AZ-500 is a certification exam offered by Microsoft to validate skills in implementing security controls, maintaining an organization’s security posture, and protecting data on Azure.
Overview of AZ-500 Exam
The AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies exam measures skills in:
- Managing identity and access
- Implementing platform protection
- Managing security operations
- Securing data and applications
It focuses on security controls, threat protection, security monitoring, identity management, and data protection on Microsoft Azure.
Who Should Take the AZ-500 Exam
The AZ-500 certification is ideal for:
- Cloud administrators responsible for managing Azure subscriptions and implementing security
- Security engineers who configure and monitor security on Azure
- IT professionals seeking to demonstrate Azure security expertise
Exam Details and Format
- Exam length: 150 minutes
- Question types: Multiple choice and multi-response questions
- Number of questions: 40-60
- Passing score: 700 out of 1000
The exam is performance-based and tests hands-on skills through scenario-focused questions.
How to Prepare for the AZ-500 Exam
To prepare for the AZ-500 exam, candidates should:
- Get hands-on experience with Azure security features
- Take Microsoft’s AZ-500 training course
- Study using resources like Microsoft Docs and Cloud Academy
- Practice with sample tests and mock exams
Gaining practical experience configuring Azure security is essential to pass this performance-based exam.
The AZ-500 validates expertise in securing cloud environments on the Microsoft Azure platform. IT professionals seeking to demonstrate their Azure security skills should consider obtaining this certification.
Exam Details AZ-500
The AZ-500 exam focuses on key aspects of securing infrastructure in Microsoft Azure cloud environments. Passing this exam demonstrates skills and knowledge in:
- Managing identity and access – Implementing authentication, authorization, role-based access control (RBAC), and securing identities using Azure AD and hybrid environments.
- Protecting data, applications, and networks – Securing network connectivity, workloads, data, and applications using features like firewalls, encryption, threat protection, and more.
- Managing security operations – Using tools like Azure Sentinel, Azure Defender, and Azure Security Center to detect threats, monitor security posture, and respond to incidents.
The AZ-500 certification exam has the following key details:
- Exam format: Multiple choice and multi-response questions
- Length: 150 minutes
- Number of questions: 40-60
- Passing score: 700 (on a scale of 1-1000)
- Languages: Available in English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese
AZ-500 Exam Topics
The AZ-500 exam covers key aspects of securing infrastructure in Microsoft Azure. Passing this exam demonstrates your ability to implement security controls, manage identity and access, protect data, applications, and networks in cloud environments.
The main topics covered in the AZ-500 exam are:
Manage Identity and Access
This section covers 25-30% of the AZ-500 exam and tests your ability to manage identities and access in Azure.
1. Manage Azure Active Directory identities and governance
- Implement Azure AD as an identity provider
- Configure self-service password reset and multi-factor authentication
- Implement conditional access policies
- Manage Azure AD groups and administrative units
- Configure Azure AD identity governance features like access reviews and entitlement management
2. Manage privileged access for Azure resources
- Manage Azure AD Privileged Identity Management
- Configure just-in-time and time-bound access to privileged roles
- Monitor usage of privileged roles
- Manage role assignments through PIM
3. Manage Azure AD Identity Protection
- Implement user risk policies and remediation in Azure AD Identity Protection
- Configure risky sign-in, user and sign-in risk policies
- Use the Identity Protection dashboard to investigate risks and remediate issues
To pass this section you need real-world experience with Azure AD, managing users/groups/roles, enabling MFA, configuring conditional access policies, and using PIM and Identity Protection. Focus your study on identity lifecycle management and securing privileged access.
Implement Platform Protection
This section of the exam covers your ability to implement core platform security capabilities in Azure to protect networks, virtual machines, and infrastructure.
Manage security services
You need to know how to deploy and configure key Azure security services:
- Azure Firewall – Implement firewall rules, application rules, network traffic filtering
- Security Center – Enable security policies, compliance reporting, threat detection
- KeyVault – Manage keys, secrets, certificates; integrate with applications
Implement platform protection solutions
You also need hands-on experience with platform protections like:
- Just-in-Time VM access – Lock down inbound traffic to VMs, allow access on-demand
- Adaptive network hardening – Automatically restrict port/source IP based on traffic patterns
- Adaptive application controls – Block/alert on suspicious app behavior based on machine learning
This covers core defensive capabilities to harden networks, limit exposure of VMs/applications, and detect threats across Azure environments.
You need to know how to implement these platform services into governance frameworks and monitor them in dashboards/reports. This demonstrates you can secure cloud infrastructure comparable to on-premises environments.
The exam tests your ability to architect and integrate platform protections for real-world security scenarios. Our AZ-500 training course covers implementation details through hands-on labs to help you prepare.
