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Microsoft GH-500 Exam Syllabus

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Before starting your GH-500 exam preparation, it is recommended to review the complete Microsoft GitHub Advanced Security Exam syllabus and carefully go through the exam objectives listed below. Once you understand the exam structure and objectives, you should practice using our free GH-500 questions. We also provide premium GH-500 practice test, fully updated according to the latest exam objectives, to help you accurately assess your preparedness for the actual exam.

Microsoft
Vendor
GH-500
Exam Code
75
Total Questions
6
Total Exam Domains

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GH-500 EXAM QUESTIONS

Microsoft GH-500 Exam Objectives

Section 1: Describe GitHub Security suites, features, and ecosystem
Weight:
15-20%
Understand GitHub Security suites and architecture
  • Describe GitHub Security suite structure and navigation
  • Contrast Code Security, Secret Protection, and Supply Chain Security
  • Differentiate security feature availability for public repositories vs. enterprise environments
  • Explain features and benefits of the Security Overview
Apply secure SDLC and security strategies
  • Explain differences and interplay between Secret Protection and Code Security
  • Describe end-to-end secure SDLC using GitHub Security suites
  • Compare prevention-first approaches vs. gate-based security strategies
  • Explain security campaigns and their role in reducing risk
Detect, manage, and respond to security alerts
  • Identify vulnerability and secret detection mechanisms
  • Choose and act on security alerts (alert management, policies, workflows)
  • Explain implications and best practices for ignoring or dismissing alerts
  • Describe developer, security, and admin responsibilities for alerts and remediation
Manage access, governance, and supply chain security
  • Explain alert access management, roles, delegated bypass, and enforcement
  • Describe supply chain security concepts and alert information across the SDLC
Section 2: Configure and use Secret Protection (formerly secret scanning)
Weight:
15-20%
Enable and configure Secret Protection
  • Enable GitHub Secret Protection at the repository and organization levels
  • Configure Secret Protection settings and feature availability
  • Contrast Secret Protection behavior for public vs. private/enterprise repositories
Prevent secret exposure
  • Explain Push Protection and how it prevents secrets at the source
  • Describe validity checks and prioritized alerting for high-confidence secrets
Manage and respond to Secret Protection alerts
  • Describe the Secret Protection alert lifecycle (creation, status, dismissal)
  • Respond to secret alerts and apply appropriate remediation actions
  • Explain implications and best practices for dismissing or ignoring alerts
Control access, policies, and customization
  • Explain role-based and delegated bypass policies in Secret Protection
  • Configure alert recipients and exclusions
  • Create and manage custom secret patterns
Section 3: Configure and use supply chain security (formerly Dependabot/Dependency Review)
Weight:
15-20%
Understand and manage dependency and supply chain risks
  • Comprehensive dependency security (tools, vulnerability databases, SBOMs)
  • Generate and interpret the dependency graph
  • SBOM usage: export options, formats, and supply chain context
Detect, prioritize, and respond to supply chain alerts
  • Supply chain alerts and security updates (prioritization, EPSS scoring)
  • Remediating supply chain alerts through campaigns and pull requests
  • Auto-dismiss behavior and security campaign configuration
Secure dependencies during development
  • Dependency Review (pre-merge checks, license and compliance validation, configuration)
  • Advanced dependency update rules (grouping, auto-dismiss, update strategies)
Configure policies, permissions, and integrations
  • Permissions and role-based alert assignment
  • Workflow management for dependency and supply chain security
  • External notifications, webhooks, and security integrations
Section 4: Configure and use Code Security (formerly Code Scanning with CodeQL)
Weight:
10-15%
Understand code scanning approaches and tooling
  • Native and third-party code scanning options
  • Choosing between CodeQL and third-party analysis tools
  • SARIF file ingestion, management, and interoperability
Set up and configure Code Security
  • Enable code security using GitHub Actions or external CI systems
  • Configure code scanning workflows and workflow templates
  • Use matrix builds and define appropriate scan frequency
Analyze, triage, and remediate code scanning results
  • Review scan results, including dataflow analysis insights
  • Alert lifecycles, autofix capabilities, and remediation workflows
  • Dismissing alerts and managing severity and category classifications
Optimize and automate Code Security operations
  • Advanced configuration and customization
  • Troubleshooting scan failures and performance issues
Section 5: Security operations: best practices, prioritization, and remediation
Weight:
15-20%
Understand vulnerability context and remediation frameworks
  • CVE, CWE, and GitHub Security Advisory concepts
  • End-to-end remediation workflows across security alerts and advisories
Prioritize and manage security work at scale
  • Defining, prioritizing, and enforcing severity and remediation rulesets
  • Campaign-based remediation strategies and bulk alert management
  • Automated alert dismissal and documentation practices
Customize and optimize security detection
  • Customizing CodeQL query suites and language-specific analysis
  • Tailoring security detection to organizational risk profiles
Collaborate across roles and enforce governance
  • Security roles, delegated exceptions, and alert ownership
  • Collaboration on alerts and security campaigns across teams
  • Cross-suite rulesets, policies, and enforcement mechanisms
Shift left and strengthen preventive security
  • Early vulnerability prevention through push protection, dependency scanning, and pre-merge analysis
Section 6: GitHub Security suites administration
Weight:
10-15%
Roll out and manage security features at scale
  • Enable GitHub Security Suites at enterprise, organization, and repository levels
  • Understand feature availability and differences across GitHub Enterprise Cloud and GitHub Enterprise Server
Configure security features and defaults
  • Enable Code Security (CodeQL), Secret Protection, and Supply Chain Security
  • Define default configurations and inheritance behavior
Define governance, access, and Code Security workflows
  • Define enterprise and organization security policies and rulesets
  • Configure enforcement boundaries, bypass permissions, and exceptions
  • Define administrator, security manager, and developer roles
  • Configure permissions for managing and dismissing security alerts
  • Enable and configure default or approved custom CodeQL workflows
  • Understand APIs and automation methods for large-scale security configuration and governance
Manage CodeQL and security automation
  • Enable and configure default or approved custom CodeQL workflows
  • Understand available APIs and automation methods for large-scale security configuration and governance
Info