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What Is the CompTIA Security+ Certification? A Complete Guide
CompTIA Security+
Professional certifications are highly valued,
especially in the IT industry. Every professional association issues
certifications that validate a candidate’s proficiency when it comes to technical
expertise and relevant skills required for working in a particular field. There
are many IT certifications out there that you can earn by training for and
clearing a qualifying examination.
An IT certification is important for both job
applicants as well as employers. A job applicant presents their certification
as proof of the skills and knowledge they have acquired over months of training
and preparation. Employers use certifications as a standard against which all
job applicants are measured, in terms of the required technical expertise in
the organisation.
In the domain of cybersecurity, professionals must
start with one fundamental-level credential and move up to the others.
The CompTIASecurity+ certification is the first step along your cyber
security certification path.
What is CompTIA Security+?
The Security+ certification is an entry-level
vendor-neutral IT certification that validates a candidate’s global information
security knowledge and expertise at a global level. Earning this certification
validates your fundamental security skills and knowledge and complies with DoD
8570 regulations. A Security+credential equips professionals for core
information security functions and helps advance their IT security
careers.
Earning this credential is a good idea for
professionals who are new to the information security world. CompTIA Security+
includes hands-on practical experience. All the topics that this certification
covers depend on the most advanced techniques and newest trends in risk
management and assessment, forensics, incident response, security controls,
hybrid operations and enterprise networks. This ensures that certified
candidates are better equipped to solve a wide range of problems.
In the newest version of the Security+ exam, new
topics and job roles covered are the Junior IT Auditor or Penetration Tester
role, along with previous roles covered which include network administrators,
security administrator and system administrator.
How Can You Earn
the CompTIA Security+ Certification?
The latest version of the CompTIA Security+
credential has been code-named SY0–0601 and was rolled out on 12th November
2020. As an aspiring candidate, there are several skills and knowledge bases
where you need to prove yourself. These include:
- Evaluating
an enterprise environment’s security position; recommending and
implementing relevant and appropriate protocols.
- Monitoring
and securing hybrid environments, which includes IoT, mobile and cloud
environments.
- Operating
keeping in mind applicable policies and laws such as governance,
compliance and risk principles.
- Identifying,
analysing and responding to security incidents and events.
There are several domains that this exam covers
with differing weightages and objectives. These are:
- Threats,
attacks and vulnerabilities - 24%
- Design
and architecture - 21%
- Implementation
- 25%
- Incident
response and operations - 16%
- Governance,
compliance and risk - 14%
Let’s take a look at these topics in more detail:
- Threats, attacks and
vulnerabilities: This domain covers sophisticated
DDoS (denial of service) attacks, social engineering attacks, IoT network
vulnerabilities and threats to embedded devices.
- Design and architecture: This
domain focuses on the three key environments - cloud, enterprise and
hybrid.
- Implementation: This
domain focuses on access management, identity management, end-to-end
network security, PKI (public key infrastructure) and cryptography.
- Incident response and
operations: This
domain assesses your understanding of procedures for incident response,
such as security controls, digital forensics, threat detection and risk
mitigation.
- Governance, compliance and
risk: This
domain tests your understanding of the biggest compliance and risk
regulations. Some of the most widely-known ones are GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS,
SOC, CCPA, NIST and FISMA.
Why Do You Need a Security+ Certification?
In entry-level roles, InfoSec professionals need to
be experienced and qualified. They must also be able to demonstrate their
skills and expertise whenever needed. Defending an organisation against
malicious cyberattacks is not a small responsibility. Even the slightest
slip-up by any member of the enterprise security team can result in huge losses
for the brand both financially and in terms of credibility.
Evaluating and picking the right security
certification for your first credential is an important step while advancing
your career. Becoming an expert in cybersecurity is not a role to be taken
lightly. You must carefully plan this journey based on your immediate as well
as long-term objectives.
The Security+ SY0-601 certification is the right
blend of interpersonal and professional characteristics, making it a leading
contender for an entry-level security credential. It will help you stand out in
a crowd of un-certified job applicants and validate your proficiency level. You
are also equipped to take on other high-level roles such as security
administrator, systems administrator, IT project manager, IT auditor, DevOps
developer, network or cloud engineer, help desk analyst, security analyst and
many more.
Another reason to consider the Security+
certification is that it currently ranks on top among the in-demand IT
certifications. It has the maximum number of mentions in job descriptions on
LinkedIn, Simply Hired and other job websites.
CompTIA Security+ Certification Requirements and
Prerequisites:
Most of the globally-recognised IT certifications
have a long list of prerequisites, including entry-level ones. This is made up
of a certain number of years of work experience and prior certifications and
training. Unlike them, the CompTIA Security+ certification doesn’t have a
formal list of prerequisites. However, CompTIA recommends having a minimum of
two years of experience in IT administration with a focus on security. Experts
also recommend that candidates should have a CompTIA Network+ certification or
any equivalent practical experience with networks. The Security+ and Network+ certifications
are quite similar in their objectives. Earning either one first makes it easy
to clear the qualifying exam for the other one.
CompTIA Security+
Target Audience:
Several IT roles provide the practical experience
in networking that is needed for information security roles. These roles
include:
- Data
Centre support technician
- System
administrator
- Network
administrator (junior)
- Network
engineer
- NOC
technician
- Cable
technician
- Telecommunications
technician
Everything You Need to Know About the Security+ Certification
Exam:
Multiple exams are rotated among testing centres on
the same days. The Security+ qualifying exam differs in the slightest from the
other certification exams that you might be familiar with. The SY0-601 exam is
made up of 90 questions at most. As a candidate, you have up to 90 minutes or
1.5 hours to answer them all. Besides the MCQs (multiple choice questions),
certain Security+ exams have featured performance-based questions, or PBQs, as
well. A PBQ is designed to assess your problem-solving abilities within
simulated environments. You should know how you can secure and monitor
hybrid/cloud environments. The qualifying exam could also feature IoT and
mobile infrastructure questions as well as best practice questions.
In the exam, you will be marked on a scale from 100
to 900 points. You must score 750 points or 84% to clear the exam and earn a
certification. You can either take the exam at Pearson VUE exam centres or
choose online exam testing. There is no waiting period between your first two
attempts. If you don’t clear your exam on the first attempt, you can
immediately try a second time. However, you need to wait at least fourteen days
for your third attempt and any other attempt you make in future.
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