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A plain reference to the Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate as of October 2026, the certification that replaced AZ-500. This guide covers the SC-500 exam, its four domains and their weights, the 120-minute format, the 700 passing score and $165 fee, the free annual renewal, what happened to AZ-500 holders, DoD 8140 status, and the security roles it fits.
The Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate, earned through exam SC-500, is Microsoft’s associate-level certification for engineers who secure Azure, hybrid, and AI workloads. It replaced the Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500), which Microsoft retired on August 31, 2026.
The exam’s full title is Implementing End-to-End Security Controls for Cloud and AI Workloads, and it is a configuration exam. You are asked to set up Privileged Identity Management and Conditional Access, lock down Key Vault and storage accounts, build NSGs, private endpoints, and Azure Firewall rules, turn on Defender for Cloud plans, and wire data sources into Microsoft Sentinel. On top of that sits a block AZ-500 never had: securing Copilot, Copilot Studio agents, Entra Agent ID, and Microsoft Foundry. Microsoft expects practical Azure and hybrid administration experience, strong familiarity with Microsoft Entra ID, and familiarity with Microsoft 365 administration.
SC-500 has no prerequisite certification, and like other Microsoft role-based credentials it is valid for one year and renews free online. It is issued and maintained by Microsoft. The beta opened in May 2026, and Microsoft lists the certification as available from July 21, 2026. This page follows Microsoft’s SC-500 study guide, which has no change log yet, so the outline below is still the one the exam launched with.
Entra ID, PIM, Conditional Access, managed identities, Key Vault, Azure Policy, and RBAC. 20 to 25%.
Storage and Azure SQL security, NSGs, private endpoints, Azure Firewall, and Entra Private Access. The largest domain at 25 to 30%.
VMs, containers, App Service, and the new AI tasks for Copilot, Entra Agent ID, and Foundry. 20 to 25%.
Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Sentinel event collection, and Security Copilot. 20 to 25%.
Four changes worth knowing before you study, whether you held AZ-500 or are coming to Microsoft security fresh.
The Secure compute domain opens with a skill group called Implement security for AI. It covers Purview DSPM for Copilot and AI apps, real-time protection for Copilot Studio agents, Conditional Access for Microsoft Entra Agent ID, AI Gateway in API Management for Microsoft Foundry, Defender for AI Services, and Foundry guardrails. AZ-500’s final outline, dated January 22, 2026, mentioned none of them.
AZ-500 asked for Azure and Entra ID experience. SC-500 adds familiarity with Microsoft 365 administration, and it means it. Tasks like finding oversharing in SharePoint and managing agents in the Microsoft 365 admin center sit outside the Azure portal, which is where engineers with a pure Azure background tend to get caught.
AZ-500 gave Defender for Cloud and Sentinel 30 to 35 percent of the exam. SC-500 gives posture and monitoring 20 to 25 percent and makes storage, databases, and networking the heaviest domain. It is also a separate certification with no conversion path. Our article on the AZ-500 to SC-500 change covers what that means for AZ-500 holders.
SC-500 is not a DoD 8140 credential. The matrix version in use, V2.1, took effect September 19, 2025, before SC-500 existed, so it will not satisfy a cyber-coded position on its own.
Its weight comes from Microsoft’s own partner program instead. On July 30, 2026, SC-500 replaced AZ-500 in the skilling requirements for the Security Solutions Partner designation and the Cloud Security specialization, according to Microsoft’s August 2026 Partner Center announcements.
The certification and the SC-500 exam as Microsoft publishes them in October 2026.
From SC-500 the usual next steps run three ways: up to Microsoft’s security architect credential, sideways into security operations, or out to a vendor-neutral cloud security certification.
The expert step. Microsoft awards the Cybersecurity Architect Expert to people who pass SC-100 and hold one of three associate certifications: SC-200, SC-300, or SC-500. The English SC-100 outline updates on October 21, 2026. Our SC-100 exam guide covers the domains and the prerequisite change.
The operations move. SC-200 is the 100-minute associate exam for investigating and mitigating threats with Microsoft Sentinel, Defender for Cloud, and Microsoft Defender XDR. SC-500 teaches you to build Sentinel collection and posture management, and SC-200 starts where the alerts begin arriving.
The vendor-neutral counterpart. ISC2’s CCSP covers cloud security across providers, with whole domains on cloud data security and on legal, risk and compliance. It asks for five years of IT experience and sits on the DoD 8140 matrix, which SC-500 doesn’t. See our CCSP guide.
SC-500 sits at the associate tier of Microsoft’s security path. It builds on Azure administration experience, and from there the path branches into the SC-100 architect credential or vendor-neutral security certifications.
