Portal | Level: L1: Foundations | Topics: CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) | Domain: Security

CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Certification Prep¶

All Security+ study material lives here, in one place. Use this as the entry point — the five domain pages hold the practice questions, and the tables below are the fast-reference material worth memorizing before exam day.

Scope and source note¶

This is an original Security+ SY0-701 study question bank. It was built from the current SY0-701 objective structure and publicly available study references, then rewritten into new questions. It intentionally avoids copied exam dumps or copyrighted practice-exam text.

Primary fact-check sources reviewed:

CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Certification Exam Objectives, Exam Number SY0-701 V7.
Professor Messer SY0-701 course index and public pop-quiz format examples.
Pearson/Exam Cram SY0-701 sample chapter objective map.
Public GitHub/community study-guide repositories for topic coverage only.
NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0.
NIST SP 800-61 incident-response guidance.
NIST SP 800-63B digital identity guidance.
OWASP Top 10 2021 application-security categories.

Exam shape¶

Item	Security+ SY0-701
Max questions	Up to 90
Time	90 minutes
Score scale	100-900
Passing score	750
Question styles	Multiple choice and performance-based

Domain weights¶

Domain	Weight	Practice questions
1.0 General Security Concepts	12%	Q001-Q018, Q124-Q142 (37 total)
2.0 Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations	22%	Q019-Q051, Q143-Q172 (63 total)
3.0 Security Architecture	18%	Q052-Q078, Q173-Q197 (52 total)
4.0 Security Operations	28%	Q079-Q120, Q198-Q201 (46 total)
5.0 Security Program Management and Oversight	20%	Q121-Q123 (in progress)

201 questions total. Numbering has a gap by design — questions were added in two batches; the second batch continues the sequence at Q124 rather than renumbering the first batch and breaking existing links.

High-yield memory tables¶

Control categories¶

Control	Purpose	Example
Preventive	Stop an event before it occurs	Firewall deny rule, MFA, locked door
Detective	Identify that something occurred	IDS alert, log review, motion sensor
Corrective	Restore or fix after an event	Patch, restore from backup, reimage host
Deterrent	Discourage action	Warning banner, security guard, camera sign
Directive	Tell users what to do	Policy, sign, procedure, standard
Compensating	Alternative when primary control is not feasible	Extra monitoring when legacy app cannot use MFA

Common ports¶

Protocol	Port	Notes
FTP	20/21	Insecure file transfer
SSH/SFTP/SCP	22	Secure remote shell/file transfer
Telnet	23	Insecure remote shell
SMTP	25	Mail transfer
DNS	53	UDP commonly, TCP for zone transfers/large replies
DHCP	67/68	Address assignment
HTTP	80	Insecure web
Kerberos	88	Ticket-based authentication
POP3	110	Mail retrieval
NTP	123	Time sync
IMAP	143	Mail retrieval
SNMP	161/162	Monitoring/traps
LDAP	389	Directory access
HTTPS	443	TLS-protected web
SMB/CIFS	445	Windows file sharing
LDAPS	636	LDAP over TLS
RDP	3389	Windows remote desktop
Syslog	514	Often UDP, can be secured separately

Crypto distinctions¶

Concept	Use
Hashing	Integrity; one-way digest
Salting	Defends against precomputed password hash tables
Symmetric encryption	Fast encryption with one shared secret key
Asymmetric encryption	Public/private key pair; key exchange, signatures
Digital signature	Integrity, authentication, non-repudiation
Certificate	Binds public key to subject identity
HSM	Hardware protection for cryptographic keys
Perfect forward secrecy	Past sessions remain protected even if long-term key is later compromised

Authentication factors¶

Factor	Example
Something you know	Password, PIN
Something you have	Smart card, hardware token, phone authenticator app
Something you are	Fingerprint, face, iris
Somewhere you are	Location-based conditional access
Something you do	Behavioral pattern, typing cadence

Identity tokens¶

Item	Main purpose	Common mistake
SAML assertion	Federated enterprise identity claim	Trusting unsigned or wrong signed XML element
OAuth access token	API authorization to resources/scopes	Treating it as proof of user authentication
OIDC ID token	Authentication claims about user/session	Failing to validate issuer/audience/signature/expiry
Refresh token	Get new access tokens	Storing it in unsafe browser-accessible locations

API authorization failures¶

Failure	Symptom	Fix pattern
BOLA / IDOR	Change object ID and see another user's object	Server-side object ownership/permission check on every object access
BFLA	Normal user calls admin-only function	Enforce role/scope permissions on every function/API route
Excessive data exposure	API returns more fields than UI shows	Server-side response filtering and schema review
Unrestricted resource use	Expensive calls cause cost/DoS	Rate limits, quotas, authentication, bounded queries

Cloud-native controls¶

Control	Best use	Caveat
CSPM	Find risky cloud configuration	Does not protect runtime by itself
CWPP	Protect workloads at runtime	Needs tuning and coverage
Admission policy	Prevent unsafe Kubernetes objects	Only works for API-created/updated resources
NetworkPolicy	Limit pod traffic	Requires enforcing CNI plugin
Image signing	Verify artifact source/integrity	Needs policy enforcement, not just signatures sitting around
Secrets manager	Centralize/audit/rotate secrets	Still must solve secret-zero/workload identity

Known content-quality note¶

Across all 201 questions, the correct answer is disproportionately "A": 186 A / 11 B / 4 C / 0 D (93% A). This wasn't caught before the first publish. It's a real weakness for practice purposes — a test-taker could learn "guess A" instead of the material. Not fixed here (reshuffling correct-answer position across 200 questions without breaking the Q/A correspondence needs care), but flagged so it isn't mistaken for a reliable practice signal. If you want this fixed, say so and it can be done as a dedicated pass.

Bank in progress — Domain 5 is partial as of 2026-07-10 (Q121-123 only) and will be extended.