Microsoft Compliance Solutions
The compliance domain tests Microsoft Purview, the family covering data governance, data protection, risk, and compliance. Expect scenario questions on classifying and labeling data, retaining or deleting it, and demonstrating compliance.
Know and protect data
Purview Data Map catalogs data across Microsoft 365, Azure, SQL, and other sources; classifiers (built-in or custom) identify sensitive types such as credit card numbers. Sensitivity labels apply protection that travels with the content - encryption via Azure Rights Management, content marking, and access restrictions - and can be enforced by DLP policies across Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and endpoints. Retention policies and labels keep or delete content for a period; records management adds a file plan, event-based retention, and disposition review.
Risk, audit, and compliance
Compliance Manager translates regulations into assessments and improvement actions with a compliance score. eDiscovery (content search, holds, review sets) supports legal cases. Audit records user and admin activity - 180 days with Audit (Standard), up to 10 years with the premium add-on. Insider Risk Management detects risky user behavior; Communication Compliance reviews flagged messages. Microsoft Priva handles privacy risk and subject rights requests.
Worked example
A finance document is labeled "Confidential - Finance". Reasoning: the label encrypts the file and restricts access to the Finance group; a DLP policy blocks external sharing of content with that label; a retention label keeps it seven years, then disposes of it. Each control answers a different question: who can see it, where it can go, and how long it exists.
Traps
Sensitivity labels protect content while retention labels manage lifecycle - do not swap them; the Compliance Manager score is not a certification; audit retention depends on licence; DLP needs the right licensing and workload configuration; publishing a label without a label policy does nothing.