CompTIA·SECPLUS · CompTIA Security+·UnitSECPLUS · Unit 01Access: Premium
Security+ (SY0-701)
Prepare for Security+ (SY0-701) with CompTIA practice questions covering 36 topics. Part of CompTIA Security+ — build your knowledge and track your progress with CompTIA Prep.
What’s in it.
36 topics- Topic 01
Security Controls Categories
117 questions - Topic 02
Basic Cryptography Concepts
131 questions - Topic 03
PKI and Certificate Management
132 questions - Topic 04
Authentication Methods
130 questions - Topic 05
Authentication Protocols
138 questions - Topic 06
Malware Types and Indicators
124 questions - Topic 07
Social Engineering Techniques
126 questions - Topic 08
Application Vulnerabilities
99 questions - Topic 09
Network Attacks
118 questions - Topic 10
Password Attacks
123 questions - Topic 11
Threat Intelligence and Indicators of Compromise
123 questions - Topic 12
Vulnerability Scanning and Assessment
129 questions - Topic 13
Penetration Testing Concepts
123 questions - Topic 14
Cloud Security Architecture
128 questions - Topic 15
Network Security Architecture
128 questions - Topic 16
Secure Network Design
127 questions - Topic 17
Infrastructure Security
126 questions - Topic 18
Data Protection Architecture
108 questions - Topic 19
Resilience and Redundancy
150 questions - Topic 20
Embedded and Specialised System Security
102 questions - Topic 21
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
142 questions - Topic 22
Endpoint Security
126 questions - Topic 23
Monitoring and Logging
150 questions - Topic 24
Incident Response
123 questions - Topic 25
Digital Forensics
97 questions - Topic 26
Vulnerability Management
108 questions - Topic 27
Security Automation and Orchestration
115 questions - Topic 28
Firewall and Network Security Tools
138 questions - Topic 29
Cryptographic Implementation
60 questions - Topic 30
Risk Management
126 questions - Topic 31
Compliance Frameworks and Regulations
114 questions - Topic 32
Data Privacy and Governance
56 questions - Topic 33
Security Policies and Procedures
127 questions - Topic 34
Third-Party Risk and Supply Chain Security
120 questions - Topic 35
Security Awareness Training
121 questions - Topic 36
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
126 questions
Sample questions
3 of manyA few questions from this unit, with the answer and a full explanation. The complete bank is available when you start practising.
Two users in a system share the password 'Summer2024'. The database shows different stored hash values for each user. An attacker has a precomputed rainbow table covering millions of common passwords. After looking up both hashes in the table, the attacker finds no matches. The attacker then runs a targeted dictionary attack against one user's hash and successfully recovers 'Summer2024' after 30 minutes. What does this scenario demonstrate about the relationship between salting, rainbow tables, and brute force/dictionary attacks?
- Salting defeats rainbow table attacks by making precomputed lookups useless, but it does not prevent per-hash dictionary or brute force attacks — it only forces attackers to crack each hash individuallyCorrect answer
- Salting prevents rainbow table attacks by encrypting the hash output, but dictionary attacks succeed because encryption is reversible with the correct key
- Salting defeats both rainbow table attacks and dictionary attacks, so the successful recovery indicates the system was not actually using salting correctly
- The dictionary attack succeeded because the attacker used a GPU-accelerated tool, which can reverse salted hashes faster than rainbow table lookups
ExplanationSalting is specifically a countermeasure to rainbow table attacks (precomputed lookup). Because the salt is unique per user, the precomputed table has no entry for 'Summer2024' combined with that specific salt. However, salting does not stop an attacker from computing hashes on the fly for each candidate password during a dictionary or brute force attack — they simply append the known salt (stored in the database alongside the hash) to each guess. A slow hashing algorithm (bcrypt, Argon2) is needed to make this per-hash computation expensive. Key takeaway: salting alone is not sufficient — it must be combined with a slow hashing algorithm to resist both rainbow table and direct cracking attacks.
Which IR phase is responsible for determining the scope, severity, and classification of an incident?
- IdentificationCorrect answer
- Containment
- Recovery
- Lessons Learned
ExplanationThe Identification phase — also called Detection and Analysis — is where analysts determine whether an event constitutes a real incident, assess its scope (how many systems are affected), classify its severity, and decide on the appropriate response level. This analysis drives all subsequent phases. Key takeaway: Scope determination, severity assessment, and incident classification are all Identification phase activities.
Under IaaS, which layer does the cloud provider manage that the customer does not?
- The middleware and runtime environment
- The physical hardware and hypervisorCorrect answer
- The customer's stored data
- The network firewall rules for virtual machines
ExplanationIn IaaS, the cloud provider is responsible for the physical infrastructure (servers, storage, networking equipment) and the hypervisor that virtualises those resources. The customer takes over from the guest OS upwards. This distinction is fundamental to the shared responsibility model — the provider's boundary ends at the hypervisor; the customer's boundary begins at the OS. The key takeaway is that under IaaS, the provider manages physical hardware and the hypervisor; the customer manages everything above.