CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701)

Course Name: CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701)

Course Overview:
CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 is an internationally recognized, vendor-neutral certification that validates foundational skills in cybersecurity. This course equips learners with essential knowledge to secure networks, manage risk, and respond to threats in today’s dynamic IT environments. It is designed for IT professionals aiming to establish or advance a career in cybersecurity.

Why We Need It:
With the increasing frequency of cyberattacks and data breaches, organizations require skilled professionals to protect critical systems and sensitive information. Security+ provides the core competencies needed to identify vulnerabilities, implement security controls, and ensure compliance with industry standards.

How It Is Useful:

• Builds practical cybersecurity skills, including risk management, threat analysis, and incident response.
• Prepares students for roles such as Security Analyst, Network Administrator, Systems Administrator, and IT Auditor.
• Aligns with industry standards and best practices, including NIST and ISO frameworks.
• Enhances career prospects and credibility in the cybersecurity field.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities – Identify, analyze, and mitigate cybersecurity threats.
2. Architecture and Design – Secure network architecture, cloud, and hybrid environments.
3. Implementation – Secure protocols, wireless security, endpoint protection, and access controls.
4. Operations and Incident Response – Monitoring, logging, digital forensics, and responding to incidents.
5. Governance, Risk, and Compliance – Policies, regulations, risk management frameworks, and security awareness.

Course Benefits:

• Hands-on lab exercises and scenario-based learning.
• Prepares for the CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 certification exam, a globally recognized credential.
• Opens opportunities for higher-paying roles in cybersecurity.

Exam & Renewal Information:

• Exam Code: SY0-701
• Format: Multiple-choice and performance-based questions
• Duration: 90 minutes (maximum)
• Number of Questions: Up to 90
• Passing Score: 750/900
• Validity: Certification is valid for 3 years
• Renewal: Through Continuing Education (CE) activities such as additional certifications, training, or work experience.

Conclusion:
CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 is an essential stepping stone for anyone looking to start or advance in a cybersecurity career. It provides foundational knowledge and practical skills that are highly valued by employers worldwide, ensuring that IT professionals can effectively protect digital assets in an increasingly complex threat landscape.

CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) – Course Information

• Current Version: SY0-701 (launched November 2023)
• Previous Version: SY0-601 (retired July 2024)
• Exam Duration: 90 minutes
• Number of Questions: Maximum of 90 (multiple-choice and performance-based)
• Passing Score: 750 (on a scale of 100–900)
• Exam Languages: English (additional languages released over time)
• Recommended Experience: CompTIA Network+ and 2 years of IT with a security focus (not required)
• Certification Validity: 3 years (can be renewed through CompTIA’s Continuing Education program)
• Target Audience: IT professionals, Network/System Administrators, SOC Analysts, Security Administrators, and anyone starting a career in cybersecurity

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Exam Objectives

Domain	% of Exam
1.0 General Security Concepts	12%
2.0 Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations	22%
3.0 Security Architecture	18%
4.0 Security Operations	28%
5.0 Security Program Management and Oversight	20%
Total	100%

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1.0 General Security Concepts (12%)

1.1 Compare and contrast security controls

• Categories: Technical, Managerial, Operational, Physical
• Control types: Preventive, Deterrent, Detective, Corrective, Compensating, Directive

1.2 Summarize fundamental security concepts

• CIA Triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability
• Non-repudiation
• AAA: Authentication, Authorization, Accounting (people & systems)
• Gap analysis
• Zero Trust
  • Control Plane: adaptive identity, policy-driven access control
  • Data Plane: implicit trust zones, subject/system, policy enforcement
• Physical security: bollards, access vestibules, fences, video surveillance, guards, access badges, lighting, sensors (IR, pressure, microwave, ultrasonic)
• Deception & disruption: honeypots, honeynets, honeyfiles, honeytokens

1.3 Change management importance

• Business processes: approvals, ownership, stakeholders, impact analysis, test/backout plan, maintenance window, SOP
• Technical impact: allow/deny lists, downtime, restarts, legacy/dependencies
• Documentation: diagrams, policies, version control

1.4 Cryptographic solutions

• PKI: public/private keys, key escrow
• Encryption: full-disk, file, volume, database, transport, symmetric/asymmetric, key length, key exchange, algorithms
• Tools: TPM, HSM, KMS, secure enclave
• Obfuscation: steganography, tokenization, data masking
• Hashing, salting, digital signatures, key stretching, blockchain, certificates (CA, CRL, OCSP, self-signed, third-party, CSR, wildcard)

1.5 Threat actors & motivations

• Actors: nation-state, unskilled, hacktivist, insider, organized crime, shadow IT
• Attributes: internal/external, resources, sophistication
• Motivations: data exfiltration, espionage, disruption, financial gain, revenge, chaos, political/philosophical, war

1.6 Threat vectors & attack surfaces

• Message-based: email, SMS, IM
• Image/file/voice-based
• Removable media
• Vulnerable software (client-based vs agentless)
• Unsupported systems
• Unsecure networks: wireless, wired, Bluetooth
• Open service ports, default credentials
• Supply chain: MSPs, vendors, suppliers
• Human/social engineering: phishing, vishing, smishing, misinformation, impersonation, BEC, pretexting, watering hole, brand impersonation, typosquatting

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2.0 Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations (22%)

2.1 Vulnerability types

• Application: memory injection, buffer overflow, race conditions (TOC/TOU), malicious update
• OS-based, web-based (SQLi, XSS)
• Hardware: firmware, end-of-life, legacy
• Virtualization: VM escape, resource reuse
• Cloud-specific
• Supply chain: service/hardware/software providers
• Cryptographic, misconfiguration, mobile devices (sideloading, jailbreaking), zero-day

2.2 Indicators of malicious activity

• Malware: ransomware, trojan, worm, spyware, bloatware, virus, keylogger, logic bomb, rootkit
• Physical attacks: brute force, RFID cloning, environmental
• Network: DDoS (amplified/reflected), DNS attacks, wireless, on-path, credential replay, malicious code
• Application: injection, buffer overflow, replay, privilege escalation, forgery, directory traversal
• Cryptographic: downgrade, collision, birthday
• Password attacks: spraying, brute force
• Indicators: account lockout, concurrent sessions, blocked content, impossible travel, resource issues, missing logs

2.3 Mitigation techniques

• Segmentation, access control (ACL, permissions)
• Application allow listing, isolation, patching, encryption, monitoring
• Least privilege, configuration enforcement, decommissioning
• Hardening: endpoint protection, firewall, HIPS, disabling ports, password changes, remove unnecessary software

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3.0 Security Architecture (18%)

3.1 Security implications of architecture models

• Infrastructure concepts: cloud, hybrid, IaC, serverless, microservices, network infra, physical isolation/air-gapped, SDN, containerization, virtualization, IoT, ICS/SCADA, RTOS, embedded, HA
• Considerations: availability, resilience, cost, responsiveness, scalability, deployment, patching, power, compute

3.2 Secure enterprise infrastructure

• Device placement & security zones
• Attack surface & connectivity
• Fail-open/fail-closed
• Devices: jump/proxy server, IPS/IDS, load balancer, sensors
• Port security: 802.1X, EAP
• Firewalls: WAF, UTM, NGFW, Layer 4/7
• Secure communication: VPN, remote access, TLS/IPSec tunneling, SD-WAN, SASE
• Effective control selection

3.3 Protect data

• Data types: regulated, trade secret, IP, legal, financial, human/non-human readable
• Classification: sensitive, confidential, public, restricted, private, critical
• Data states: at rest, in transit, in use
• Sovereignty & geolocation
• Protection methods: encryption, hashing, masking, tokenization, obfuscation, segmentation, permissions

3.4 Resilience & recovery

• HA: load balancing vs clustering
• Site considerations: hot, cold, warm, geographic dispersion
• Platform diversity, multi-cloud, continuity of ops
• Capacity planning: people, tech, infra
• Testing: tabletop, failover, simulation, parallel processing
• Backups: onsite/offsite, frequency, encryption, snapshots, replication, journaling
• Power: generators, UPS

3.5 Security techniques for computing resources

• Secure baselines: establish, deploy, maintain
• Hardening: mobile, workstations, switches, routers, cloud infra, servers, ICS/SCADA, embedded, RTOS, IoT
• Wireless: site surveys, heat maps, WPA3, AAA/RADIUS
• Mobile solutions: MDM, BYOD, COPE, CYOD, connection types
• Application security: input validation, secure cookies, static code analysis, code signing, sandboxing, monitoring

3.6 Asset management

• Acquisition/procurement
• Assignment/accounting (ownership, classification)
• Monitoring/tracking: inventory, enumeration
• Disposal: sanitization, destruction, certification, retention

