Get A CyberSecurity Certificate From Microsoft For Free | A Step By Step Guide To Achieve Your First Cybersecurity Certificate.
The demand for cybersecurity professionals is growing day by day which inturn has increased the need for cybersecurity certifications. As a security professional or a cybersecurity student we all know the importance of a certification, although having practical knowledge is more important than a certificate.A certificate still acts as a proof of knowledge,which makes it valueable to pursue.By learning and implenting the concepts of cybersecurity in real world,one can definitely get the most out of a certification. Here we will learn about a Free cybersecurity certification named SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals launched by Microsoft for students and IT professionals to familiarize them with Microsoft (Azure/365) to understand how Microsoft Security, compliance, and identity solutions can span across these solution areas to provide a holistic and end-to-end solution.
Who is eligible for this training/certification?
The answer to the question is “anyone”, Anyone intrested in learning more about cybersecurity can access this training for free.This broad audience can also include business stakeholders, new or existing IT professionals, or students who have an interest in Microsoft Security, compliance, and identity solutions.
Do I really need this cerification to be a cybersecurity professional?
Absolutely Not! The need of this certification really depends on person to person and their roles and responsibilities in cybersecurtity.This certification can be beneficial for people intended to start their journey in cybersecurity in GRC,Cloud Security,Identity Access Management. These people can get the most out of this certification. Apart from these anyone else can definitely explore this training and can understand their needs.
Since compliance and identity solution form a huge part of cybersecurity having knowledge about it can always be helful for everyone hence training is recommended but getting a certification is ultimately the learners choice. If still not sure about who should pursue this certificate I recommend you to visit this Cybersecurity Road Map By Paul Jerimy ! https://pauljerimy.com/security-certification-roadmap/ This will not only help you decide the right certification for your career but also guide your path in achieving most of the cybersecurity certifications.
What are the Pre-requisites for this training/certification?
For Training: There are officially no pre-requisits required before attending this training, the training is open to all it/non it professionals and students who are eager to learn more about cybersecurity.Incase of the Certification:Before appearing for the certification exam the learner should possess a clear idea about Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure.(Note: Having knowledge about Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure is important before appearing for the exam to have a clear understanding about key concepts in Azure,Having AZ-900 certification can be helful in SC-900 exam but it not a must to have)
Both AZ-900 And SC-900 are fundamental exams and have different focus areas under the same roof.
What skills will I learn?
SC-900 exam course outline: The syllabus of SC-900 course exams is divided into four parts with a certain percentage of weightage in exam these are:
- Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity (10–15%)
- Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra (25–30%)
- Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Security solutions (25–30%)
- Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions (25–30%)
SC-900 part 1: Includes the topics like Security, Compliance, and Identity. Here you will learn about shared responsibility and Zero Trust models, encryption, data residency and data sovereignty, and more.You'll also learn about some identity-related services.
SC-900 part 2: Includes topics like Access Management and Microsoft Identity Solutions.Here you will learn about Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service. Learn about Azure AD, its services and the types of identities it supports along with authentication capabilities of Azure AD, multi-factor authentication.
SC-900 part3: Incorporates Microsoft Security Solutions. Here you will learn about cloud security posture management and how Microsoft Defender for Cloud protects your cloud through secure score, recommendations, and enhanced features that provide cloud workload protection. You’ll also learn about security baselines in Azure,security information event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automated response (SOAR) solution along with Microsoft 365 Defender, which is a unified pre- and post-breach enterprise defense suite that natively coordinates detection, prevention, investigation, and response across endpoints, identities, email, and applications to provide integrated protection against sophisticated attacks.
SC-900 part4: Describes the capabilities of Microsoft Compliance Solutions.Here you will learn about icrosoft Purview compliance portal, the portal for organizations to manage their compliance needs along with Azure governance capabilities.
Lets Get Started
In order to access the latest trainings on Azure you need to visit the following link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/events/training-days/ or simply google Microsoft Virtual Training Days and you will reach this page as shown below.
Here you will find different options to explore like teams,azure,power-platform,dynamics 365 and security. Now you have to hover to security and here you’ll find Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals and the date associated with the training. After clicking the link you will be redirected to a registeration page as shown below.(Note: Apart from security you can also register for other trainings which include AZ-900,AI-900,DP-900 and PL-900, the steps are same for all other certifications)
Here on the registeration page you can see a note which says take the Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals at no cost. This means that this training is associated with a free exam voucher which you can claim after attending the two days training. Also details about the two days training are listed with topics that are covered in the virtual training days.Also the trainings are virtual and hence can be accessed on any mobile device with the joining link on the mail
After filling the form youll get a confirmation on your mail with the details and joining link for the training days.Dont forget to check the spam in your mail box if you dont receive the mail.Also sometimes the registeration form doesnt get submitted and hence it needs to be refilled and re-submitted once again, but only repeat this process if you did’nt recieved your confirmation even after 24hrs.
