I. Overview:

This is an advanced, expert-level course. Although not required to attend, students are strongly encouraged to have taken and passed another associate level certification in the security, compliance and identity portfolio (such as AZ-500, SC-200 or SC-300) before attending this class. This course prepares students with the expertise to design and evaluate cybersecurity strategies in the following areas: Zero Trust, Governance Risk Compliance (GRC), security operations (SecOps), and data and applications. Students will also learn how to design and architect solutions using zero trust principles and specify security requirements for cloud infrastructure in different service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS).

II. Duration: 32 hours (4 days)

III. Intended Audience:

This course is for experienced cloud security engineers who have taken a previous certification in the security, compliance and identity portfolio. Specifically, students should have advanced experience and knowledge in a wide range of security engineering areas, including identity and access, platform protection, security operations, securing data, and securing applications. They should also have experience with hybrid and cloud implementations. Beginning students should instead take the course SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals.

IV. Course outlines:

1. Design solutions that align with security best practices and priorities

• Introduction to Zero Trust and best practice frameworks: You learn what best practices are, how cybersecurity architects use them, and some key best practice frameworks for Microsoft cybersecurity capabilities. You also learn about the concept of Zero Trust, and how to get started with Zero Trust in an organization.
• Design security solutions that align with the Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and Well-Architected Framework (WAF): You'll learn about the Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and Well-Architected Framework (WAF) and how you can use them to design more secure solutions.
• Design solutions that align with the Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architecture (MCRA) and Microsoft cloud security benchmark (MCSB): You learn about the Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architecture (MCRA) and Microsoft cloud security benchmark (MCSB) and how you can use them to design more secure solutions.
• Design a resiliency strategy for ransomware and other attacks based on Microsoft Security Best Practices: You learn about common cyberthreats like ransomware and what kinds of attack patterns an organization must be prepared for.

2. Design security operations, identity, and compliance capabilities

• Design solutions for regulatory compliance: You'll learn how to interpret and translate regulatory requirements into technical solutions. You'll also learn how to use capabilities found in Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Priva, and Defender for Cloud for compliance.
• Design solutions for identity and access management: You learn about various strategies for managing identities and access to resources, including hybrid and multicloud scenarios, external identities, and conditional access.
• Design solutions for securing privileged access: You learn advanced techniques for designing solutions that manage privileged access effectively.
• Design solutions for security operations: You learn techniques to design security operations capabilities including logging, auditing, Security Information, and Event Management (SIEM), Security Orchestration and Automated Response (SOAR), and security workflows.
• Interactive case study: Modernizing identity and data security: Apply your cybersecurity architect skills on a real business scenario focused on identity and data security. Analyze design requirements, answer conceptual and technical questions and design a solution to meet the business needs.
• Interactive case study: Modernizing user access control and threat resilience: Apply your cybersecurity architect skills on a real business scenario focused on user access control and threat resilience. Analyze design requirements, answer conceptual and technical questions and design a solution to meet the business needs.

3. Design security solutions for applications and data

• Design solutions for securing Microsoft 365: You learn how to design security solutions for Exchange, Sharepoint, OneDrive, and Teams.
• Design solutions for securing applications: You learn how to secure applications, APIs and the development process using techniques like posture management, threat modeling, and secure access for workload identities.
• Design solutions for securing an organization's data: You learn about designing solutions that secure an organization's data using capabilities like Microsoft Purview, Defender for SQL, Defender for Storage.
• Interactive case study: Securing apps and data: Apply your cybersecurity architect skills on a real business scenario focused on securing apps and data. Analyze design requirements, answer conceptual and technical questions and design a solution to meet the business needs.

4. Design security solutions for infrastructure

• Specify requirements for securing SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services: You learn how to analyze security requirements for different cloud offerings (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS), IoT workloads, web workloads, containers, and AI workloads.
• Design solutions for security posture management in hybrid and multicloud environments: You learn how to design security posture management solutions that integrate into hybrid and multicloud scenarios using capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure Arc, and Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark (MCSB).
• Design solutions for securing server and client endpoints: You learn how to analyze the security requirements for different types of endpoints including servers, clients, IoT, OT, mobile, and embedded devices. These requirements take into account different platforms and operating systems and set standards for endpoint protection, hardening, and configuration.
• Design solutions for network security: You learn how to design secure network solutions using techniques like network segmentation, traffic filtering, network monitoring, and posture management.
• Interactive case study: Securing endpoints and infrastructure: Apply your cybersecurity architect skills on a real business scenario focused on endpoint and infrastructure security. Analyze design requirements, answer conceptual and technical questions and design a solution to meet the business needs.