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4.0 Security Operations (28%)

4.1 Vulnerability management

• Identification: scans, static/dynamic analysis, threat feeds (OSINT, proprietary, dark web), penetration testing, bug bounties, audits
• Analysis: confirm false positives/negatives, prioritize, CVSS/CVE, classification, exposure factor, organizational impact, risk tolerance
• Response: patching, insurance, segmentation, compensating controls, exceptions
• Validation: rescanning, audit, verification
• Reporting

4.2 Security alerting & monitoring

• Monitor: systems, apps, infra
• Activities: log aggregation, alerting, scanning, reporting, archiving, alert response/quarantine, tuning
• Tools: SCAP, benchmarks, agents/agentless, SIEM, antivirus, DLP, SNMP traps, NetFlow, vulnerability scanners

4.3 Modify enterprise capabilities

• Firewalls, IDS/IPS, web filters, OS security (GPO, SELinux)
• Secure protocols, DNS filtering
• Email security: DMARC, DKIM, SPF, gateway
• File integrity monitoring, DLP, NAC, EDR/XDR, user behavior analytics

4.4 Identity & access management

• Provisioning/de-provisioning, permissions, identity proofing
• Federation, SSO (LDAP, OAuth, SAML)
• Access controls: mandatory, discretionary, role-based, rule-based, attribute-based, time-of-day, least privilege
• MFA: biometrics, tokens, security keys; factors: knowledge, possession, inherence, location
• Password concepts: best practices, password managers, passwordless
• Privileged access management: just-in-time, password vaulting, ephemeral credentials

4.5 Automation & orchestration

• Use cases: user/resource provisioning, guardrails, security groups, tickets, escalation, CI/CD, APIs
• Benefits: efficiency, baselines, scaling, workforce multiplier, reaction time
• Considerations: complexity, cost, single point of failure, technical debt, ongoing support

4.6 Incident response

• Process: preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, lessons learned
• Training, tabletop exercises, simulation
• Root cause analysis, threat hunting, digital forensics (legal hold, chain of custody, acquisition, reporting, preservation, e-discovery)

4.7 Data sources for investigation

• Logs: firewall, application, endpoint, OS security, IPS/IDS, network, metadata
• Other: vulnerability scans, automated reports, dashboards, packet captures

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5.0 Security Program Management and Oversight (20%)

5.1 Security governance

• Guidelines, policies (AUP, info security, BC/DR, IR, SDLC, change mgmt)
• Standards: password, access, physical, encryption
• Procedures: change mgmt, onboarding/offboarding, playbooks
• External: regulatory, legal, industry, local/regional, national, global
• Governance structures: boards, committees, government entities, centralized/decentralized
• Roles/responsibilities: owners, controllers, processors, custodians/stewards

5.2 Risk management

• Identification, assessment (ad hoc, recurring, one-time, continuous)
• Analysis: qualitative/quantitative, SLE, ALE, ARO, probability, exposure, impact
• Risk register: indicators, owners, thresholds
• Risk tolerance/appetite: expansionary, conservative, neutral
• Strategies: transfer, accept (exemption/exception), avoid, mitigate
• Reporting & business impact: RTO, RPO, MTTR, MTBF

5.3 Third-party risk

• Vendor assessment: pen testing, right-to-audit, internal audits, independent assessments, supply chain analysis
• Vendor selection: due diligence, conflict of interest
• Agreements: SLA, MOA, MOU, MSA, SOW, NDA, BPA
• Vendor monitoring: questionnaires, rules of engagement

5.4 Compliance

• Reporting: internal/external
• Consequences: fines, sanctions, reputational damage, loss of license, contractual impacts
• Monitoring: due diligence, attestation, automation
• Privacy: legal implications (local, national, global), data subject, controller vs processor, ownership, inventory/retention, right to be forgotten

5.5 Audits & assessments

• Attestation, internal (audit committee, self-assessment), external (regulatory, independent audits)
• Penetration testing: physical, offensive, defensive, integrated, known/partially known/unknown environment, reconnaissance (passive/active)

5.6 Security awareness

Development & execution

Phishing campaigns, recognition, response

Anomalous behavior: risky, unexpected, unintentional

User guidance: policy, situational awareness, insider threat, password management, removable media, social engineering, operational security, hybrid/remote

Reporting & monitoring: initial, recurring