What exactly is it? How can you get it? And what power does the certification have to boost your career?
What Is Security Operations Analyst SC-200 Certification?
Let’s start with the basics. Microsoft Security Operations Analyst SC-200 Certification empowers you to become a Security Operations Analyst.
In the words of Microsoft, “The Microsoft Security Operations Analyst collaborates with organizational stakeholders to secure information technology systems for the organization. Their goal is to reduce organizational risk by rapidly remediating active attacks in the environment, advising on improvements to threat protection practices, and referring violations of organizational policies to appropriate stakeholders.”
Your responsibilities as an analyst will include:
- Overall threat management. You’ll be responsible for protecting your company from a variety of security threats. Cybersecurity won’t be your exclusive function, though; you’ll be working with other people and departments to make it happen.
- Ongoing monitoring. As a security analyst, much of your time will be spent with ongoing monitoring. You’ll be on the lookout for abnormal patterns of behavior, suspicious activity, and other red flags that could be signals of an impending threat.
- Response management and deployment. If and when you note a security threat, you’ll be responsible for deploying a response to prevent it or ward it off. You’ll plan your responses proactively, within your response management documentation.
In this role, you’ll use a variety of tools, including Microsoft Azure Sentinel, Azure Defender, Microsoft 365 Defender, and other third-party security products.
How Security Operations Analyst SC-200 Certification Can Boost Your Career
There are several ways this certification can improve your career prospects. Some of the prime examples include:
- Increased tool familiarity. Earning this certification requires you to become familiar with various tools, including Microsoft Defender, Microsoft 365 Defender, Azure Defender, and Azure Sentinel. Once you have a better understanding of them, you’ll be able to use these tools with greater effectiveness. You will tap into their full potential, use them to orchestrate better plans, and achieve more robust security for your organization.
- Acquisition of valuable skills. This is also an opportunity to learn new and valuable skills. You’ll be able to master the arts of threat monitoring, threat response, and high-level cybersecurity planning. You can apply these skills in your current role and set yourself up for promotions and upward growth in the future.
- Leadership potential. If you’ve ever wanted to be a leader in your department, this certification may aid you. You’ll have a distinct advantage over your contemporaries and greater familiarity with the platforms you’re apt to use most frequently. Although this certification won’t teach you the specific skills to become a more effective leader, it will equip you with the knowledge and experience you can employ to manage a team effectively.
- Adding a certification to your resume. Once you’re formally certified in this area, you’ll be able to include that on your resume and all future job applications. Employers are much more interested in candidates who have certifications, and they’re willing to pay more to get them.
- Setting up for promotions or new jobs. Are you tired of your current job? Looking for something new? Do you want to change employers? If this is the case, now or in the future, you should consider getting certified. Your certification can lead you to promotions, new jobs, and other great opportunities.
- Earning a raise. Some people seek this certification simply because they’re interested in meriting a raise. Security certifications like this will almost certainly increase your value to your employer, which will justify your raise request or set you up to earn more with a different employer.
- Confidence and self-assurance. Once you have this certification, you’re going to feel more confident and assured about your skills and your position.
- Familiarity with the certification process. This is also great practice for any ongoing effort to acquire new certifications. Once you’ve gone through the process of learning the material, taking practice exams, and eventually passing the formal exam, you’ll feel much more capable and confident in future certification opportunities. Every new certification you earn is going to multiply these benefits.
Key Areas of Knowledge
These are just some of the crucial areas you’ll tackle in your Security Operations Analyst SC-200 class.
- Threat mitigation with Microsoft Defender
- Threat mitigation with Microsoft 365 Defender
- Threat mitigation with Azure Defender
- Azure Sentinel configuration
- Azure Sentinel query creation (using Kusto Query Language, or KQL)
- Azure Sentinel log connection
- Azure Sentinel detection and investigation
- Azure Sentinel active threat monitoring
Passing the Exam
Technical exams offered by Microsoft are scored on a scale from 1 to 1000. You’ll need at least a 700 to pass. These are some of your best strategies for ensuring you pass the first time around:
- Start early. To maximize your chances of passing the exam, start preparing as early as possible. This isn’t the kind of exam you can cram for the night before; there’s simply too much to learn. Human beings learn better and more efficiently when they spread out their knowledge acquisition, so do your studying over the course of several weeks.
- Focus on core exam material. Your instructors will likely hope you understand which material is most likely to be featured on the exam. Spend a disproportionate amount of your time focusing on this core exam material, and treat all other details as secondary.
- Get extra help if you need it. There may be some sections you struggle with. If you find it hard to learn Azure Sentinel, or there’s a specific concept that just doesn’t make sense to you, seek outside help. Your instructors will likely be more than willing to help you; and if not, you can probably find peers online who are willing to lend some support.
- Take the practice exam. Take your time on the practice exam. This is the best tool you have to understand better what the exam would be like as well as to analyze your strengths and weaknesses.
Are you ready to get started with your Security Operations Analyst SC-200 Certification? Readynez can help. We have a full Security Operations Analyst SC-200 Certification course, which you can take entirely online. Sign up today to get started!