The experience SC-500 assumes
Secure the platform
Two questions to answer before you commit: can you sit it, and should you pursue SC-500 specifically. Here’s a straight answer to both.
Anyone can register for SC-500.
Microsoft lists no prerequisite for the Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate. You register through Pearson VUE, pay the $165 US fee, and sit a 120-minute exam at a test center or online. There’s no experience form to file and no endorsement step, which is a real difference from ISC2 credentials like CCSP.
Microsoft expects hands-on admin time.
The audience profile asks for practical experience administering Azure and hybrid environments across compute, network, and storage, strong familiarity with Microsoft Entra ID, and familiarity with Microsoft 365 administration. If you’ve never built an NSG or a Conditional Access policy, read our Azure Administrator (AZ-104) guide first. Microsoft’s exam sandbox shows the question formats, but there’s no free Practice Assessment for SC-500 yet.
SC-500 tests configuration, so it maps to engineering roles rather than entry-level ones. These are the jobs where the work on the exam is the work you do every day.
Builds and enforces the controls the whole exam covers: Azure Policy, private endpoints, Azure Firewall, Key Vault, and Defender for Cloud plans. SC-500 is the Microsoft credential written for this job, and its Defender for Cloud connectors reach into AWS and Google Cloud as well.
Secures the agents and models a company puts into production. The SC-500 AI tasks map straight onto this work: Conditional Access for Entra Agent ID, guardrails in Microsoft Foundry, AI Gateway in API Management, Defender for AI Services, and Purview DSPM for Copilot.
Owns Privileged Identity Management, Conditional Access, passwordless sign-in, app registrations, and managed identities in Microsoft Entra ID. Domain 1 covers the security side of this role, and SC-300 goes further if identity becomes the whole job.
Locks down AKS, Container Registry, Container Apps, App Service, and Azure Functions, and pushes security settings out through infrastructure as code. The Secure compute domain reads like this job description.
Builds the Microsoft Sentinel side of a SOC: workspaces, data connectors, syslog and CEF collection, data collection rules, automation rules, and playbooks. SC-500 covers that setup work, and SC-200 covers the investigations that come after it.
Deploys Defender, Sentinel, and Entra controls for the clients of a Microsoft partner. SC-500 replaced AZ-500 in the skilling requirements for the Security Solutions Partner designation and the Cloud Security specialization, so partners count it toward both.
SC-500 is most often weighed against Microsoft’s security fundamentals exam, the AWS equivalent, and the vendor-neutral cloud security credential. Here is how the four line up.
| SC-500 | Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals (SC-900) | AWS Certified Security Specialty (SCS-C03) | CCSP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Microsoft | Microsoft | Amazon Web Services | ISC2 |
| Level | Associate (role-based) | Fundamentals | Specialty | Advanced, vendor-neutral |
| Focus | Securing Azure, hybrid, and AI workloads | Microsoft security, compliance, and identity concepts | Securing AWS workloads | Cloud security across providers |
| Domains | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Prerequisites | None (Azure admin experience expected) | None | None (5 yrs IT security, 2+ on AWS recommended) | 5 yrs IT, 3 in security, 1 in a CCSP domain |
| Exam | 120 min, count not published | 45 min, count not published | 65 questions, 170 min | 100 to 150 questions, 3 hours (adaptive) |
| Passing Score | 700 of 1000 | 700 of 1000 | 750 of 1000 | 700 of 1000 |
| Cost (US) | $165 | $99 | $300 | About $599 |
| Validity | 1 year, free renewal | Does not expire | 3 years | 3 years, 90 CPEs |
| DoD 8140 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Listed |
| Best For | Security engineers in Azure and Microsoft 365 | First security credential in a Microsoft shop | Security engineers working in AWS | Cloud security leads who need a vendor-neutral or DoD credential |
Pricing varies by region and taxes. SC-500 launched after DoD 8140 Qualification Matrix V2.1 took effect, so it isn’t listed. SC-900 facts are from our SC-900 guide, CCSP facts are from our CCSP guide, and AWS Security Specialty facts are for exam SCS-C03 as AWS publishes it.
Certification Matchups: the published facts, strengths and weak spots of 33 certifications, side by side.
As a Microsoft training partner, our Cloud and AI Security Engineer boot camp covers all four SC-500 domains in five days of live, instructor-led training, in person or online. You work through hands-on labs in Entra ID, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, Purview, and Foundry with official Microsoft courseware. Your $165 exam voucher and a free retake are included, and day five closes with a full-length practice exam and the SC-500 exam.
What changed when AZ-500 retired, where SC-500 leads, and the AI agent risks behind its newest skill group.
