COMPTIA SY0-601 SECURITY+
1.0 Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities
2.0 Architecture and Design
3.0 Implementation
4.0 Operations and Incident Response
5.0 Governance, Risk, and Compliance
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CompTIA Security+ Certification Exam Objectives
EXAM NUMBER: SY0-601
About the Exam
Candidates are encouraged to use this document to help prepare for the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-601) certification exam. The CompTIA Security+ certification exam will verify the successful candidate has the knowledge and skills required to:
• Assess the security posture of an enterprise environment and recommend and implement appropriate security solutions
• Monitor and secure hybrid environments, including cloud, mobile, and IoT
• Operate with an awareness of applicable laws and policies, including principles of governance, risk, and compliance
• Identify, analyze, and respond to security events and incidents
This is equivalent to two years of hands-on experience working in a security/systems administrator job role.
These content examples are meant to clarify the test objectives and should not be construed as a comprehensive listing of all the content of this examination.
EXAM DEVELOPMENT
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PLEASE NOTE
The lists of examples provided in bulleted format are not exhaustive lists. Other examples of technologies, processes, or tasks pertaining to each objective may also be included on the exam although not listed or covered in this objectives document. CompTIA is constantly reviewing the content of our exams and updating test questions to be sure our exams are current, and the security of the questions is protected. When necessary, we will publish updated exams based on testing exam objectives. Please know that all related exam preparation materials will still be valid.
TEST DETAILS
Required exam SY0-601 Number of questions Maximum of 90
Types of questions Multiple choice and performance-based Length of test 90 minutes
Recommended experience • At least 2 years of work experience
in IT systems administration with a focus on security
• Hands-on technical information security experience
• Broad knowledge of security concepts
Passing score 750 (on a scale of 100–900)
EXAM OBJECTIVES (DOMAINS)
The table below lists the domains measured by this examination and the extent to which they are represented:
1.0 Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities 24%
2.0 Architecture and Design 21%
3.0 Implementation 25%
4.0 Operations and Incident Response 16%
5.0 Governance, Risk, and Compliance 14%
Total 100%
1.0 Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities
Compare and contrast different types of social engineering techniques.
• Phishing
• Smishing
• Vishing
• Spam
• Spam over Internet messaging (SPIM)
• Spear phishing
• Dumpster diving
• Shoulder surfing
• Pharming
• Tailgating
• Eliciting information
• Whaling
• Prepending
• Identity fraud
• Invoice scams
• Credential harvesting
• Reconnaissance
• Hoax
• Impersonation
• Watering hole attack
• Typo squatting
• Pretexting
• Influence campaigns
- Hybrid warfare
- Social media
• Principles (reasons for effectiveness)
- Authority
- Intimidation
- Consensus
- Scarcity
- Familiarity
- Trust
- Urgency
Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators to determine the type of attack.
• Malware
- Ransomware
- Trojans
- Worms
- Potentially unwanted programs (PUPs)
- Fileless virus
- Command and control
- Bots
- Cryptomalware
- Logic bombs
- Spyware
- Keyloggers
- Remote access Trojan (RAT)
- Rootkit
- Backdoor
• Password attacks
- Spraying
- Dictionary
- Brute force
- Offline
- Online
- Rainbow tables
- Plaintext/unencrypted
• Physical attacks
- Malicious universal serial bus (USB) cable
- Malicious flash drive
- Card cloning
- Skimming
• Adversarial artificial intelligence (AI)
- Tainted training data for machine learning (ML)
- Security of machine learning algorithms
• Supply-chain attacks
• Cloud-based vs. on-premises attacks
• Cryptographic attacks
- Birthday
- Collision
- Downgrade
Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators associated with application attacks.
• Privilege escalation
• Cross-site scripting
• Injections
- Structured query language (SQL)
- Dynamic link library (DLL)
- Lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP)
- Extensible markup language (XML)
• Pointer/object dereference
• Directory traversal
• Buffer overflows
• Race conditions
- Time of check/time of use
• Error handling
• Improper input handling
• Replay attack
- Session replays
• Integer overflow
• Request forgeries
- Server-side
- Client-side
- Cross-site
• Application programming interface (API) attacks
• Resource exhaustion
• Memory leak
• Secure sockets layer (SSL) stripping
• Driver manipulation
- Shimming
- Refactoring
• Pass the hash
Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators associated with network attacks.
• Wireless
- Evil twin
- Rogue access point
- Bluesnarfing
- Bluejacking
- Disassociation
- Jamming
- Radio frequency identifier (RFID)
- Near-field communication (NFC)
- Initialization vector (IV)
• Man-in-the-middle
• Man-in-the-browser
• Layer 2 attacks
- Address resolution protocol (ARP) poisoning
- Media access control (MAC) flooding
- MAC cloning
• Domain name system (DNS)
- Domain hijacking
- DNS poisoning
- Universal resource locator (URL) redirection
- Domain reputation
• Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
- Network
- Application
- Operational technology (OT)
• Malicious code or script execution
- PowerShell
- Python
- Bash
- Macros
- Virtual Basic for Applications (VBA)
Explain different threat actors, vectors, and intelligence sources.