Manage Security Operations
This section of the AZ-500 exam focuses on monitoring, managing, and responding to security threats in Azure environments.
Monitor security using Azure Monitor, Sentinel and tools
You need to know how to:
- Set up Azure Monitor to collect platform logs and metrics
- Configure diagnostic settings to stream logs and metrics to Log Analytics
- Query and analyze log data in Log Analytics to identify security issues
- Integrate Azure Monitor with SIEM tools like Sentinel for advanced analytics
- Create workbooks and dashboards to visualize security data
Manage security alerts, incidents and responses
Key knowledge areas:
- Configure alert rules in Security Center based on recommendations
- Triage and analyze security alerts from Security Center and Sentinel
- Manage security incidents through assignment, classification, and documentation
- Develop incident response plans detailing roles, communications, escalation
- Enable auto-responses to common threats using Logic Apps and playbooks
- Perform forensic investigations to determine attack scope and remediation
Overall, you must demonstrate the ability to leverage Azure’s monitoring and analytics services to gain visibility into threats, streamline investigation and response workflows, and continuously improve the security posture.
The exam will test your skills in setting up tools like Monitor, Sentinel, and Security Center as well as using their alerting, automation, and analytics capabilities to protect Azure workloads.
The Secure Data and Applications section covers skills like implementing encryption, data classification, and managing vulnerabilities in databases and applications.
Implement encryption, hashing, data classification solutions
You need to know how to implement encryption solutions like Azure Disk Encryption, Azure Storage Service Encryption, and Always Encrypted in SQL databases to protect data at rest and in transit.
Understanding data hashing using algorithms like SHA256 and data classification using labels like Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is also important. Classifying data allows policies and controls to be implemented based on sensitivity.
Manage database and app vulnerabilities using solutions like SQL Vulnerability Assessment
Being able to assess databases and applications for vulnerabilities is a key skill. For SQL databases, using SQL Vulnerability Assessment allows you to discover, track, and remediate potential database vulnerabilities.
For applications, using solutions like OWASP ZAP and WhiteSource Bolt allows testing for vulnerabilities in the app code and dependencies. Understanding and mitigating injection attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting is also covered.
Overall, the Secure Data and Applications section tests your ability to implement encryption, protect data integrity, classify sensitive data, and assess + remediate app and database vulnerabilities. Hands-on experience with Azure data security services is essential to pass this part of the AZ-500 exam.
The AZ-500 exam is an important certification for cloud security engineers, administrators, and architects. A passing score demonstrates you have the skills to architect, implement, manage, and monitor key aspects of security in Azure.
Preparing for the exam requires hands-on experience with Azure security services across identity, network, compute, storage, and data layers. Our AZ-500 exam prep course provides the training you need to pass on the first try.
The AZ-500 exam consists of 40-60 questions that need to be completed within 150 minutes. It’s scored on a scale of 700 out of 1000 points, with a passing score of 700. Register today to access our AZ-500 practice tests and training to start preparing.
Exam Retake Policy
The AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies exam has a retake policy to allow candidates multiple attempts to pass. Candidates can take the exam up to 5 times within a 12 month period if they do not pass on the first attempt.
There are a few key things to know about the AZ-500 exam retake policy:
- No waiting period between retake attempts. Candidates can immediately schedule a retake after a failed attempt.
- Exam retakes are offered at a discounted price of $100 USD, compared to $165 for the initial exam.
- After 5 unsuccessful attempts, candidates must wait 12 months before they can retake the exam again.
Retaking the AZ-500 multiple times allows candidates to get more familiar with the exam format, question styles, and content. With each retake, candidates can identify weak areas to focus their study efforts for the next attempt.
Utilizing practice tests and study guides between exam retakes is highly recommended to improve knowledge of Azure security technologies. Hands-on experience with configuring Azure security services like KeyVault, Identity Protection, Firewall, and Sentinel prior to a retake can also help with passing the certification exam.
The AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies certification applies to a wide range of IT professionals including:
- Security engineers who implement and monitor security controls, perform threat analysis, and protect data, applications, and networks in Microsoft Azure.
- System administrators who manage identity, governance, privacy, compliance, threat protection, and data security in cloud environments.
- Security operations analysts who identify, investigate security incidents, recommend preventative measures, and ensure compliance standards are met.
- DevOps engineers who integrate security into systems and application development using Infrastructure as Code and DevSecOps processes.
- Solution architects who design secure cloud solutions on Azure and translate business requirements into secure technical architectures.
- Support engineers who configure, monitor, and troubleshoot security controls in Azure environments.
Conclusion
In summary, the AZ-500 certification is useful for any IT professional working in cybersecurity, identity and access management, governance and compliance, threat detection, or data protection on the Azure platform. Those responsible for securing infrastructure, applications, data, and end users can benefit from getting certified.