What happened to the Azure Security Engineer Associate, what the SC-500 blueprint adds for AI workloads, and why there is no conversion path from the old credential to the new one.
The Cybersecurity Architect Expert exam, its October 21, 2026 outline update, and why SC-500 now sits beside SC-200 and SC-300 as a qualifying associate certification.
Which Microsoft exams people are sitting this year after the AZ-500, AZ-204, and AI-102 retirements, with the current US fee for each and the security group of SC-200, SC-300, and SC-500.
What AWS knowledge carries over to Azure, which Azure certification to start with, and why the security recommendation now points to SC-500 instead of AZ-500.
The ten agentic AI risks from ASI01 to ASI10, and the idea of least agency. Useful background for the Entra Agent ID and Foundry guardrail tasks in the SC-500 Secure compute domain.
The full Microsoft map from fundamentals through associate and expert exams, with a role-to-certification table that pairs AZ-104 with SC-500 for cloud administrators who own security.
From the MCSE era to role-based exams and the 2026 replacements that put AI inside the core job, with SC-500 as one of the clearest examples of the shift.
The SC-500 exam is organized into four domains, each carrying its own weight. Storage, databases, and networking is the heaviest at 25 to 30 percent, and the other three each take 20 to 25 percent. Click any domain for what it covers.
Securing access with Microsoft Entra ID: Privileged Identity Management, Conditional Access, MFA and passwordless methods, enterprise apps and app registrations, OAuth consent settings, and managed identities. Then Azure Key Vault, from deployment, access, and firewall settings to secret scanning with Defender CSPM and Defender for Key Vault. Governance closes the domain with Azure Policy, regulatory compliance in Defender for Cloud, resource locks, custom Azure and Entra roles, cleaning up overprivileged RBAC assignments, Azure Backup security, and controls deployed as infrastructure as code.
The heaviest domain. Storage account security, Azure Storage firewall rules, Defender for Storage, and access policies. Platform security and auditing for Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance, plus Defender for Databases. The network half is long: NSGs and application security groups, Azure Virtual Network Manager, Virtual WAN, VPN connections, Microsoft Entra Private Access, private endpoints, Private Link services, Azure Firewall, and checking effective rules with Network Watcher.
Where the AI security content lives. Finding oversharing in SharePoint, Purview DSPM for Copilot and AI apps, real-time protection for Copilot Studio agents, Conditional Access and access management for Entra Agent ID, blast radius analysis in Defender XDR, AI Gateway in API Management for Microsoft Foundry, Defender for AI Services, and Foundry guardrails. It also covers VMs and servers (disk encryption, Bastion, just-in-time access, Azure Arc, Defender for Servers, secure boot and vTPM, Machine Configuration) and app platforms such as AKS, Container Registry, Container Apps, Functions, Logic Apps, App Service, Web Application Firewall, and API Management.
Defender for Cloud as the posture tool: Defender CSPM, compliance against security frameworks, workload protection plans, AWS and Google Cloud connectors, Defender Vulnerability Management for Azure VMs, and External Attack Surface Management. Then event collection in Microsoft Sentinel, covering workspaces, roles, content hub, data connectors, syslog and CEF, Windows Security events through data collection rules, custom log tables, automation rules and playbooks, retention, and querying Purview Audit in Defender XDR. It ends with Microsoft Security Copilot workspaces, roles, plugins, and agents.
Domains and weights come from Microsoft’s SC-500 study guide, which has no change log as of October 2026, so this is still the outline the exam launched with. The AI security skills sit inside Secure compute rather than in a separate domain. Microsoft refreshes exams periodically, so confirm the current outline on Microsoft Learn before scheduling.
The questions candidates ask most often when researching the Microsoft Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate certification.
The Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate, earned by passing exam SC-500 (Implementing End-to-End Security Controls for Cloud and AI Workloads), is Microsoft’s associate-level certification for security engineers who protect Azure, hybrid, and AI workloads. It tests hands-on configuration of Microsoft Entra ID, Key Vault, Azure networking, Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Sentinel, and Security Copilot, plus a new set of AI security tasks. It replaced the Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500) in 2026.
No. The SC-500 beta opened in May 2026. Microsoft’s partner announcements list the certification as available from July 21, 2026, and the exam no longer carries a beta label. One gap remains. As of October 2026, Microsoft’s certification page still says the free Practice Assessment for SC-500 isn’t available, so the exam sandbox is the only official preview of the format for now.
Yes. Microsoft retired exam AZ-500 and the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification on August 31, 2026, along with its renewal assessment, and named the Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (SC-500) as the replacement. SC-500 keeps most of the Azure security core and adds AI workload security, Security Copilot, and some Microsoft 365 administration that AZ-500 never tested. You can’t sit AZ-500 or renew it anymore.