• Actors and threats
- Advanced persistent threat (APT)
- Insider threats
- State actors
- Hacktivists
- Script kiddies
- Criminal syndicates
- Hackers
- White hat
- Black hat
- Gray hat
- Shadow IT
- Competitors
• Attributes of actors
- Internal/external
- Level of sophistication/capability
- Resources/funding
- Intent/motivation
• Vectors
- Direct access
- Wireless
- Email
- Supply chain
- Social media
- Removable media
- Cloud
• Threat intelligence sources
- Open source intelligence (OSINT)
- Closed/proprietary
- Vulnerability databases
- Public/private information- sharing centers
- Dark web
- Indicators of compromise
- Automated indicator sharing (AIS)
- Structured Threat Information eXpression (STIX)/Trusted Automated eXchange of Indicator Information (TAXII)
- Predictive analysis
- Threat maps
- File/code repositories
• Research sources
- Vendor websites
- Vulnerability feeds
- Conferences
- Academic journals
- Request for comments (RFC)
- Local industry groups
- Social media
- Threat feeds
-Adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP)
Explain the security concerns associated with various types of vulnerabilities.
• Cloud-based vs. on-premises vulnerabilities
• Zero-day
• Weak configurations
- Open permissions
- Unsecure root accounts
- Errors
- Weak encryption
- Unsecure protocols
- Default settings
- Open ports and services
• Third-party risks
- Vendor management
- System integration
- Lack of vendor support
- Supply chain
- Outsourced code development
- Data storage
• Improper or weak patch management
- Firmware
- Operating system (OS)
- Applications
• Legacy platforms
• Impacts
- Data loss
- Data breaches
- Data exfiltration
- Identity theft
- Financial
- Reputation
- Availability loss
Summarize the techniques used in security assessments.
• Threat hunting
- Intelligence fusion
- Threat feeds
- Advisories and bulletins
- Maneuver
• Vulnerability scans
- False positives
- False negatives
- Log reviews
- Credentialed vs. non-credentialed
- Intrusive vs. non-intrusive
- Application
- Web application
- Network
- Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)/Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
- Configuration review
• Syslog/Security information and event management (SIEM)
- Review reports
- Packet capture
- Data inputs
- User behavior analysis
- Sentiment analysis
- Security monitoring
- Log aggregation
- Log collectors
• Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR)
Explain the techniques used in penetration testing.
• Penetration testing
- White-box
- Black-box
- Gray-box
- Rules of engagement
- Lateral movement
- Privilege escalation
- Persistence
- Cleanup
- Bug bounty
- Pivoting
• Passive and active reconnaissance
- Drones/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
- War flying
- War driving
- Footprinting
- OSINT
• Exercise types
- Red-team
- Blue-team
- White-team
- Purple-team
2.0 Architecture and Design
Explain the importance of security concepts in an enterprise environment.
• Configuration management
- Diagrams
- Baseline configuration
- Standard naming conventions
- Internet protocol (IP) schema
• Data sovereignty
• Data protection
- Data loss prevention (DLP)
- Masking
- Encryption
- At rest
- In transit/motion
- In processing
- Tokenization
- Rights management
• Hardware security module (HSM)
• Geographical considerations
• Cloud access security broker (CASB)
• Response and recovery controls
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) inspection
• Hashing
• API considerations
• Site resiliency
- Hot site
- Cold site
- Warm site
• Deception and disruption
- Honeypots
- Honeyfiles
- Honeynets
- Fake telemetry
- DNS sinkhole
Summarize virtualization and cloud computing concepts.
• Cloud models
- Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
- Platform as a service (PaaS)
- Software as a service (SaaS)
- Anything as a service (XaaS)
- Public
- Community
- Private
- Hybrid
• Cloud service providers
• Managed service provider (MSP)/ managed security service provider (MSSP)
• On-premises vs. off-premises
• Fog computing
• Edge computing
• Thin client
• Containers
• Microservices/API
• Infrastructure as code
- Software-defined networking (SDN)
- Software-defined visibility (SDV)
• Serverless architecture
• Services integration
• Resource policies
• Transit gateway
• Virtualization
- Virtual machine (VM) sprawl avoidance
- VM escape protection
Summarize secure application development, deployment, and automation concepts.
• Environment
- Development
- Test
- Staging
- Production
- Quality assurance (QA)
• Provisioning and deprovisioning
• Integrity measurement
• Secure coding techniques
- Normalization
- Stored procedures
- Obfuscation/camouflage
- Code reuse/dead code
- Server-side vs. client-side execution and validation
- Memory management
- Use of third-party libraries and software development kits (SDKs)
- Data exposure
• Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)
• Software diversity
- Compiler
- Binary
• Automation/scripting
- Automated courses of action
- Continuous monitoring
- Continuous validation
- Continuous integration
- Continuous delivery
- Continuous deployment
• Elasticity
• Scalability
• Version control
Summarize authentication and authorization design concepts.
