Earning an Azure Security Certification is an important part of demonstrating your skill set and there are many to choose from. Each Azure Security Exam will cover a wide range of topics and you want to ensure they are relevant to how you want to progress your career. In this post with are going to discuss all of the different Azure Security Certifications and help you decide which one you should take. In today’s climate, security is a hot topic and if you haven’t already dabbled in the cloud or identity security, now is the right time to get started.
All of the Azure Security Certification exams you can take
As we are focusing on Azure Security, there is a wide range of certifications you can take, here we are going to list them all and provide some information for each exam which will help you decide if that exam is the one you should be taking. But remember, people follow different career paths, and it is the same for careers in Azure. Not every exam in this list will be relevant for you to take. However if you are working in Azure, no matter what area you are in, you should be working with security in mind, as it is your knowledge that is the foundation to protecting any business.
SC-900 Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals
This exam is targeted to those looking to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of security, compliance, and identity (SCI) across cloud-based and related Microsoft services. More info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/sc-900
SC-200 Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate
The Microsoft security operations analyst collaborates with organizational stakeholders to secure information technology systems for the organization. Their goal is to reduce organizational risk by rapidly remediating active attacks in the environment, advising on improvements to threat protection practices, and referring violations of organizational policies to appropriate stakeholders. More Info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/sc-200
SC-300 Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate
The Microsoft identity and access administrator designs, implements, and operates an organization’s identity and access management systems by using Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). They manage tasks such as providing secure authentication and authorization access to enterprise applications. The administrator provides seamless experiences and self-service management capabilities for all users. Adaptive access and governance are core elements to the role. This role is also responsible for troubleshooting, monitoring, and reporting for the identity and access environment. More info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/sc-300
MS-100 & MS-101: Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert
Microsoft 365 enterprise administrators evaluate, plan, migrate, deploy, and manage Microsoft 365 services. More info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/m365-enterprise-administrator/
MS-500: Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate
Candidates for this exam implement, manage, and monitor security and compliance solutions for Microsoft 365 and hybrid environments. The Microsoft 365 security administrator proactively secures Microsoft 365 enterprise environments, responds to threats, performs investigations, and enforces data governance. The Microsoft 365 security administrator collaborates with the Microsoft 365 enterprise administrator, business stakeholders, and other workload administrators to plan and implement security strategies and ensures that the solutions comply with the policies and regulations of the organization. More info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/ms-500
AZ-500: Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate
Candidates for this exam should have subject matter expertise implementing Azure security controls that protect identity, access, data, applications, and networks in cloud and hybrid environments as part of an end-to-end infrastructure. More info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-500
How can I take a Microsoft Exam for Free?
As you can see, there are many Azure Security Exams you can take. But taking them all would be costly, either to you or your employer.
To resolve this I have created a detailed post on how you can get Free Microsoft Exams.
Which Azure Security Exam should I take?
Let us start by looking at the difficulty of each exam in order. This is usually the simplest way for us to determine the order in which to take each Azure Security Certification Exam.
Easiest
SC-900 Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals
SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst
SC-300 Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator
MS-100 Microsoft 365 Identity and Services
MS-101 Microsoft 365 Mobility and Security
MS-500 Microsoft 365 Security Administration
AZ-500 Microsoft Azure Security Technologies
Hardest
If you are not planning to take all of the above exams, but only those relevant to your job role, you should break down your job role into specific tasks. Once you have done that you can view the skills outline for each exam to determine which closely matches your everyday duties. This is of course if you are looking to validate or improve your current skills.
If you are looking to learn new skills you can do a similar task, write down and detail the type of job you want. You can view job postings online to view the requirements and duties and match them closely to the exams above to identify which is most relevant.
Example 1
I have found a job posting online for an Azure Security / Cloud Security Engineer, here is a screenshot of the job description.
From the key skills and responsibilities list in the job description, I would suggest the most relevant Azure Security Certification to gain is the AZ-500 certification, and it is not even listed!
What if I have completed them all?
- If you have completed all the Azure Security Certifications that I have listed above, do not fear! There is plenty more Azure to learn, and most of it you can learn with security in mind.
There are 2 other Azure exams that I highly recommend you take as they will complement your Azure Security Certifications nicely and will look good on your CV. They are:
- AZ-700 Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions
- AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator
Both of the above exams I have taken and if you click on the above links you will be taken to my feedback pages for each exam. I highly recommend you take a look through the posts to get a feel for the exam and to help you make the decision on which exam to take next.
