Security Plus
The course teaches core security concepts, threat mitigation, architecture design, operational practices, and program management, preparing early‑career IT professionals to pass the CompTIA Security+ (SY0‑701) exam.
90
Minutes
90
Questions
750/900
Passing Score
$439
Exam Cost
5
Languages
Who Should Take This
It is ideal for recent graduates, junior network or system administrators, and help‑desk technicians who have 1‑2 years of hands‑on IT experience and a basic understanding of networking. These learners aim to validate their security knowledge, advance to security analyst roles, and meet employer requirements for a recognized industry credential.
Course Outline
1Domain 1: General Security Concepts 4 topics
Security control categories and types
- Identify security control categories including technical, managerial, operational, and physical and control types including preventive, detective, corrective, deterrent, and compensating controls.
- Apply appropriate security control categories and types to organizational scenarios, selecting controls that address identified risks while balancing cost, usability, and effectiveness.
Fundamental security concepts
- Define the CIA triad and explain how confidentiality, integrity, and availability guide security decisions in data protection, access control, and system resilience.
- Describe non-repudiation, authentication, authorization, and accounting concepts and explain their relationship to identity management and audit logging.
- Explain the zero trust security model including never trust and always verify, micro-segmentation, least privilege, and continuous verification across network layers.
- Apply defense-in-depth strategies to design a multi-control security posture incorporating network segmentation, endpoint protection, encryption, and access controls.
Cryptographic concepts
- Identify symmetric encryption algorithms (AES, 3DES), asymmetric algorithms (RSA, ECC, Diffie-Hellman), and hashing algorithms (SHA-256, MD5) and describe their use cases.
- Describe PKI components including certificate authorities, registration authorities, certificate revocation lists, OCSP, digital certificates, and key escrow mechanisms.
- Apply cryptographic solutions to implement TLS for data in transit, full-disk and file-level encryption for data at rest, and digital signatures for integrity.
- Analyze cryptographic attack vectors including brute force, birthday attacks, downgrade attacks, and collision attacks and assess which algorithms provide adequate protection.
Gap analysis and security assessment
- Explain the purpose of a gap analysis and describe how to compare current security posture against desired frameworks, standards, and best practices.
- Analyze gap analysis results to prioritize remediation efforts based on risk severity, resource constraints, and regulatory compliance requirements.
2Domain 2: Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations 4 topics
Threat actors, social engineering, and attack vectors
- Identify threat actor types including nation-state, hacktivists, organized crime, insider threats, and script kiddies and describe their motivations and sophistication levels.
- Describe common attack vectors including email, supply chain, social media, removable media, wireless, and cloud-based vectors and their associated risks.
- Identify social engineering techniques including phishing, vishing, smishing, spear phishing, whaling, pretexting, watering hole attacks, and business email compromise.
- Implement anti-phishing controls including email filtering, DMARC/DKIM/SPF, user awareness training, and reporting mechanisms for suspicious communications.
- Analyze attack surface scenarios to determine which threat actors and vectors pose the greatest risk and assess the effectiveness of proposed countermeasures.
Malware types and indicators
- Identify malware categories including viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, fileless malware, and logic bombs and their propagation methods.
- Recognize indicators of malware infection including unexpected network traffic, performance degradation, unauthorized file modifications, and beaconing behavior.
- Apply endpoint protection techniques including antivirus deployment, application whitelisting, EDR configuration, and host-based firewall rules to contain malware.
Application and network attacks
- Describe application-layer attacks including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, CSRF, SSRF, directory traversal, and buffer overflow vulnerabilities and their impacts.
- Identify network-based attacks including man-in-the-middle, ARP poisoning, DNS poisoning, DDoS variants, VLAN hopping, and rogue access points.
- Describe password attacks including brute force, dictionary, credential stuffing, password spraying, rainbow table, and pass-the-hash techniques and their countermeasures.
- Apply mitigations for application attacks including input validation, parameterized queries, output encoding, and content security policy implementation.
- Implement network attack mitigations including DNSSEC, 802.1X port security, dynamic ARP inspection, DHCP snooping, and rate limiting.
Vulnerability types and hardening
- Identify vulnerability types including zero-day, misconfiguration, default credentials, unpatched software, end-of-life systems, and insecure protocols.
- Apply hardening techniques including disabling unnecessary services, changing defaults, implementing least privilege, patch management, and secure baselines.
- Evaluate mitigation strategies by comparing patching timelines, virtual patching, compensating controls, and risk acceptance for different organizational contexts.
3Domain 3: Security Architecture 4 topics
Network security architecture
- Describe network security devices and placement including firewalls, IDS/IPS, proxy servers, load balancers, jump servers, and NAC appliances.
- Configure firewall rules, ACLs, and network segmentation using VLANs, DMZs, and micro-segmentation aligned with zero trust principles.
- Implement secure remote access using site-to-site VPN, client VPN, IPsec, TLS tunneling, and SD-WAN with appropriate encryption configurations.
- Analyze a network architecture to identify security weaknesses, recommend device placement, and evaluate segmentation adequacy for sensitive assets.
Cloud and virtualization security
- Describe cloud deployment and service models and identify the shared responsibility model boundaries for IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS environments.
- Apply cloud security controls including CASB deployment, cloud workload protection, identity federation, and logging integration for cloud workloads.
- Explain virtualization security including VM escape prevention, hypervisor hardening, container security, and snapshot management best practices.
Secure design, IoT, and physical security
- Describe IoT and embedded system security challenges including weak defaults, limited patching, insecure protocols, and SCADA/ICS physical access risks.
- Implement secure SDLC practices including code review, SAST/DAST analysis, dependency scanning, and secure DevOps pipeline configurations.
- Apply physical security controls including bollards, fencing, access badges, mantraps, surveillance cameras, environmental controls, and cable locks.
Data protection and resilience
- Describe data classification levels, data states (at rest, in transit, in use), and data lifecycle management from creation through secure destruction.
- Implement data loss prevention controls including network DLP, endpoint DLP, cloud DLP, data masking, tokenization, and rights management.
- Configure backup strategies and disaster recovery site types (hot, warm, cold) to meet defined RPO and RTO requirements for business continuity.
- Assess data protection strategies by evaluating encryption methods, DLP effectiveness, and resilience architecture against business continuity requirements.
4Domain 4: Security Operations 6 topics
Security monitoring and alerting
- Describe SIEM and SOAR platform functions including log aggregation, correlation rules, alerting, dashboards, automated playbooks, alert enrichment, and case management integration.
- Configure SIEM alert rules and correlation policies to detect attack patterns including brute force, lateral movement, and privilege escalation.
- Analyze security alerts to differentiate true positives from false positives, assess severity, and determine appropriate escalation actions.
Vulnerability management
- Describe vulnerability scanning methodologies including credentialed vs. non-credentialed, agent-based vs. agentless, and internal vs. external perspectives.
- Deploy vulnerability scanning tools to perform scheduled scans, manage credentials, and integrate results with patch management systems.
- Evaluate vulnerability scan output to prioritize remediation using CVSS scores, asset criticality, exploit availability, and business context.
Incident response procedures
- List the phases of the incident response lifecycle including preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned.
- Implement incident detection and analysis procedures including establishing IoCs, performing triage, documenting findings, and classifying severity.
- Apply containment, eradication, and recovery procedures including network isolation, system quarantine, malware removal, reimaging, and validation testing.
- Analyze a completed incident to conduct lessons learned, update response plans, improve detection rules, and document root cause findings.
Log management and digital forensics
- Identify log types including system, application, security, network device, DNS, and authentication logs and describe their value for investigations.
- Configure centralized log collection, retention policies, log integrity protection, and NTP time synchronization to support forensic readiness.
- Describe digital forensics concepts including order of volatility, chain of custody, evidence preservation, forensic imaging, and legal hold requirements.
- Analyze log data across multiple sources to reconstruct event timelines, correlate suspicious activities, and identify indicators of compromise.
Identity and access management
- Describe authentication methods including passwords, biometrics, smart cards, TOTP/HOTP, FIDO2/WebAuthn, and MFA categories of something you know, have, and are.
- Identify authorization models including RBAC, ABAC, MAC, DAC, and rule-based access control and describe their appropriate use cases.
- Implement SSO and federation using SAML, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, LDAP, and RADIUS/TACACS+ for centralized authentication.
- Apply privileged access management including just-in-time access, session recording, credential vaulting, and access reviews to minimize privilege abuse.
- Evaluate an organization's IAM posture by assessing MFA coverage, access review completeness, privilege creep risk, and federation weaknesses.