• Authentication methods
- Directory services
- Federation
- Attestation
- Technologies
- Time-based one-
time password (TOTP)
- HMAC-based one-time password (HOTP)
- Short message service (SMS)
- Token key
- Static codes
- Authentication applications
- Push notifications
- Phone call
- Smart card authentication
• Biometrics
- Fingerprint
- Retina
- Iris
- Facial
- Voice
- Vein
- Gait analysis
- Efficacy rates
- False acceptance
- False rejection
- Crossover error rate
• Multifactor authentication (MFA) factors and attributes
- Factors
- Something you know
- Something you have
- Something you are
- Attributes
- Somewhere you are
- Something you can do
- Something you exhibit
- Someone you know
• Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)
• Cloud vs. on-premises requirements
Given a scenario, implement cybersecurity resilience.
• Redundancy
- Geographic dispersal
- Disk
- Redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) levels
- Multipath
- Network
- Load balancers
- Network interface card (NIC) teaming
- Power
- Uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
- Generator
- Dual supply
- Managed power distribution units (PDUs)
• Replication
- Storage area network
- VM
• On-premises vs. cloud
• Backup types
- Full
- Incremental
- Snapshot
- Differential
- Tape
- Disk
- Copy
- Network-attached storage (NAS)
- Storage area network
- Cloud
- Image
- Online vs. offline
- Offsite storage
- Distance considerations
• Non-persistence
- Revert to known state
- Last known-good configuration
- Live boot media
• High availability
- Scalability
• Restoration order
• Diversity
- Technologies
- Vendors
- Crypto
- Controls
Explain the security implications of embedded and specialized systems.
• Embedded systems
- Raspberry Pi
- Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
- Arduino
• Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)/industrial control system (ICS)
- Facilities
- Industrial
- Manufacturing
- Energy
- Logistics
• Internet of Things (IoT)
- Sensors
- Smart devices
- Wearables
- Facility automation
- Weak defaults
• Specialized
- Medical systems
- Vehicles
- Aircraft
- Smart meters
• Voice over IP (VoIP)
• Heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC)
• Drones/AVs
• Multifunction printer (MFP)
• Real-time operating system (RTOS)
• Surveillance systems
• System on chip (SoC)
• Communication considerations
- 5G
- Narrow-band
- Baseband radio
- Subscriber identity module (SIM) cards
- Zigbee
• Constraints
- Power
- Compute
- Network
- Crypto
- Inability to patch
- Authentication
- Range
- Cost
- Implied trust
Explain the importance of physical security controls.
• Bollards/barricades
• Mantraps
• Badges
• Alarms
• Signage
• Cameras
- Motion recognition
- Object detection
• Closed-circuit television (CCTV)
• Industrial camouflage
• Personnel
- Guards
- Robot sentries
- Reception
- Two-person integrity/control
• Locks
- Biometrics
- Electronic
- Physical
- Cable locks
• USB data blocker
• Lighting
• Fencing
• Fire suppression
• Sensors
- Motion detection
- Noise detection
- Proximity reader
- Moisture detection
- Cards
- Temperature
• Drones/UAV
• Visitor logs
• Faraday cages
• Air gap
• Demilitarized zone (DMZ)
• Protected cable distribution
• Secure areas
- Air gap
- Vault
- Safe
- Hot aisle
- Cold aisle
• Secure data destruction
- Burning
- Shredding
- Pulping
- Pulverizing
- Degaussing
- Third-party solutions
Summarize the basics of cryptographic concepts.
• Digital signatures
• Key length
• Key stretching
• Salting
• Hashing
• Key exchange
• Elliptic-curve cryptography
• Perfect forward secrecy
• Quantum
- Communications
- Computing
• Post-quantum
• Ephemeral
• Modes of operation
- Authenticated
- Unauthenticated
- Counter
• Blockchain
- Public ledgers
• Cipher suites
- Stream
- Block
• Symmetric vs. asymmetric
• Lightweight cryptography
• Steganography
- Audio
- Video
- Image
• Homomorphic encryption
• Common use cases
- Low power devices
- Low latency
- High resiliency
- Supporting confidentiality
- Supporting integrity
- Supporting obfuscation
- Supporting authentication
- Supporting non-repudiation
- Resource vs. security constraints
• Limitations
- Speed
- Size
- Weak keys
- Time
- Longevity
- Predictability
- Reuse
- Entropy
- Computational overheads
- Resource vs. security constraints
Given a scenario, implement secure protocols.
• Protocols
- Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC)
- SSH
- Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME)
- Secure Real-time Protocol (SRTP)
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Over SSL (LDAPS)
- File Transfer Protocol, Secure (FTPS)
- SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
- Simple Network Management
Protocol, version 3 (SNMPv3)
- Hypertext transfer protocol over SSL/TLS (HTTPS)
- IPSec
- Authentication header (AH)/ Encapsulating Security Payloads (ESP)
- Tunnel/transport
- Secure Post Office Protocol (POP)/ Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
• Use cases
- Voice and video
- Time synchronization
- Email and web
- File transfer
- Directory services
- Remote access
- Domain name resolution
- Routing and switching
- Network address allocation
- Subscription services
Given a scenario, implement host or application security solutions.
