Shared Responsibility in Azure SaaS

AZ-900 By islever Editorial Last updated

Describe cloud service types

Short answer

A Identity and directory infrastructure management is the responsibility shared between Microsoft and the customer in a SaaS environment.

Question

In the software as a service (SaaS) cloud service, which responsibility is shared between Microsoft and the customer?
  1. identity and directory infrastructure management Correct Answer
  2. application management
  3. information and data management
  4. operating system updates

Key Takeaways

The exam tests knowledge of the SaaS shared responsibility model, where customers share identity management but retain full responsibility for their data.

This question tests the Azure Shared Responsibility Model for Software as a Service (SaaS) environments. It establishes that identity and directory infrastructure management is the specific responsibility shared between Microsoft and the customer.

Common mistake: Many candidates incorrectly select 'Information and data management' (C), mistakenly believing that because they control the data, it is shared. In reality, under SaaS, data management is entirely the customer's responsibility, not shared.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

In a Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment, the cloud provider (Microsoft) manages the entire stack including the application, runtime, and underlying infrastructure. However, Identity and Directory Infrastructure Management is explicitly classified as a shared responsibility. While Microsoft provides the technical infrastructure (like Azure AD), the customer is responsible for managing user identities, access policies, and directory configurations within that environment.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Options B and D are incorrect because Application Management and Operating System updates are fully managed by Microsoft in a SaaS model; the customer has no administrative access to these layers. Option C is incorrect because Information and Data Management is solely the customer's responsibility; while Microsoft ensures the security of the platform hosting the data, the governance and classification of the data itself rest entirely with the customer.

Community Comment Notes

The community consensus strongly supports option A, with multiple users citing the official Microsoft Learn documentation on the shared responsibility model. Comments emphasize that while data is the customer's sole duty, identity is the distinct area of collaboration. One commenter noted that confusing data management with shared duties is a common trap, reinforcing why A is the only valid choice for 'shared'.

Official Reference

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

Memorize the three pillars of the shared responsibility model: Security OF the cloud (Provider), Security IN the cloud (Customer), and Shared responsibilities. For SaaS, always recall that Identity is the key shared element, whereas Data is always Customer-only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is data management not shared in SaaS?

In SaaS, Microsoft handles all platform security, so the customer retains 100% responsibility for their own data governance and classification.

Does the customer manage OS updates in SaaS?

No, operating system updates are fully managed by Microsoft in SaaS. The customer never touches the underlying infrastructure or OS layer.

More AZ-900 FAQ →

Community Votes

A
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 18 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 18

  1. Midorix 👍 14 Answered A
    A is correct check already posted link https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility
  2. daloslav 👍 3
    A ( identity and directory infrastructure management ) is correct answer. If you check shared responsibility model, you can see that for SaaS: Identity and Directory Infrastructure Management = responsibility SHARED between Microsoft and customer Information and Data = only Customer responsiblity!
  3. NadirM_18 👍 3
    Answer is correct according to this link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility
  4. manusha96 👍 2 Answered A
    Correct https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility according to above link shared responsibility is Identity and directory infrastructure management
  5. PPV20 👍 2 Answered A
    A is the right answer. Data is completely customer's responsibility. Question is asking about shared responsibility. So it is Identity and Directory Infrastructure
Show 13 more comments
  1. SEENEW 👍 2 Answered A
    Got this question today 2025-1-9
  2. Super63 👍 1
    As you consider and evaluate public cloud services, it's critical to understand the shared responsibility model and which security tasks the cloud provider handles and which tasks you handle. The workload responsibilities vary depending on whether the workload is hosted on Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), or in an on-premises datacenter. In SaaS, the only shared responsibilty between Microasoft and the customer is "identity and directory infrastructure" See the following link for a nice little chart https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility
  3. 4f13cca 👍 1 Answered A
    If you look at the graph of Microsoft Learn you can clearly see that "Identity and directory infrastructure" is classified as "Shared", while information and data is marked as customer. So answer should be A https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility
  4. Alsari 👍 1
    A is correct https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility
  5. Woogiiee 👍 1 Answered C
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility Answer: C
  6. blkrn2828 👍 1
    C. is correct according to ChatGPT.
  7. pompali42 👍 1
    i got bluescreen rightnow. A or C?
  8. Jacksoms 👍 1 Answered C
    C. information and data management
  9. i_scream9 👍 3 Answered A
    A is correct
  10. pompali42 👍 1 Answered C
    when i go with my feelings C
  11. Coki0104 👍 1
    it's c!!
  12. Ues 👍 1
    ES LA C
  13. Futilesteps 👍 1 Answered C
    It's C

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