CompTIA Security+ Study Guide

Security Fundamentals and Core Concepts

CIA triad, AAA framework, security controls, control types, and gap analysis essential for all security domains.

Zero Trust Architecture and Defense Strategies

Zero trust components, implicit trust zones, defense in depth, and modern security architecture design principles.

Threat Actors and Attack Vectors

Nation-state actors, insider threats, organized crime, social engineering techniques, and common threat vector identification.

Malware, Cryptographic, and Application Attacks

Ransomware, rootkits, injection attacks, buffer overflows, password attacks, and cryptographic attack methodologies.

Vulnerabilities and Indicators of Compromise

Zero-day vulnerabilities, OWASP Top 10, hardware vulnerabilities, supply chain risks, and IOC detection strategies.

Network Security Architecture and Protocols

Firewalls, IDS/IPS, VPNs, network segmentation, secure protocols, ports, and wireless security including WPA3.

Cloud and Virtualization Security

IaaS, PaaS, SaaS security, containerization, serverless computing, VM escape, and hybrid infrastructure protection.

Identity and Access Management

MFA, SSO, SAML, OAuth, access control models, privileged access management, and account lifecycle management.

Security Operations and Monitoring

SIEM, SOAR, log aggregation, vulnerability management, CVSS scoring, penetration testing, and security alerting.

Incident Response and Digital Forensics

Evidence collection, chain of custody, order of volatility, disk imaging, e-discovery, and forensic reporting.

Data Protection and Resilience

Encryption methods, DLP, backup strategies, RAID configurations, disaster recovery sites, RPO, and RTO planning.

Governance, Risk, and Compliance

Security policies, GDPR, HIPAA, risk assessment, BIA, third-party risk, SOC reports, and security awareness.