• Endpoint protection
- Antivirus
- Anti-malware
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
- DLP
- Next-generation firewall (NGFW)
- Host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS)
- Host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS)
- Host-based firewall
• Boot integrity
- Boot security/Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
- Measured boot
- Boot attestation
• Database
- Tokenization
- Salting
- Hashing
• Application security
- Input validations
- Secure cookies
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) headers
- Code signing
- Whitelisting
- Blacklisting
- Secure coding practices
- Static code analysis
- Manual code review
- Dynamic code analysis
- Fuzzing
• Hardening
- Open ports and services
- Registry
- Disk encryption
- OS
- Patch management
- Third-party updates
- Auto-update
• Self-encrypting drive (SED)/ full-disk encryption (FDE)
- Opal
• Hardware root of trust
• Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
• Sandboxing
Given a scenario, implement secure network designs.
• Load balancing
- Active/active
- Active/passive
- Scheduling
- Virtual IP
- Persistence
• Network segmentation
- Virtual local area network (VLAN)
- DMZ
- East-west traffic
- Extranet
- Intranet
- Zero Trust
• Virtual private network (VPN)
- Always-on
- Split tunnel vs. full tunnel
- Remote access vs. site-to-site
- IPSec
- SSL/TLS
- HTML5
- Layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP)
• DNS
• Network access control (NAC)
- Agent and agentless
• Out-of-band management
• Port security
- Broadcast storm prevention
- Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) guard
- Loop prevention
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) snooping
- Media access
control (MAC) filtering
• Network appliances
- Jump servers
- Proxy servers
- Forward
- Reverse
- Network-based intrusion detection system (NIDS)/network-based intrusion prevention system (NIPS)
- Signature-based
- Heuristic/behavior
- Anomaly
- Inline vs. passive
- HSM
- Sensors
- Collectors
- Aggregators
- Firewalls
- Web application firewall (WAF)
- NGFW
- Stateful
- Stateless
- Unified threat management (UTM)
- Network address translation (NAT) gateway
- Content/URL filter
- Open-source vs. proprietary
- Hardware vs. software
- Appliance vs. host-based vs. virtual
• Access control list (ACL)
• Route security
• Quality of service (QoS)
• Implications of IPv6
• Port spanning/port mirroring
- Port taps
• Monitoring services
• File integrity monitors
Given a scenario, install and configure wireless security settings.
• Cryptographic protocols
- WiFi protected access II (WPA2)
- WiFi protected access III (WPA3)
- Counter-mode/CBC-MAC protocol (CCMP)
- Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE)
• Authentication protocols
- Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)
- Protected Extensible Application Protocol (PEAP)
- EAP-FAST
- EAP-TLS
- EAP-TTLS
- IEEE 802.1X
- Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS) Federation
• Methods
- Pre-shared key (PSK) vs. Enterprise vs. Open
- WiFi Protected Setup (WPS)
- Captive portals
• Installation considerations
- Site surveys
- Heat maps
- WiFi analyzers
- Channel overlays
- Wireless access point (WAP) placement
- Controller and access point security
Given a scenario, implement secure mobile solutions.
• Connection methods and receivers
- Cellular
- WiFi
- Bluetooth
- NFC
- Infrared
- USB
- Point-to-point
- Point-to-multipoint
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
- RFID
• Mobile device management (MDM)
- Application management
- Content management
- Remote wipe
- Geofencing
- Geolocation
- Screen locks
- Push notifications
- Passwords and pins
- Biometrics
- Context-aware authentication
- Containerization
- Storage segmentation
- Full device encryption
• Mobile devices
- MicroSD HSM
- MDM/Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
- Mobile application management (MAM)
- SEAndroid
• Enforcement and monitoring of:
- Third-party application stores
- Rooting/jailbreaking
- Sideloading
- Custom firmware
- Carrier unlocking
- Firmware over-the-air (OTA) updates
- Camera use
- SMS/Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)/Rich communication services (RCS)
- External media
- USB On-The-Go (USB OTG)
- Recording microphone
- GPS tagging
- WiFi direct/ad hoc
- Tethering
- Hotspot
- Payment methods
• Deployment models
- Bring your own device (BYOD)
- Corporate-owned personally enabled (COPE)
- Choose your own device (CYOD)
- Corporate-owned
- Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
Given a scenario, apply cybersecurity solutions to the cloud.
• Cloud security controls
- High availability across zones
- Resource policies
- Secrets management
- Integration and auditing
- Storage
- Permissions
- Encryption
- Replication
- High availability
- Network
- Virtual networks
- Public and private subnets
- Segmentation
- API inspection and integration
- Compute
- Security groups
- Dynamic resource allocation
- Instance awareness
- Virtual private
cloud (VPC) endpoint
- Container security
• Solutions
- CASB
- Application security
- Next-generation Secure Web Gateway (SWG)
- Firewall considerations in a cloud environment
- Cost
- Need for segmentation
- Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers
• Cloud native controls vs. third-party solutions
Given a scenario, implement identity and account management controls.
3.0 Implementation
• Identity
- Identity provider (IdP)
- Attributes
- Certificates
- Tokens
- SSH keys
- Smart cards
• Account types
- User account
- Shared and generic accounts/credentials
- Guest accounts
- Service accounts
• Account policies
- Password complexity
- Password history
- Password reuse
- Time of day
- Network location
- Geofencing
- Geotagging
- Geolocation
- Time-based logins
- Access policies
- Account permissions
- Account audits
- Impossible travel time/risky login
- Lockout
- Disablement
Given a scenario, implement authentication and authorization solutions.