Now that you have registered and recieved the confirmation mail,you can join the session with the given link
Pro Tip: Do add the dates and timings of your session in your google calender so you do not miss the date of your session. By adding it in your calender you are now converting the time zone according to your local time zone and thus you dont need to convert the time zone to set your reminder.
Warning: While joining the virtual training days you will be asked to enter an email id.Here while entering the email id you need to enter the email which you entered while registering the form.If you enter the wrong or unregistered email while joining the session your voucher might not reflect to your account hence it is highly recommended to use the same email id for both registering and joining the session.
What if I miss the Training Day?
If you fail to attend both the trainings, Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done.You need to register once again and wait for the next virtual training day.Note: These training days are scheduled by microsoft in a series of month with few sessions per month hence always stay updated and make sure you are registering ASAP.
Can I access the recording ?
Yes, you can access the recordings of the session if you miss any day or need to revise the content you can access the recorded session available on youtube with the links below:
Virtual Training Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6UTlSAttBo
Virtual Training Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJzwaM9QAQ0
The Glitch: Now this is something which I have personally experienced and hence sharing it.I forgot to attend the first training day but attended the second day so did I get the exam voucher? YES somehow I dont know I had the voucher in my exam portal, not sure if it was a glitch but it works.So if ever you fail to attend any one session make sure youre attending the second one you still can claim the exam voucher ! Nothing to worry
Scheduling The Exam
Important: Note you are using the same email id you entered previously to register for the training day
After attending the training, its now time to claim the voucher and schedule your appointment.For Scheduling your exam you need to visit the SC-900 official certification page fom the link below .
Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/certifications/exams/sc-900?source=learn
Scroll down and youll find a schedule exam corner.
Click On Schedule With Pearson VUE
After Clicking on Pearson VUE you will be asked to register if you are new and you have to fill all the details on the registeration page and continue by clicking on continue.This will register your account on pearsonVUE and will create your MCID for all future microsoft exams.(Note: The process is very easy and requires you to add your details which I feel doesnt require to show but if youre stucked you can comment below and I will happy to answer you)
After creating your account you can relogin and follow the same steps from above to schedule your exam. Once you confirm your deatils you can click on continue and here you can see your voucher in your account as shown below
once you have claimed your voucher you will be directed on a page where you will need to choose the prefered way in which you want to take the exam.It is highly recommed to choose online at my office option if there is no testing center available in your region.
Once you have selected the option click on the next button
Here you need to choose the language in which you wish to attend the exam. Keeping english is the default choice but you can choose your comfortable language.
After selecting language click on next button
Here on, you need to click on all the checkboxes and radio buttons to accept the terms and conditions
There are many checkboxes to tick so make sure you are checking all of them to avoid an interrupting message
Again here you have to choose the language i.e English, this language is choosen for your communication with your proctor who will be proctoring you throughout the exam duration.
Once done, you now have to choose your date and timing for your exam, your default time will be visible on screen you just need to confirm Yes and next button.
After that you will choose the date on which you wish to take your exam
Choose the time format as 12hrs or 24hrs according to your way of addressing time 12hrs is recommended to avoid delays and time conversions.Also there is an option of explore timings to choose the time for your exam it can scheduled from morning to night.
Select one of the slot and confirm the timing
After confirming the timings click on book this appointment
Here you can see a confirmation page with details of your exam and timings followed by the length i.e duration of your exam
Here after scrolling down you can see the free voucher is applied to your exam and has reduced the 100% cost of your exam
Once you see the estimated total to 0Rs/$ or any other currency you can click on proceed to checkout
After proceed to checkout you will once again be directed to a confirmation page showing you the details regarding your exam timings and purchase details
After confirming you will finally see a message which confirms your appointment and helps you run a system test prior to your exam to avoid unconvience and delay during exam.
Now That You Have You Have Scheduled Your Exam What Next??
Resources To Study For Exam SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals
The best resources to start preparing for SC-900 exams are:
Microsoft Learning Platforms
Online-Free:https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/describe-concepts-of-security-compliance-identity/
Instructor LED Paid:https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/courses/sc-900t00
(I personally feel that this free online from microsoft is the best source of learning coz it covers everything in easy and understandable way.This resource is more than enough to pass the exam. No need to purchase any other resources)
Last But Not The Least, This video course by freecodecamp is again a good resource to learn.
I hope this content help you achieving your first free cybersecurity certification from microsoft.If you feel that I have left out with something that I should have mentioned please comment down below I will make the changes ASAP also if you have any queries please comment down below.The knowledge that I have shared above is based on my personal expereience and knowledge which I have gained throughout this course and wish to share with the community If you feel any part of this blog to be wrong, I would love to rectify my mistake and learn.
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Best of luck !
