Microsoft Security Administrator Associate (SC-500, succeeds AZ-500)

This is the security-operations credential on the Microsoft stack and it's riding two waves at once — the security shortage, and Microsoft pulling enterprise security spend into Defender, Sentinel and Entra. The exam map has shifted: AZ-500 retired on August 31, 2026, and new candidates now take SC-500.

Security administrators running Defender XDR, Sentinel SIEM, Entra ID protection and Purview. They work across the vast base of mid-market and enterprise customers committed to Microsoft.

Microsoft is steadily winning security wallet-share, and every E5 deal creates administration work this credential maps directly onto. As holders gain seniority, it stacks toward Microsoft's expert-tier security certs and eventually CISSP.

In the short term, the switch from AZ-500 to SC-500 blurs the signal. Longer term, Security Copilot is pointed squarely at automating tier-1 security operations — which is exactly the entry stratum this credential covers.