• Authentication management
- Password keys
- Password vaults
- TPM
- HSM
- Knowledge-based authentication
• Authentication
- EAP
- Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP)
- Password Authentication Protocol (PAP)
- 802.1X
- RADIUS
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Security Assertions Markup Language (SAML)
- Terminal Access Controller
Access Control System Plus (TACACS+)
- OAuth
- OpenID
- Kerberos
• Access control schemes
- Attribute-based access control (ABAC)
- Role-based access control
- Rule-based access control
- MAC
- Discretionary access control (DAC)
- Conditional access
- Privilege access management
- Filesystem permissions
Given a scenario, implement public key infrastructure.
• Public key infrastructure (PKI)
- Key management
- Certificate authority (CA)
- Intermediate CA
- Registration authority (RA)
- Certificate revocation list (CRL)
- Certificate attributes
- Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
- Certificate signing request (CSR)
- CN
- Subject alternative name
- Expiration
• Types of certificates
- Wildcard
- Subject alternative name
- Code signing
- Self-signed
- Machine/computer
- Email
- User
- Root
- Domain validation
- Extended validation
• Certificate formats
- Distinguished encoding rules (DER)
- Privacy enhanced mail (PEM)
- Personal information exchange (PFX)
- .cer
- P12
- P7B
• Concepts
- Online vs. offline CA
- Stapling
- Pinning
- Trust model
- Key escrow
- Certificate chaining
4.0 Operations and Incident Response
Given a scenario, use the appropriate tool to assess organizational security.
• Network reconnaissance and discovery
- tracert/traceroute
- nslookup/dig
- ipconfig/ifconfig
- nmap
- ping/pathping
- hping
- netstat
- netcat
- IP scanners
- arp
- route
- curl
- the harvester
- sn1per
- scanless
- dnsenum
- Nessus
- Cuckoo
• File manipulation
- head
- tail
- cat
- grep
- chmod
- logger
• Shell and script environments
- SSH
- PowerShell
- Python
- OpenSSL
• Packet capture and replay
- Tcpreplay
- Tcpdump
- Wireshark
• Forensics
- dd
- Memdump
- WinHex
- FTK imager
- Autopsy
• Exploitation frameworks
• Password crackers
• Data sanitization
Summarize the importance of policies, processes, and procedures for incident response.
• Incident response plans
• Incident response process
- Preparation
- Identification
- Containment
- Eradication
- Recovery
- Lessons learned
• Exercises
- Tabletop
- Walkthroughs
- Simulations
• Attack frameworks
- MITRE ATT&CK
- The Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis
- Cyber Kill Chain
• Stakeholder management
• Communication plan
• Disaster recovery plan
• Business continuity plan
• Continuity of operations planning (COOP)
• Incident response team
• Retention policies
4.0 Operations and Incident Response
Given an incident, utilize appropriate data sources to support an investigation.
• Vulnerability scan output
• SIEM dashboards
- Sensor
- Sensitivity
- Trends
- Alerts
- Correlation
• Log files
- Network
- System
- Application
- Security
- Web
- DNS
- Authentication
- Dump files
- VoIP and call managers
- Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) traffic
• syslog/rsyslog/syslog-ng
• journalctl
• nxlog
• Retention
• Bandwidth monitors
• Metadata
- Email
- Mobile
- Web
- File
• Netflow/sflow
- Echo
- IPfix
• Protocol analyzer output
Given an incident, apply mitigation techniques or controls to secure an environment.
• Reconfigure endpoint security solutions
- Application whitelisting
- Application blacklisting
- Quarantine
• Configuration changes
- Firewall rules
- MDM
- DLP
- Content filter/URL filter
- Update or revoke certificates
• Isolation
• Containment
• Segmentation
• SOAR
- Runbooks
- Playbooks
Explain the key aspects of digital forensics.
• Documentation/evidence
- Legal hold
- Video
- Admissibility
- Chain of custody
- Timelines of sequence of events
- Time stamps
- Time offset
- Tags
- Reports
- Event logs
- Interviews
• Acquisition
- Order of volatility
- Disk
- Random-access memory (RAM)
- Swap/pagefile
- OS
- Device
- Firmware
- Snapshot
- Cache
- Network
- Artifacts
• On-premises vs. cloud
- Right-to-audit clauses
- Regulatory/jurisdiction
- Data breach notification laws
• Integrity
- Hashing
- Checksums
- Provenance
• Preservation
• E-discovery
• Data recovery
• Non-repudiation
• Strategic intelligence/ counterintelligence
5.0 Governance, Risk, and Compliance
Compare and contrast various types of controls.
• Category
- Managerial
- Operational
- Technical
• Control type
- Preventative
- Detective
- Corrective
- Deterrent
- Compensating
- Physical
Explain the importance of applicable regulations, standards, or frameworks that impact organizational security posture.
• Regulations, standards, and legislation
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- National, territory, or state laws
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
• Key frameworks
- Center for Internet Security (CIS)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) RMF/CSF
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001/27002/27701/31000
- SSAE SOC 2 Type I/II
- Cloud security alliance
- Cloud control matrix
- Reference architecture
• Benchmarks /secure configuration guides
- Platform/vendor-specific guides
- Web server
- OS
- Application server
- Network infrastructure devices
Explain the importance of policies to organizational security.
• Personnel
- Acceptable use policy
- Job rotation
- Mandatory vacation
- Separation of duties
- Least privilege
- Clean desk space
- Background checks
- Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
- Social media analysis
- Onboarding
- Offboarding
- User training
- Gamification
- Capture the flag
- Phishing campaigns
- Phishing simulations
- Computer-based training (CBT)
- Role-based training
• Diversity of training techniques
• Third-party risk management
- Vendors
- Supply chain
- Business partners
- Service level agreement (SLA)
- Memorandum of understanding (MOU)
- Measurement systems analysis (MSA)
- Business partnership agreement (BPA)
- End of life (EOL)
- End of service (EOS)
- NDA
• Data
- Classification
- Governance
- Retention
• Credential policies
- Personnel
- Third-party
- Devices
- Service accounts
- Administrator/root accounts
• Organizational policies
- Change management
- Change control
- Asset management
5.0 Governance, Risk, and Compliance
Summarize risk management processes and concepts.
• Risk types
- External
- Internal
- Legacy systems
- Multiparty
- IP theft
- Software compliance/licensing
• Risk management strategies
- Acceptance
- Avoidance
- Transference
- Cybersecurity insurance
- Mitigation
• Risk analysis
- Risk register
- Risk matrix/heat map
- Risk control assessment
- Risk control self-assessment
- Risk awareness
- Inherent risk
- Residual risk
- Control risk
- Risk appetite
- Regulations that affect risk posture
- Risk assessment types
- Qualitative
- Quantitative
- Likelihood of occurrence
- Impact
- Asset value
- Single loss expectancy (SLE)
- Annualized loss expectancy (ALE)
- Annualized rate of occurrence (ARO)
• Disasters
- Environmental
- Person-made
- Internal vs. external
• Business impact analysis
- Recovery time objective (RTO)
- Recovery point objective (RPO)
- Mean time to repair (MTTR)
- Mean time between failures (MTBF)
- Functional recovery plans
- Single point of failure
- Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
- Mission essential functions
- Identification of critical systems
- Site risk assessment
Explain privacy and sensitive data concepts in relation to security.
• Organizational consequences of privacy breaches
- Reputation damage
- Identity theft
- Fines
- IP theft
• Notifications of breaches
- Escalation
- Public notifications and disclosures
• Data types
- Classifications
- Public
- Private
- Sensitive
- Confidential
- Critical
- Proprietary
- Personally identifiable information (PII)
- Health information
- Financial information
- Government data
- Customer data
• Privacy enhancing technologies
- Data minimization
- Data masking
- Tokenization
- Anonymization
- Pseudo-anonymization
• Roles and responsibilities
- Data owners
- Data controller
- Data processor
- Data custodian/steward
- Data protection officer (DPO)
• Information life cycle
• Impact assessment
• Terms of agreement
• Privacy notice
Security+ (SY0-601) Acronym List
The following is a list of acronyms that appear on the CompTIA Security+ exam. Candidates are encouraged to review the complete list and attain a working knowledge of all listed acronyms as
part of a comprehensive exam preparation program.
ACRONYM DEFINITION ACRONYM DEFINITION
3DES Triple Digital Encryption Algorithm CAR Corrective Action Report
AAA Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting CASB Cloud Access Security Broker
ABAC Attribute-based Access Control CBC Cipher Block Chaining
ACL Access Control List CBT Computer-based Training
AD Active Directory CCMP Counter-Mode/CBC-MAC Protocol
AES Advanced Encryption Standard CCTV Closed-Circuit Television
AES256 Advanced Encryption Standards 256bit CERT Computer Emergency Response Team
AH Authentication Header CFB Cipher Feedback
AI Artificial Intelligence CHAP Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol
AIS Automated Indicator Sharing CIO Chief Information Officer
ALE Annualized Loss Expectancy CIRT Computer Incident Response Team
AP Access Point CIS Center for Internet Security
API Application Programming Interface CMS Content Management System
APT Advanced Persistent Threat CN Common Name
ARO Annualized Rate of Occurrence COOP Continuity of Operations Planning
ARP Address Resolution Protocol COPE Corporate-owned Personally Enabled
ASLR Address Space Layout Randomization CP Contingency Planning
ASP Active Server Pages CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check
ATT&CK Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, CRL Certificate Revocation List
and Common Knowledge CSA Cloud Security Alliance
AUP Acceptable Use Policy CSIRT Computer Security Incident Response Team
AV Antivirus CSO Chief Security Officer
BASH Bourne Again Shell CSP Cloud Service Provider
BCP Business Continuity Planning CSR Certificate Signing Request
BGP Border Gateway Protocol CSRF Cross-Site Request Forgery
BIA Business Impact Analysis CSU Channel Service Unit
BIOS Basic Input/Output System CTM Counter-Mode
