When conducting a password spray attack simulation using the Attack Simulator in Microsoft Defender for Office 365, what is the primary goal?

The primary goal of conducting a password spray attack simulation using the Attack Simulator in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is to test the strength of user passwords across the organization. This type of attack simulates an approach where an attacker attempts to access a large number of accounts by trying a few common passwords across those accounts rather than focusing on just one account with multiple password attempts.

By performing this simulation, organizations can identify weak passwords that users may have set, allowing security teams to address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by actual attackers. This proactive measure can help improve the overall security posture by enforcing password policies, conducting user training on the importance of strong passwords, and potentially implementing multi-factor authentication to add an additional layer of security.

The other options do not align with the specific focus of a password spray simulation. Assessing malware detection performance or email filter effectiveness pertains to different aspects of security, while evaluating incident response responsiveness is unrelated to password strength assessment. Thus, testing user password strength is the distinct purpose of this simulation.