Microsoft AZ-500 – Marks4Sure

Microsoft Certifications

Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate 

Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies

How I Passed The Microsoft Azure Exam: AZ-500

A month ago, I passed the Microsoft Azure Exam AZ-500 in my first attempt. With the success in this exam, I earned Microsoft Certified: AZ-500 Azure Security Engineer Associate certification. This certification means a lot to me as it is going to help me a lot in effectively overcoming the latest security challenges in my corporate environment. Let me share my story with you. 

I am an IT professional working as an Assistant Cloud Security Engineer in an international courier and logistics company. I have been working here for the last 2 years. It is my second job after completing my Bachelor’s in IT. My previous job role was that of a Network Security Engineer in an on-premises environment. I did CompTIA Security+ certification as it was required by my previous employer as a prerequisite for the job. When I joined my present job, I was not having any prior experience working in the cloud environment. We have the Microsoft Azure platform deployed in our organization.  To get myself familiarize with the basics of cloud computing in the special context of the Microsoft Azure platform, I  did Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals certification. That helped me a lot with my day-to-day affairs in my office. Although I have more than five years of hands-on experience in security-related job-roles as well as a CompTIA Security+ certification still I found myself deficient with the cloud platform security practices. I soon realized that I would need a specialized cloud security certification to work more efficiently. After consulting with my seniors, I chose to proceed with Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate. I found it closer to my requirement as well as my existing skills. I have already done two certifications before going for this one, that’s why I wasn’t afraid of going for the certification exam. I know how to plan the study, how to make an effective timetable, and how to do the practice.  For training resources regarding the exam AZ-500, my senior recommended me Marks4Sure. I downloaded the free demo from Marks4Sure to assess it myself and found it good to go for. I also came to know that Marks4Sure offers a money-back guarantee for the training material they offer. I took the complete PDF + Testing Engine bundle from Marks4Sure. During my preparation for the exam, I found that the braindumps by Marks4Sure are very well compiled. The practice test proved out to be too good for continuous assessment. I completed my preparation in 4 weeks. Then I had a one-week revision. I took the exam in the 6^th week and passed it on my first attempt with 93% marks. Now I feel much more confident at my job desk as I’m aware of the new challenges and ready to take them head-on. 

Following is an overview of the certification and the exam. 

Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate – Overview

Candidates for the Azure Security Engineer certification should have subject matter expertise implementing security controls and threat protection, managing identity and access, and protecting data, applications, and networks in cloud and hybrid environments as part of an end-to-end infrastructure.

Responsibilities for this role include maintaining the security posture, identifying, and remediating vulnerabilities by using a variety of security tools, implementing threat protection, and responding to security incident escalations.

Azure Security Engineers often serve as part of a larger team dedicated to cloud-based management and security or hybrid environments as part of an end-to-end infrastructure.

A candidate for this certification should have strong skills in scripting and automation; a deep understanding of networking, virtualization, and cloud N-tier architecture; and a strong familiarity with cloud capabilities and products and services for Azure, plus other Microsoft products and services.

Job role: Security Engineer

Required exams: AZ-500

Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies

This exam measures your ability to accomplish the following technical tasks: manage identity and access; implement platform protection; manage security operations; and secure data and applications.

Prerequisites

To get the most out of this exam candidates should:

• Understand security best practices and industry security requirements such as defense in depth, least privileged access, role-based access control, multi-factor authentication, shared responsibility, and zero trust model.
• Be familiar with security protocols such as Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Internet Security Protocol (IPSec), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), disk and data encryption methods.
• Have some experience deploying Azure workloads. This course does not cover the basics of Azure administration, instead, the course content builds on that knowledge by adding security-specific information.
• Have experience with Windows and Linux operating systems and scripting languages. Course labs may use PowerShell and the CLI.

Skills Measured

Following skills are measured in this exam;

Manage identity and access (30-35%)

Implement platform protection (15-20%)

Manage security operations (25-30%)

Secure data and applications (20-25%)

Skills Gained

Upon completion of the course content, a candidate will gain the following skills;

• Implement enterprise governance strategies including role-based access control, Azure policies, and resource locks.
• Implement an Azure AD infrastructure including users, groups, and multi-factor authentication.
• Implement Azure AD Identity Protection including risk policies, conditional access, and access reviews.
• Implement Azure AD Privileged Identity Management including Azure AD roles and Azure resources.
• Implement Azure AD Connect including authentication methods and on-premises directory synchronization.
• Implement perimeter security strategies including Azure Firewall.
• Implement network security strategies including Network Security Groups and Application Security Groups.
• Implement host security strategies including endpoint protection, remote access management, update management, and disk encryption.
• Implement container security strategies including Azure Container Instances, Azure Container Registry, and Azure Kubernetes.
• Implement Azure Key Vault including certificates, keys, and secretes.
• Implement application security strategies including app registration, managed identities, and service endpoints.
• Implement storage security strategies including shared access signatures, blob retention policies, and Azure Files authentication.
• Implement database security strategies including authentication, data classification, dynamic data masking, and always encrypted.
• Implement Azure Monitor including connected sources, log analytics, and alerts.
• Implement Azure Security Center including policies, recommendations, and just in time virtual machine access.
• Implement Azure Sentinel including workbooks, incidents, and playbooks.

Conclusion

With the growth of the internet and cloud computing, new challenges are there for security professionals. For the security people seeking to work with the Microsoft Azure platform, Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate can be the best certification, to begin with. You can earn this valuable certification with a single exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies.