SC-401 Information Security Administrator Associate course (Udemy.com)
Get prepared for the SC-401 exam with instructor led labs and hands on simulations available 24/7
Created by: John Christopher
Last updated October 2026
What you will learn
- Learn the concepts and perform hands on activities needed to pass the SC-401 exam
- Gain a tremendous amount of knowledge involving Microsoft 365 and Azure Services
- Get loads of hands on experience with Microsoft Information Security Administration!
- Utilize hands on simulations that can be access anytime, anywhere!
How it compares
Against the other 848 rated Udemy courses in IT Certifications on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 63% of them
- Reviews2,906#134 of 849 by number of reviews
- Length8.5 hourslonger than 51% of them
- Last updatedOctober 2026more recently than 98% of them
Course Description
We really hope you'll agree, this training is way more then the average course on Udemy!
Have access to the following:
Training from an instructor of over 20 years who has trained thousands of people and also a Microsoft Certified Trainer
Lecture that explains the concepts in an easy to learn method for someone that is just starting out with this material
Instructor led hands on and simulations to practice that can be followed even if you have little to no experience
TOPICS COVERED INCLUDING HANDS ON LECTURE AND PRACTICE TUTORIALS:
Introduction
Welcome to the course
Understanding the Microsoft Environment
A Solid Foundation of Active Directory Domains
A Solid Foundation of RAS, DMZ, and Virtualization
A Solid Foundation of the Microsoft Cloud Services
Creating a free Microsoft 365 Azure AD Account
Managing Microsoft 365 Services with PowerShell
Connecting to Security and Compliance using PowerShell
IMPORTANT Using Assignments in the course
Implement and manage data classification
Identify sensitive information requirements for an organization's data
Translate sensitive information requirements into built-in or custom
Create and manage custom sensitive info types
Implement document fingerprinting
Create and manage exact data match (EDM) classifiers
What are trainable classifiers?
Create and manage trainable classifiers
Monitor data classification & label by using data explorer & content explorer
Configure optical character recognition (OCR) support for sensitive info types
Implement and manage sensitivity labels in Microsoft Purview
Implement roles and permissions for administering sensitivity labels
Define the concepts of sensitivity labels in Microsoft Purview
Define and create sensitivity labels for items and containers
Configure protection settings and content marking for sensitivity labels
Configure and manage publishing policies for sensitivity labels
Configure and manage auto-labeling policies for sensitivity labels
Apply a sensitivity label to containers, such as Teams, SharePoint etc
Apply sensitivity labels manually using Microsoft Word
Understanding Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
Apply sensitivity labels by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
Implement information protection for Windows, file shares, and Exchange
Plan the Microsoft Purview Information Protection client
Implement the Microsoft Purview Information Protection client
Manage files by using the Microsoft Purview Information Protection client
Apply bulk classifications with Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner
Removing the Azure virtual machine that is no longer needed
Design solutions for email Encryption in Microsoft 365
Implement Microsoft Purview Message Encryption
Implement Microsoft Purview Advanced Message Encryption
Create and configure data loss prevention policies
Design data loss prevention policies based on an organization’s requirements
Implement roles and permissions for data loss prevention
Create and manage data loss prevention policies
Configure data loss prevention policies for Adaptive Protection
Interpret policy and rule precedence in data loss prevention
Create file policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps by using a DLP policy
Implement and monitor Microsoft Purview Endpoint DLP
Specify device requirements for Endpoint DLP, including extensions
Configure Endpoint DLP settings
Configure advanced DLP rules for devices in DLP policies
Configure just-in-time protection
Monitor endpoint activities
Implement and manage retention
Plan for information retention and disposition by using retention labels
Concepts of Retention Policies vs Retention Labels vs Retention Label Policies
Create, configure, and manage adaptive scopes
Create retention labels for data lifecycle management
Configure a retention label policy to publish labels
Configure a retention label policy to auto-apply labels
Interpret the results of policy precedence, including using Policy lookup
Create and configure retention policies
Recover retained content in Microsoft 365
Implement and manage Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management
Implement roles and permissions for Insider Risk Management
Plan for Insider Risk Management in Microsoft 365
Plan and implement Insider Risk Management connectors
Plan integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Configure and manage Insider Risk Management settings
Configure policy indicators
Select an appropriate policy template
Create and manage Insider Risk Management policies
Manage forensic evidence settings
Enable and configure insider risk levels for Adaptive Protection
Manage insider risk alerts and cases
Manage Insider Risk Management workflow, including notice templates
Manage information security alerts and activities
Assign Microsoft Purview Audit (Premium) user licenses
Investigate activities by using Microsoft Purview Audit
Configure audit retention policies
Analyze Purview activities by using activity explorer
Respond to data loss prevention alerts in the Microsoft Purview portal
Investigate insider risk activities by using the Microsoft Purview portal
Respond to Purview alerts in Microsoft Defender XDR
Respond to Defender for Cloud Apps file policy alerts
Perform searches by using Content search
Protect data used by AI services
Implement controls in Microsoft Purview in an environment that uses AI services
Implement controls in MS 365 productivity workloads in environments that use AI
Instructor Details
- 4.6 Rating
2,906 Reviews
John Christopher
John Christopher is a Technical Instructor that has been in the business for 25 years. His first experience with information technology occurred in the early 90s when he ran an MS-DOS based BBS(Bulletin Board System) as a System Operator. In the late 90s, after working with Windows NT 3.50 performing backups for Regal Group, he decided to get Windows NT Microsoft Certified.
In 1998 he got his first Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and Microsoft Certified Trainer certification. Shortly after getting certified, he began working as a Junior Administrator and Instructor for Knowledge Alliance. From there John was able to become one of the first people in the world to gain an MCSE for the Windows 2000 operating system and he began teaching full time for a company called Productivity Point International. At Productivity Point, John got Citrix Metaframe certified and began teaching Citrix along with Microsoft classes. Productivity Point began experiencing financial troubles and John moved on to work with another training company in 2001
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Reviews
By Chirag Shukla on 8/18/2026
One thing I suggest. You are an amazing teacher, but I would like to see the things in action as well after you create and configure policies. Once you create any DLP for example to detect US financial data, then also create a video to demonstrate it in action. What happens when actually you put credit card info and how it generates an alert. Please demonstrate this kind of stuff as well. It will be more useful in projects.
By Leopoldo Romano on 8/3/2026
I just passed the SC-401 exam and I couldn't do it without this great course. The way you teach is amazing. I spent years trying to find an instructor that doesn't simply show slides but jumps on the portal and shows how things really have to be done. Another thing that has been fundamental for me is that each lesson covers a topic on the study guide. So a huge THANK YOU and look forward to watching your next course!
By Adewale Johnson on 7/2/2026
The labs in the training made the concepts much easier to understand because they provided hands-on experience rather than relying solely on watching videos. The practical exercises helped reinforce what I learned and gave me a better understanding of how to apply the concepts in real-world scenarios.
By Alex Evans on 3/23/2026
The course has been great, just like every other course from Mr. Christoper I have had. I will say that due to the very dry nature of the content being covered on this particular topic I've felt it much more death by PowerPoint than any of the other courses taken previously. If there was one thing I could recommend it would be to overlay video of you speaking or something. I feel any movement on the screen would be more likely to keep me engaged.
By Deric Ng on 6/18/2025
I appreciate the way John breaks the topics down into manageable bites of information. It makes learning so much easier and engaging compared to the convoluted sentences thrown around in the Microsoft Learn modules and documents. The examples shown and the test assignments have helped me a great deal with passing and getting the certification. An important thing to note is that this course, on its own, isn't enough to help you pass the exam; it builds upon/supplements your understanding. So be sure to read the Microsoft Learn documents and go through the modules. If you have the chance to get hands-on practice with Purview, even better.
By Marcelo Ramos on 1/19/2025
John has done really good work with the coverage of concepts involved in a successful DLP programme using the Microsoft platform. It would he helpful if there was a section covering prerequisites to run all simulations before one starts so the student has an opportunity to get set up before getting into the lectures, thus saving some time.
By Andres Arbelaez on 10/24/2024
Great content! However, I feel like the simulations are not really valuable knowing that Microsoft changes the interfaces quite often and the current one for the simulations is old now. Also, even though what Chris says is true about Microsoft changing their content every week, there are some details that are important to call out in the course that have changed, like permissions structures for the different roles for one area of the course (e.g. Communication & Compliance). I understand that Chris has several courses and it must be very hard to keep all of them up to date at the same pace the Microsoft is changing things. However, maybe in this case less is more? Managing less courses, makes the difference in the accuracy of the information provided in the course.
By Hafeez Qureshi on 5/24/2024
Completed the course today and it was good, highly recommended for someone new to purview. But it is not suggested for someone looking deeply in Data Classification like Trainable classifiers, EDM classifiers or Sensitive info types. Few more content like different types of alerts and in dept analysis of DLP, IP, DLM are missing. Overall its a must course for beginners, not for mid or associate level. Thank you JC for helping us out. You are the best!
By Philip Hoogzaad on 4/25/2024
Provides an excellent insight to the many aspects of Microsoft Purview. John is very understandable, gives advice where to find additional information resources, and provides simulations which guides you trough various exercises. Even if you don’t have access to licenses, this way you still can get a feel of the environment. I would definitely advice others to follow his courses.
By Konrad Malinowski on 2/23/2022
I think the subject overall is somewhat complex (almost as if MSFT was making it on purpose constantly changing the services, merging them and renaming them) and while this course is really decent its probably not sufficient to take and pass the exam straight away. I would strongly recommend spinning up a free tenant with some trial licences and play around with information protection components in practice. Also, read all there is from MSFT on the matter and note down all the limitations (e.g., supported file types, size limits, app-specific dependencies of each information protection component, etc.).
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 92 / 100