Endpoint security and automation
- Describe endpoint security solutions including EDR, XDR, MDM, host-based firewalls, application control, and endpoint encryption technologies.
- Implement mobile device security controls including MDM enrollment, containerization, remote wipe, and BYOD vs. COPE deployment models.
- Apply security automation techniques using scripting to automate log parsing, account provisioning, and configuration compliance checks.
5Domain 5: Security Program Management and Oversight 4 topics
Governance and security policies
- Identify elements of security governance including policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines and their hierarchy in an organizational framework.
- Describe common security policy types including acceptable use, data handling, password, remote access, change management, and incident response policies.
- Apply change management and configuration management processes to ensure security controls remain effective during system updates and changes.
Risk management
- Define risk management concepts including risk identification, qualitative and quantitative assessment, risk appetite, risk register, and treatment options.
- Explain business impact analysis components including mission-essential functions, MTTR, MTBF, RTO, and RPO calculations for continuity planning.
- Apply risk assessment methodologies to calculate SLE, ALE, and ARO for quantitative risk analysis scenarios and justify security investments.
- Assess risk scenarios to recommend treatment strategies by evaluating threat likelihood, impact severity, control effectiveness, and organizational risk appetite.
Compliance and regulatory frameworks
- Identify major compliance frameworks and regulations including GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOX, FISMA, and CCPA and describe their key provisions.
- Describe security frameworks including NIST CSF, ISO 27001, CIS Controls, and COBIT and their application to security programs.
- Apply compliance requirements to implement controls satisfying regulatory obligations including data retention, breach notification, and privacy protections.
- Compare regulatory frameworks to determine applicability based on industry and geography and evaluate compliance gaps requiring remediation.
Security awareness, third-party risk, and audits
- Implement security awareness training programs including phishing simulations, role-based training, delivery methods, tracking mechanisms, and effectiveness reporting.
- Identify third-party risk management concepts including vendor assessment questionnaires, right-to-audit clauses, supply chain risk, and SLAs.
- Assess vendor risk by evaluating SOC 2 reports, penetration test results, compliance certifications, and contractual security obligations.
- Apply audit preparation procedures including evidence collection, control testing documentation, and remediation tracking for internal, external, and regulatory audits.
- Analyze audit findings to prioritize remediation actions, develop corrective action plans, and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented corrections.
Exam Structure
Question Types
- Multiple Choice
- Multiple Select
- Drag And Drop
- Simlet
- Performance-Based
Scoring Method
Scaled score 100-900, passing score 750
Delivery Method
Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored (OnVUE)
Prerequisites
CompTIA Network+ recommended but not required; 2+ years in IT administration with security focus
Recertification
Valid for 3 years; renew by earning 50 CEUs through CompTIA's Continuing Education program, passing the current exam again, or earning a qualifying higher-level certification (e.g., CySA+, PenTest+, SecurityX)
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
34 Activity Formats
Scope
Included Topics
- All domains and objectives in the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) exam: Domain 1 General Security Concepts (12%), Domain 2 Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations (22%), Domain 3 Security Architecture (18%), Domain 4 Security Operations (28%), and Domain 5 Security Program Management and Oversight (20%).
- Intermediate-level cybersecurity knowledge including threat identification, vulnerability assessment, access control implementation, cryptographic fundamentals, network security device configuration, incident response procedures, and governance frameworks.
- Core security technologies and concepts: firewalls, IDS/IPS, SIEM, SOAR, VPN, PKI, MFA, SSO, RADIUS, TACACS+, endpoint detection and response (EDR), DLP, encryption algorithms (AES, RSA, ECC), hashing (SHA-256), digital certificates, vulnerability scanners, penetration testing basics, and forensic tools.
- Performance-based and scenario-driven questions requiring practical application of security concepts to real-world situations across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
Not Covered
- Advanced penetration testing methodologies and red team operations beyond the scope of Security+ (covered by PenTest+ and SecurityX).
- Enterprise-level security architecture design and zero trust implementation details (covered by SecurityX CAS-005).
- Deep SOC analyst workflows including advanced SIEM tuning, threat hunting, and malware reverse engineering (covered by CySA+ CS0-003).
- Vendor-specific product administration for commercial security tools unless referenced in CompTIA exam objectives.
- Academic cryptography proofs, number theory, and formal verification methods beyond practical implementation understanding.
Official Exam Page
Learn more at CompTIA