5 vs SHA-256, and more. Once you can name the trap, you stop falling for it. Each archetype page covers what it is, the specific pairs candidates confuse, and how to avoid it.

Browse all 25 cert-exam traps Start with: BEST vs correct

See this cert’s domains highlighted on the interactive map, or compare it against the rest of the catalog.

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