No. SC-500 leads to a different credential, and Microsoft has published no conversion path or upgrade exam from AZ-500. An AZ-500 you already earned stays on your Microsoft Learn transcript, but it can’t be renewed. To hold the current Microsoft security engineer certification, you pass SC-500. For Microsoft partners, AZ-500 keeps counting toward partner skilling requirements for one year after its retirement date.
Microsoft lists no prerequisite certification, so anyone can register. It does set a clear experience bar: practical experience administering Azure and hybrid environments across compute, network, and storage, strong familiarity with Microsoft Entra ID, and familiarity with Microsoft 365 administration. If you don’t have that background yet, the Azure Administrator (AZ-104) is the better place to start.
The four domains are Manage identity, access, and governance (20 to 25 percent), Secure storage, databases, and networking (25 to 30 percent), Secure compute (20 to 25 percent), and Manage and monitor security posture (20 to 25 percent). Storage, databases, and networking is the heaviest. The AI security tasks sit inside Secure compute rather than in a domain of their own.
Microsoft doesn’t publish the question count for SC-500. It says most of its certification exams contain 40 to 60 questions. You get 120 minutes, the length Microsoft uses for role-based exams that may contain labs, and the exam page says you may have interactive components to complete. You can open Microsoft Learn in a split screen during the exam, but the clock keeps running while you read.
You need 700 on a scale of 1 to 1,000. Microsoft uses scaled scoring, so 700 doesn’t mean 70 percent of the questions correct. Microsoft sets the passing line from the skills needed to show competence and the difficulty of the questions, so don’t try to convert your result into a percentage.
SC-500 costs $165 USD in the United States as of October 2026, the same as other Microsoft associate exams. Prices are set by country, and taxes are extra. You book it through Pearson VUE at a test center or as an online proctored exam. Training Camp’s Cloud and AI Security Engineer boot camp includes the SC-500 exam voucher and a free retake.
No. SC-500 doesn’t appear on the DoD 8140 Qualification Matrix. The matrix version in use, V2.1, took effect September 19, 2025, months before Microsoft released SC-500, so it won’t satisfy a cyber-coded position requirement by itself. If a cloud security role needs 8140 coverage, CCSP is on the matrix. See the full DoD 8140 work role paths.
Like other Microsoft role-based certifications, the Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate is valid for one year, and renewal is free. Once your six-month renewal window opens, you pass a short, unproctored, open-book assessment on Microsoft Learn that takes about 45 minutes, and the certification extends one year from its expiration date. You can retake the assessment as often as you need, as long as you pass before the certification expires.
SC-500 fits security engineering roles built on Microsoft clouds: cloud security engineer, AI security engineer, identity and access engineer, DevSecOps engineer, security operations engineer, and security consultant at a Microsoft partner. It also counts toward the Security Solutions Partner designation, which is one reason partners ask for it. Employers read it as evidence you can configure Entra ID, Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, and the new AI controls yourself.
Pick by cloud. SC-500 is a 120-minute, $165 Microsoft associate exam on Azure, hybrid, Microsoft 365, and AI workload security, and it renews free every year. The AWS Certified Security Specialty (SCS-C03) is a 65-question, 170-minute, $300 exam on AWS security services, valid for three years. If your employer runs on Azure and Microsoft 365, take SC-500. If it runs on AWS, take the Security Specialty. In a multicloud shop holding both is reasonable, and SC-500 already touches AWS through the Defender for Cloud connectors.
SC-500 is an associate exam that assumes hands-on time, and the hard part is range. One sitting can move from Conditional Access and Key Vault firewall settings to Azure Firewall, AKS and App Service controls, Sentinel data collection rules, and Security Copilot plugins. The AI tasks add consoles many Azure engineers haven’t opened, including Microsoft Purview and the Microsoft 365 admin center. Plan on lab time in a trial subscription alongside the reading, and don’t count on looking answers up in Microsoft Learn during the exam, because the clock keeps running.
For security engineers who work in Azure and Microsoft 365, yes. It’s Microsoft’s associate certification for securing Azure infrastructure now that AZ-500 is gone, it costs $165, it renews free, it meets the associate prerequisite for the SC-100 Cybersecurity Architect Expert, and it counts toward the Microsoft partner Security designation. It’s a weaker fit if you work mainly in AWS or Google Cloud, need a DoD 8140 credential, or haven’t administered Azure yet, where AZ-104 is the better first step.
If you’re moving from AZ-500, planning the Microsoft security path, or arranging SC-500 training for a team, tell us where you are and we’ll help you map out the right path.