Security+ (SY0-701) Study Guide
Articles covering CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) exam objectives. These guides focus on security concepts, threats, vulnerabilities, architecture, and incident response topics essential for the Security+ certification.
Security+ Objective 1.1: Compare and Contrast Various Types of Security Controls
Learn about the different categories of security controls (Technical, Managerial, Operational, Physical) and control types (Preventive, Deterrent, Detective, Corrective, Compensating, Directive). This comprehensive guide covers how security controls work together to create a defense-in-depth strategy and protect organizational assets from various threats and vulnerabilities.
Security+ Objective 1.2: Summarize Fundamental Security Concepts
Master the fundamental security concepts including the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability), AAA framework (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting), Zero Trust architecture, physical security measures, and deception technology. This comprehensive guide covers how these concepts work together to create a robust security foundation for modern organizations.
Security+ Objective 1.3: Explain the Importance of Change Management Processes and the Impact to Security
Learn about the critical importance of change management processes for maintaining security in dynamic IT environments. This comprehensive guide covers business processes impacting security operations, technical implications of changes, documentation requirements, and version control. Understand how proper change management prevents security vulnerabilities and maintains system integrity.
Security+ Objective 1.4: Explain the Importance of Using Appropriate Cryptographic Solutions
Master the essential cryptographic solutions including PKI, encryption methods, cryptographic tools, obfuscation techniques, hashing, digital signatures, and certificate management. This comprehensive guide covers how to select and implement appropriate cryptographic solutions for different security requirements and scenarios.
Security+ Objective 2.1: Compare and Contrast Common Threat Actors and Motivations
Learn about different types of threat actors including nation-state, unskilled attackers, hacktivists, insider threats, organized crime, and shadow IT. This comprehensive guide covers threat actor attributes, motivations, and how to develop appropriate defense strategies based on threat actor analysis.
Security+ Objective 2.2: Explain Common Threat Vectors and Attack Surfaces
Master the common threat vectors including message-based, file-based, voice, removable devices, vulnerable software, unsecure networks, and social engineering attacks. This comprehensive guide covers how attackers exploit different vectors and how to reduce your organization's attack surface.
Security+ Objective 2.3: Explain Various Types of Vulnerabilities
Learn about vulnerabilities across the technology stack including application flaws, OS weaknesses, web-based vulnerabilities, hardware issues, cloud-specific risks, supply chain concerns, and mobile device vulnerabilities. This comprehensive guide covers identification, assessment, and remediation strategies for all vulnerability types.
Security+ Objective 2.4: Given a Scenario, Analyze Indicators of Malicious Activity
Master the analysis of malicious activity indicators including malware attacks, physical threats, network attacks, application exploits, cryptographic attacks, and password attacks. This comprehensive guide covers detection techniques, indicator correlation, and incident response strategies for identifying and responding to security threats.
Security+ Objective 2.5: Explain the Purpose of Mitigation Techniques Used to Secure the Enterprise
Learn about essential mitigation techniques including segmentation, access control, application allow listing, isolation, patching, encryption, monitoring, least privilege, configuration enforcement, decommissioning, and comprehensive hardening strategies. This guide covers how to implement defense-in-depth security protecting enterprise environments.
Security+ Objective 3.1: Compare and Contrast Security Implications of Different Architecture Models
Master the security implications of architecture models including cloud computing, IaC, serverless, microservices, network infrastructure, IoT, ICS/SCADA, and embedded systems. This comprehensive guide covers shared responsibility, hybrid cloud, containerization, virtualization, and architectural trade-offs for security, availability, and scalability.
Security+ Objective 3.2: Given a Scenario, Apply Security Principles to Secure Enterprise Infrastructure
Learn how to apply security principles to enterprise infrastructure including device placement, security zones, attack surface reduction, network appliances, port security, firewall types, VPNs, and secure access technologies. This comprehensive guide covers infrastructure security design, control selection, and defense-in-depth strategies.
Security+ Objective 3.3: Compare and Contrast Concepts and Strategies to Protect Data
Master data protection concepts including data types, classification levels, data states, and protection methods. This comprehensive guide covers encryption, hashing, masking, tokenization, obfuscation, and strategies for protecting regulated data, intellectual property, and sensitive information across all data states.
Security+ Objective 3.4: Explain the Importance of Resilience and Recovery in Security Architecture
Learn about resilience and recovery including high availability, site considerations, platform diversity, continuity of operations, capacity planning, testing methods, backup strategies, and power resilience. This comprehensive guide covers designing systems that maintain operations during failures and recover quickly from disasters.
Security+ Objective 4.1: Given a Scenario, Apply Common Security Techniques to Computing Resources
Master applying security techniques to computing resources including secure baselines, hardening for mobile devices, workstations, servers, network infrastructure, cloud, ICS/SCADA, and IoT. This comprehensive guide covers wireless security, mobile device management, application security, sandboxing, and monitoring for diverse computing environments.
