CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Exam Cram, 7/e, 7th edition
Published by Pearson IT Certification (September 9, 2024) © 2025
- Robert Shimonski
- Martin M. Weiss
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Title overview
CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Exam Cram is an all-inclusive study guide designed to help you pass the updated version of the CompTIA Security+ exam. Prepare for test day success with complete coverage of exam objectives and topics, plus hundreds of realistic practice questions. Extensive prep tools include quizzes, Exam Alerts, and our essential last-minute review Cram Sheet. The powerful Pearson Test Prep practice software provides real-time assessment and feedback with two complete exams.
Covers the critical information needed to score higher on your Security+ SY0-701 exam!
- General security concepts
- Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations
- Security architecture
- Security operations
- Security program management and oversight
Prepare for your exam with Pearson Test Prep
- Realistic practice questions and answers
- Comprehensive reporting and feedback
- Customized testing in study, practice exam, or flash card modes
- Complete coverage of CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 exam objectives
Table of contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvi
Part 1: General Security Concepts 1
CHAPTER 1: Security Controls.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Nature of Controls.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Functional Use of Controls.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CHAPTER 2: Fundamental Security Concepts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA).. . . . . . . . . 12
Non-Repudiation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA).. . . . . . . 13
Gap Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Zero Trust.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Physical Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Video Surveillance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Deception and Disruption Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . 23
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
CHAPTER 3: Change Management Processes and the Impact to Security.. . . . . 27
Change Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Business Processes Impacting Security Operations. . . . . . . . 28
Technical Implications.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Version Control.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
CHAPTER 4: Cryptographic Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Encryption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Tools.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Part 2: Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations 81
CHAPTER 5: Threat Actors and Motivations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Threat Actors.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Motivations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
CHAPTER 6: Threat Vectors and Attack Surfaces.. . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Types of Threat Vectors and Attack Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . 98
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
CHAPTER 7: Vulnerability Types.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 115
Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Operating System-Based.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Web-Based. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Virtualization.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Cloud-Specific.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Supply Chain.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Cryptographic.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Misconfiguration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Mobile Device.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Zero-Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
CHAPTER 8: Malicious Attacks and Indicators.. . . . . . . . .. . . . . 131
Malware Attacks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Physical Attacks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Network Attacks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Application Attacks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Cryptographic Attacks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Password Attacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Indicators of Malicious Activity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
CHAPTER 9 Mitigation Techniques for Securing the Enterprise.. . . . . 161
Segmentation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Access Control.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Application Allow List.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Isolation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Patching.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Part 3: Security Architecture 177
CHAPTER 10: Security Implications of Architecture Models. . . . . . . . 179
Architecture and Infrastructure Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . 180
Considerations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
CHAPTER 11: Enterprise Architecture Security Principles.. . . . . . . . . 211
Infrastructure Considerations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Secure Communication/Access.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Selection of Effective Controls.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
CHAPTER 12: Data Protection Strategies.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Data Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Data Classifications.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
General Data Considerations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Methods to Secure Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
CHAPTER 13: Resilience and Recovery in Security Architecture.. . . .. . 247
High Availability.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Site Considerations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Platform Diversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Multicloud Systems.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Continuity of Operations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Capacity Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Testing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Backups.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Power.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Part 4: Security Operations 265
CHAPTER 14: Securing Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Secure Baselines.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Hardening Targets.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Wireless Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Mobile Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Wireless Security Settings.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Application Security.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Sandboxing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Monitoring.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
CHAPTER 15: Hardware, Software, and Data Asset Management.. . . . . . . . . 295
Acquisition/Procurement Process.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Assignment/Accounting.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Monitoring and Asset Tracking.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Disposal/Decommissioning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
CHAPTER 16: Vulnerability Management.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Identification Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Analysis.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Vulnerability Response and Remediation.. . . . . . . . . . . 322
Validation of Remediation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Reporting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
CHAPTER 17: Security Alerting and Monitoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Monitoring Computing Resources.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Activities.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Tools.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
CHAPTER 18: Enterprise Security Capabilities.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Firewall.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
IDS/IPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Web Filter.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Operating System Security.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Implementation of Secure Protocols.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
DNS Filtering.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Email Security.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
File Integrity Monitoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Data Loss Prevention (DLP).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Network Access Control (NAC).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)/Extended Detection and Response (XDR)..372
User Behavior Analytics.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
CHAPTER 19: Identity and Access Management.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Provisioning/De-provisioning User Accounts.. . . . . . . . . . 378
Permission Assignments and Implications. . . . . . . . . . . 379
Identity Proofing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Federation and Single Sign-On (SSO).. . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Interoperability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Attestation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Access Controls.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Multifactor Authentication (MFA).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Password Concepts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Privileged Access Management Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
CHAPTER 20: Security Automation and Orchestration. . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Use Cases of Automation and Scripting.. . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Benefits.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Other Considerations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
CHAPTER 21: Incident Response Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Incident Response Process.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Training and Testing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Root Cause Analysis (RCA).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Threat Hunting.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Digital Forensics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
CHAPTER 22: Data Sources for Supporting Investigations. . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Log Data.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Data Sources.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Part 5: Security Program Management and Oversight 425
CHAPTER 23: Effective Security Governance.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Governing Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Policies.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Standards.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Procedures.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Guidelines.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
External Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Roles and Responsibilities for Systems and Data.. . . . . . . . . 460
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
CHAPTER 24: Risk Management.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Risk Identification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Risk Assessment.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Risk Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Risk Register.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Risk Appetite and Tolerance.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
Risk Management Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Risk Reporting.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Business Impact Analysis.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
CHAPTER 25: Third-Party Risk Assessment and Management. . . . . . . . . . 485
Third-Party Risk Management.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
CHAPTER 26: Security Compliance.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Compliance Reporting and Monitoring.. . . . . . . . . . . . 496
Privacy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
CHAPTER 27: Security Audits and Assessments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
Audits and Assessments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
Penetration Testing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
CHAPTER 28: Security Awareness Practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Security Awareness.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
What Next?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
Glossary of Essential Terms.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
Cram Sheet.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
9780138225575, TOC, 7/3/2024