Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Certification Guide: How to Apply & Prepare

Getting certification not only gives you the ability to display your expertise over a particular IT field or increases your chances of receiving a good salary & job opportunity but it does more than that. Since IT certification keeps on adding or updating their skills or concepts, it enables you to present yourself to your potential employer as a professional who’s committed to his career and therefore a reliable asset to its organization.

Cherry on the cloud computing cloud cake is if you pursue an IT certification from one of the leading cloud computing platforms, Azure. Microsoft Azure is quickly gaining ground with a market share of 20% in 2020 right after AWS. Moreover, MS Azure is being used by over 95% of Fortune 500 companies and over 1,000 new customers sign up to Azure daily. That’s 365,000 new companies adopting MS Azure every year!

Therefore, through Azure Certification, not only you can learn to use various cloud-based services but also get a futureproof job with certifications in Azure Solutions Architect or Azure Security Engineer. On average, a Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate Salary at entry-level is $120,000 while at a senior level, you can demand an average salary of $225,000 per year! 

So you want to know about Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate Certification or its career path? We’ve got you covered, in this Azure AZ-500 learning path, you’ll get answers to:

• Who is an Azure Security Engineer?
• What is the Microsoft Certified Azure AZ-500 exam?
• How much a Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate's salary is?
• What are the Azure AZ-500 Prerequisites?
• How to get Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate Certification?
• An overview of the Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate course details

To be a Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer, you need to clear your AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies Certification exam. This exam intends to test your ability to complete the following technical task on Azure: manage identity and access; implement platform protection; manage security operations, and secure data and applications.

• Certification Name: AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies
• Exam Cost: $165
• Azure AZ-500 Prerequisites: Candidate should be familiar with scripting & automation, and should have an understanding of networking & virtualization. A candidate must have known cloud capabilities, Azure products and services, and other Microsoft products and services.
• Exam Duration: 150-210 minutes
• Total Questions:   40-60 Multiple-choice Questions (One lab with around 12 sub-tasks)
• Passing score:   700/1000
• Expiration Date: 2 years
• Exam Retake Policy: A candidate cannot give this exam any more than five times in a period of 12 months. The candidate is eligible to retake the exam 12 months from the date of their first attempt.

Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate Course Details:

Manage identity and access (30-35%)

• Configure security for service principals 
• Manage Azure AD directory groups 
• Manage Azure AD users 
• Manage administrative units 
• Configure password writeback 
• Configure authentication methods including password hash and Pass-Through Authentication (PTA), OAuth, and passwordless 
• Transfer Azure subscriptions between Azure AD tenants

• Monitor privileged access for Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) 
• Configure Access Reviews 
• Activate and configure PIM 
• Implement Conditional Access policies including Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) 
• Configure Azure AD identity protection

• Create App Registration 
• Configure App Registration permission scopes 
• Manage App Registration permission consent 
• Manage API access to Azure subscriptions and resources

• Configure subscription and resource permissions 
• Configure resource group permissions 
• Configure custom RBAC roles 
• Identify the appropriate role
  • Apply the principle of least privilege 
• Interpret permissions 
  • Check access

Implement platform protection (15-20%)

• Secure the connectivity of virtual networks (VPN authentication, Express Route encryption)
• Configure Network Security Groups (NSGs) and Application Security Groups (ASGs)
• Create and configure Azure Firewall 
• Implement Azure Firewall Manager 
• Configure Azure Front Door service as an Application Gateway 
• Configure a Web Application Firewall (WAF) on Azure Application Gateway 
• Configure Azure Bastion 
• Configure a firewall on a storage account, Azure SQL, KeyVault, or App Service
• Implement Service Endpoints 
• Implement DDoS protection

• Configure endpoint protection 
• Configure and monitor system updates for VMs
• Configure authentication for Azure Container Registry 
• Configure security for different types of containers
  • implement vulnerability management 
  • configure isolation for AKS
  • configure security for container registry 
• Implement Azure Disk Encryption 
• Configure authentication and security for Azure App Service
  • --configure SSL/TLS certs
  • --configure authentication for Azure Kubernetes Service
  • --configure automatic updates

Manage security operations (25-30%)

• Create and customize alerts 
• Monitor security logs by using Azure Monitor 
• Configure diagnostic logging and log retention 

• Evaluate vulnerability scans from Azure Security Center 
• Configure Just in Time VM access by using Azure Security Center 
• Configure centralized policy management by using Azure Security Center 
• Configure compliance policies and evaluate for compliance by using Azure Security Center Configure workflow automation by using Azure Security Center

• Create and customize alerts 
• Configure data sources to Azure Sentinel 
• Evaluate results from Azure Sentinel
• Configure a playbook by using azure Sentinel

• Configure security settings by using Azure Policy 
• Configure security settings by using Azure Blueprint

Secure data and applications (20-25%)

• Configure access control for storage accounts 
• Configure key management for storage accounts 
• Configure Azure AD authentication for Azure Storage 
• Configure Azure AD Domain Services authentication for Azure Files 
• Create and Manage Shared Access Signatures (SAS)
  • --create a shared access policy for a blob or blob container 
• Configure Storage Service Encryption 
• Configure Azure Defender for Storage