BPA Business Partnership Agreement CTO Chief Technology Officer
BPDU Bridge Protocol Data Unit CVE Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
BSSID Basic Service Set Identifier CVSS Common Vulnerability Scoring System
BYOD Bring Your Own Device CYOD Choose Your Own Device
CA Certificate Authority DAC Discretionary Access Control
CAC Common Access Card DBA Database Administrator
CAPTCHA Completely Automated Public Turing DDoS Distributed Denial-of-Service
Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart DEP Data Execution Prevention
ACRONYM DEFINITION ACRONYM DEFINITION
DER Distinguished Encoding Rules HOTP HMAC-based One-time Password
DES Data Encryption Standard HSM Hardware Security Module
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol HSMaaS Hardware Security Module as a Service
DHE Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral HTML Hypertext Markup Language
DKIM Domain Keys Identified Mail HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
DLL Dynamic Link Library HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
DLP Data Loss Prevention HVAC Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning
DMARC Domain Message Authentication IaaS Infrastructure as a Service
Reporting and Conformance IAM Identity and Access Management
DMZ Demilitarized Zone ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol
DNAT Destination Network Address Transaction ICS Industrial Control Systems
DNS Domain Name System IDEA International Data Encryption Algorithm
DNSSEC Domain Name System Security Extensions IDF Intermediate Distribution Frame
DoS Denial-of-Service IdP Identity Provider
DPO Data Protection Officer IDS Intrusion Detection System
DRP Disaster Recovery Plan IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
DSA Digital Signature Algorithm IKE Internet Key Exchange
DSL Digital Subscriber Line IM Instant Messaging
EAP Extensible Authentication Protocol IMAP4 Internet Message Access Protocol v4
ECB Electronic Code Book IoC Indicators of Compromise
ECC Elliptic-curve Cryptography IoT Internet of Things
ECDHE Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral IP Internet Protocol
ECDSA Elliptic-curve Digital Signature Algorithm IPS Intrusion Prevention System
EDR Endpoint Detection and Response IPSec Internet Protocol Security
EFS Encrypted File System IR Incident Response
EIP Extended Instruction Pointer IRC Internet Relay Chat
EOL End of Life IRP Incident Response Plan
EOS End of Service ISA Interconnection Security Agreement
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning ISFW Internal Segmentation Firewall
ESN Electronic Serial Number ISO International Organization for Standardization
ESP Encapsulating Security Payload ISP Internet Service Provider
ESSID Extended Service Set Identifier ISSO Information Systems Security Officer
FACL File System Access Control List ITCP IT Contingency Plan
FDE Full Disk Encryption IV Initialization Vector
FIM File Integrity Monitoring KDC Key Distribution Center
FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array KEK Key Encryption Key
FRR False Rejection Rate L2TP Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
FTP File Transfer Protocol LAN Local Area Network
FTPS Secured File Transfer Protocol LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
GCM Galois/Counter Mode LEAP Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation MaaS Monitoring as a Service
GPG GNU Privacy Guard MAC Media Access Control
GPO Group Policy Object MAM Mobile Application Management
GPS Global Positioning System MAN Metropolitan Area Network
GPU Graphics Processing Unit MBR Master Boot Record
GRE Generic Routing Encapsulation MD5 Message Digest 5
HA High Availability MDF Main Distribution Frame
HDD Hard Disk Drive MDM Mobile Device Management
HIDS Host-based Intrusion Detection System MFA Multifactor Authentication
HIPS Host-based Intrusion Prevention System MFD Multifunction Device
HMAC Hash-based Message Authentication Code MFP Multifunction Printer
ACRONYM DEFINITION ACRONYM DEFINITION
MITM Man-in-the-Middle PBKDF2 Password-based Key Derivation Function 2
ML Machine Learning PBX Private Branch Exchange
MMS Multimedia Message Service PCAP Packet Capture
MOA Memorandum of Agreement PCI DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
MOU Memorandum of Understanding PDU Power Distribution Unit
MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching PE Portable Executable
MSA Measurement Systems Analysis PEAP Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol
MSCHAP Microsoft Challenge Handshake PED Portable Electronic Device
Authentication Protocol PEM Privacy Enhanced Mail
MSP Managed Service Provider PFS Perfect Forward Secrecy
MSSP Managed Security Service Provider PGP Pretty Good Privacy
MTBF Mean Time Between Failures PHI Personal Health Information
MTTF Mean Time to Failure PII Personally Identifiable Information
MTTR Mean Time to Repair PIN Personal Identification Number
MTU Maximum Transmission Unit PIV Personal Identity Verification
NAC Network Access Control PKCS Public Key Cryptography Standards
NAS Network-attached Storage PKI Public Key Infrastructure
NAT Network Address Translation PoC Proof of Concept
NDA Non-disclosure Agreement POP Post Office Protocol
NFC Near-field Communication POTS Plain Old Telephone Service
NFV Network Function Virtualization PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
NGFW Next-generation Firewall PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
NG-SWG Next-generation Secure Web Gateway PSK Pre-shared Key
NIC Network Interface Card PTZ Pan-Tilt-Zoom