Security+ Objective 4.2: Explain the Security Implications of Proper Hardware, Software, and Data Asset Management
Learn about asset management throughout the lifecycle including acquisition and procurement, assignment and accountability, monitoring and tracking, and disposal and decommissioning. This comprehensive guide covers inventory management, asset classification, sanitization methods, destruction procedures, and data retention requirements.
Security+ Objective 4.3: Explain Various Activities Associated with Vulnerability Management
Master vulnerability management including identification methods (scanning, penetration testing, threat feeds), analysis using CVSS and CVE, prioritization strategies, response and remediation approaches, validation procedures, and reporting. This comprehensive guide covers the complete vulnerability management lifecycle from discovery through validated remediation.
Security+ Objective 4.4: Explain Security Alerting and Monitoring Concepts and Tools
Learn about security monitoring for systems, applications, and infrastructure including log aggregation, alerting, scanning, reporting, archiving, and alert response. This comprehensive guide covers monitoring tools including SIEM, SCAP, antivirus, DLP, SNMP, NetFlow, and vulnerability scanners for comprehensive security visibility.
Security+ Objective 4.5: Given a Scenario, Modify Enterprise Capabilities to Enhance Security
Master modifying security capabilities including firewalls, IDS/IPS, web filters, OS security, secure protocols, DNS filtering, email security, FIM, DLP, NAC, EDR/XDR, and user behavior analytics. This comprehensive guide covers configuration, tuning, and optimization of enterprise security tools for maximum protection.
Security+ Objective 4.6: Given a Scenario, Implement and Maintain Identity and Access Management
Learn about identity and access management including account provisioning and de-provisioning, permission assignments, identity proofing, federation, SSO, access control models, multifactor authentication, password best practices, and privileged access management. This comprehensive guide covers implementing comprehensive IAM protecting organizational resources.
Security+ Objective 4.7: Explain the Importance of Automation and Orchestration Related to Secure Operations
Master automation and orchestration including use cases (provisioning, guard rails, ticketing, CI/CD, APIs), benefits (efficiency, baseline enforcement, scaling, workforce multiplication), and considerations (complexity, cost, single points of failure, technical debt). This comprehensive guide covers leveraging automation for effective security operations.
Security+ Objective 4.8: Explain Appropriate Incident Response Activities
Learn the incident response process including preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned. This comprehensive guide covers training and testing, root cause analysis, threat hunting, and digital forensics including legal hold, chain of custody, acquisition, and e-discovery.
Security+ Objective 4.9: Given a Scenario, Use Data Sources to Support an Investigation
Master using investigative data sources including log data (firewall, application, endpoint, OS-specific, IPS/IDS, network, metadata) and other sources (vulnerability scans, automated reports, dashboards, packet captures). This comprehensive guide covers analyzing and correlating data sources for effective security investigations.
Security+ Objective 5.1: Summarize Elements of Effective Security Governance
Learn about security governance including guidelines, policies, standards, and procedures, external considerations (regulatory, legal, industry), monitoring and revision, governance structures (boards, committees, centralized/decentralized), and roles and responsibilities for systems and data. This comprehensive guide covers establishing effective security governance.
Security+ Objective 5.2: Explain Elements of the Risk Management Process
Master risk management including identification, assessment approaches, analysis methods (qualitative, quantitative, SLE, ALE, ARO), risk registers, tolerance and appetite, management strategies (transfer, accept, avoid, mitigate), reporting, and business impact analysis (RTO, RPO, MTTR, MTBF). This comprehensive guide covers systematic risk handling.
Security+ Objective 5.3: Explain the Processes Associated with Third-Party Risk Assessment and Management
Learn about third-party risk management including vendor assessment (penetration testing, right-to-audit, internal audits, independent assessments, supply chain analysis), vendor selection (due diligence, conflict of interest), agreement types (SLA, MOA, MOU, MSA, WO/SOW, NDA, BPA), vendor monitoring, questionnaires, and rules of engagement. This comprehensive guide covers managing supply chain and vendor risks.
Security+ Objective 5.4: Summarize Elements of Effective Security Compliance
Master security compliance including compliance reporting (internal, external), consequences of non-compliance (fines, sanctions, reputational damage, loss of license, contractual impacts), compliance monitoring (due diligence/care, attestation, internal/external, automation), and privacy (legal implications, data subjects, controllers vs processors, data inventory, retention, right to be forgotten). This comprehensive guide covers regulatory compliance and privacy protection.
Security+ Objective 5.5: Explain Types and Purposes of Audits and Assessments
Learn about audits and assessments including attestation, internal audits (compliance, audit committee, self-assessments), external audits (regulatory, examinations, independent third-party), and penetration testing (physical, offensive/defensive/integrated, environment types, reconnaissance). This comprehensive guide covers security validation and compliance verification through systematic evaluation.
Security+ Objective 5.6: Given a Scenario, Implement Security Awareness Practices
Master security awareness including phishing (campaigns, recognition, response), anomalous behavior recognition (risky, unexpected, unintentional), user guidance and training (policies, situational awareness, insider threats, passwords, removable media, social engineering, OPSEC, remote work), and program development (initial, recurring, reporting). This comprehensive guide covers building human security defenses through education and awareness.