• Enable database authentication to enable database auditing 
• Configure Azure Defender for SQL
  • --configure Azure SQL Database Advanced Threat Protection 
• Implement database encryption
  • --implement Azure SQL Database Always Encrypted

• Manage access to Key Vault 
• Manage permissions to secrets, certificates, and keys
  • --configure RBAC usage in Azure Key Vault 
• Manage certificates 
• Manage secrets 
• Configure key rotation backup & restore Key Vault items 
• Configure Azure Defender for Key Vault

• 23% of Microsoft certified professionals attained up to a 20% salary boost after certification.
• A Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate salary is or Azure AZ-500 qualified demands an average of $145,764 per year.
• Azure Security Engineer Associate  Certification allows you to display your expertise in implementing security controls, maintaining an organization's security as well as identifying and resolving security vulnerabilities.
• With over 95% of organizations are planning to increase their cloud spends as the global cloud computing marketing increases, so does the demand for Azure professionals who can ensure smooth as well as secured transitioning and management of Cloud services.

Interested in pursuing a career in Azure? Follow this Microsoft Azure career path that can guide you over the job outlook and salary aspect along with the exam module and the best course fit!

1. Be Thorough with the Course & Exam Pattern for Azure AZ-500 

Microsoft offers enough study material to learn about the Microsoft Certified Azure AZ-500 exam. Go to its website and give a thorough reading to the syllabus, note down it somewhere safe and prepare your strategy based on it. This will help you in understanding where to start and what to study. 

2. Focus on Microsoft Certified Azure AZ-500 Certification’s Key Components

Microsoft also provides detailed insight into various core concepts and skills for Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate Certification along with the percentage of exam questions, we suggest you go through them thoroughly as this will give you an idea about the course’s background and knowledge.

3. Establish a Study Routine for Azure AZ-500 Exam

The following routine helps you cover all topics on time, revise them as well as take proper rest in-between. Giving your study time some structure is a must because if you don’t, it’ll be way too easy to procrastinate, get distracted or ignore what you need to do.

4. Choose a Study Mode

Self-study doesn’t give you enough resources or the convenience of clearing your doubts whenever you want. So, enroll in any Microsoft Azure Certification Training platform, wherein industry experts impart knowledge and you get the best resources to study. Moreover, study materials from e-learning platforms can be used at any time, anywhere with 24/7 guidance from someone identifying and filling the gaps in your knowledge and skills.

5. Practice Using the Azure AZ-500 Exam Dumps 

There are various websites for Azure Security Engineer Associate certification exam preparation to provide Azure AZ-500 exam dumps. These mock-up exams help you improve your competence and skills in a particular domain and tell you to know where are the gaps in your preparation. 

6. Revise. Rest. Revise

Revision helps you remember concepts that you have been covering, or else you’ll forget everything. However, do not neglect your health and eat, and rest properly if you want to study efficiently. You can’t retain any information if your brain is tired as you feel exhausted due to lack of sleep or rest.

7. Take Proper Gap if Appearing for Multiple Certifications

Microsoft allows the candidate to retake the exam 5 times in 12 months from the date of their first attempt, so you can relax and give the exam one at a time. Avoid giving multiple exams at one go so that you can concentrate on one properly. So that when you sit for recertification, you're not burdening yourself with back-to-back exams and can prepare well. 

Now you know how to prepare for Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate Certification, let us help you in scheduling the Azure Fundamentals exam with easy quick steps. You can take Microsoft Certified Azure AZ-500 exam online exam with Pearson VUE in person at an Authorized Test Center, or online in the comfort of your home or even office! Let us show you how you can apply for the exam:

1. Click at https://home.pearsonvue.com/Clients/Microsoft.aspx to schedule your exam
2. Sign in to Certification Dashboard using the personnel email account
3. On your Microsoft Certification profile make sure that all the required fields marked with an asterisk* are correctly filled. Save the Profile and continue
4. Check your eligibility by entering the email account you used to register for the event
5. Click Schedule exam
6. Select How do you want to take your exam (Local test center, home/office)
7. Select exam date and time and Proceed to Checkout with the payment.

A career in Cloud computing with Microsoft Azure certifications will surely not get you up the ladder of an IT career, however, it sets you right on the path of becoming a part of the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. We hope this blog has cleared your doubts regarding Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer, we’d like to again insist that in order to be an Azure Security Engineer Associate, you’ve to clear your Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies Certification exam.

Follow this Azure AZ-500 learning path as diligently as you can and you’ll surely clear the Azure AZ-500 exam and become Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer. After all, Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate Certification will not only validate and demonstrate your technical expertise to your potential employees but it will also ensure that you stay ahead of the curve with certified badges along with a lucrative salary. 

If you still feel you need additional help, online courses or e-learning platforms are your allies! Several e-learning platforms can assist you with our 24/7 teaching assistance, applied projects, and online videos by industry-expert trainers.