NIDS Network-based Intrusion Detection System PUP Potentially Unwanted Program
NIPS Network-based Intrusion Prevention System QA Quality Assurance
NIST National Institute of Standards & Technology QoS Quality of Service
NOC Network Operations Center PUP Potentially Unwanted Program
NTFS New Technology File System RA Registration Authority
NTLM New Technology LAN Manager RAD Rapid Application Development
NTP Network Time Protocol RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service
OAUTH Open Authentication RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
OCSP Online Certificate Status Protocol RAM Random Access Memory
OID Object Identifier RAS Remote Access Server
OS Operating System RAT Remote Access Trojan
OSI Open Systems Interconnection RC4 Rivest Cipher version 4
OSINT Open-source Intelligence RCS Rich Communication Services
OSPF Open Shortest Path First RFC Request for Comments
OT Operational Technology RFID Radio Frequency Identifier
OTA Over-The-Air RIPEMD RACE Integrity Primitives
OTG On-The-Go Evaluation Message Digest
OVAL Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language ROI Return on Investment
OWASP Open Web Application Security Project RPO Recovery Point Objective
P12 PKCS #12 RSA Rivest, Shamir, & Adleman
P2P Peer-to-Peer RTBH Remotely Triggered Black Hole
PaaS Platform as a Service RTO Recovery Time Objective
PAC Proxy Auto Configuration RTOS Real-time Operating System
PAM Privileged Access Management RTP Real-time Transport Protocol
PAM Pluggable Authentication Modules S/MIME Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
PAP Password Authentication Protocol SaaS Software as a Service
PAT Port Address Translation SAE Simultaneous Authentication of Equals
ACRONYM DEFINITION ACRONYM DEFINITION
SAML Security Assertions Markup Language TOTP Time-based One Time Password
SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition TPM Trusted Platform Module
SCAP Security Content Automation Protocol TSIG Transaction Signature
SCEP Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol TTP Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
SDK Software Development Kit UAT User Acceptance Testing
SDLC Software Development Life Cycle UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
SDLM Software Development Life-cycle Methodology UDP User Datagram Protocol
SDN Software-defined Networking UEBA User and Entity Behavior Analytics
SDP Service Delivery Platform UEFI Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
SDV Software-defined Visibility UEM Unified Endpoint Management
SED Self-Encrypting Drives UPS Uninterruptable Power Supply
SEH Structured Exception Handling URI Uniform Resource Identifier
SFTP SSH File Transfer Protocol URL Universal Resource Locator
SHA Secure Hashing Algorithm USB Universal Serial Bus
S-HTTP Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol USB OTG USB On-The-Go
SIEM Security Information and Event Management UTM Unified Threat Management
SIM Subscriber Identity Module UTP Unshielded Twisted Pair
SIP Session Initiation Protocol VBA Visual Basic
SLA Service-level Agreement VDE Virtual Desktop Environment
SLE Single Loss Expectancy VDI Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
SMB Server Message Block VLAN Virtual Local Area Network
S/MIME Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions VLSM Variable-length Subnet Masking
SMS Short Message Service VM Virtual Machine
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol VoIP Voice over IP
SMTPS Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Secure VPC Virtual Private Cloud
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol VPN Virtual Private Network
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol VTC Video Teleconferencing
SOAR Security Orchestration, Automation, Response WAF Web Application Firewall
SoC System on Chip WAP Wireless Access Point
SOC Security Operations Center WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy
SPF Sender Policy Framework WIDS Wireless Intrusion Detection System
SPIM Spam over Internet Messaging WIPS Wireless Intrusion Prevention System
SQL Structured Query Language WORM Write Once Read Many
SQLi SQL Injection WPA WiFi Protected Access
SRTP Secure Real-time Transport Protocol WPS WiFi Protected Setup
SSD Solid State Drive WTLS Wireless TLS
SSH Secure Shell XaaS Anything as a Service
SSID Service Set Identifier XML Extensible Markup Language
SSL Secure Sockets Layer XOR Exclusive Or
SSO Single Sign-on XSRF Cross-site Request Forgery
STIX Structured Threat Information eXpression XSS Cross-site Scripting
STP Shielded Twisted Pair
SWG Secure Web Gateway
TACACS+ Terminal Access Controller Access Control System
TAXII Trusted Automated eXchange
of Indicator Information
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TGT Ticket Granting Ticket
TKIP Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
TLS Transport Layer Security
Security+ Proposed Hardware and Software List
CompTIA has included this sample list of hardware and software to assist candidates as they prepare for the Security+ exam. This list may also be helpful for training companies that wish to create a lab component to their training offering. The bulleted lists below each topic are sample lists and are not exhaustive.
HARDWARE
• Laptop with Internet access
• Separate wireless NIC
• WAP
• Firewall
• UTM
• Mobile device
• Server/cloud server
• IoT devices
SOFTWARE
• Virtualization software
• Penetration testing OS/distributions (e.g., Kali Linux, ParrotOS)
• SIEM
• Wireshark
• Metasploit
• tcpdump
OTHER
• Access to a CSP
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