Book Image

CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide

By : Ian Neil
Book Image

CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide

By: Ian Neil

Overview of this book

CompTIA Security+ is a worldwide certification that establishes the fundamental knowledge required to perform core security functions and pursue an IT security career. CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide is a best-in-class exam study guide that covers all of CompTIA Security+ 501 exam objectives. It is authored by Ian Neil, who is a world-class trainer of CompTIA Security+ 501. Packed with self-assessment scenarios and realistic exam questions, this guide will help you master the core concepts to succeed in the exam the first time you take it. Using relevant examples, you will learn all the important security fundamentals from Certificates and Encryption to Identity and Access Management concepts. You will then dive into the important domains of the exam; namely, threats, attacks and vulnerabilities, technologies and tools, architecture and design, risk management, and cryptography and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). This book comes with over 600 practice questions with detailed explanation that is at the exam level and also includes two mock exams to help you with your study plan. This guide will ensure that encryption and certificates are made easy for you.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
12
Mock Exam 1
13
Mock Exam 2
15
Acronyms

OSI Reference Model (OSI)

The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model was created by the Internet Standards Organization (ISO) and is a reference model used for communication. Each of the seven different layers have different protocols and responsibilities. The Security+ exam focuses mainly on layers 2, 3, and 7:

Figure 1: OSI reference model

Here is a brief summary of each layer:

  • Application Layer: Applications, such as HTTP for accessing the web or SMTP for accessing emails, are launched here. The Web Application Firewall (WAF), whose job it is to protect web-based applications, operates at this layer.
  • Presentation Layer: The presentation layer formats data into the character code, such as Unicode or ASCII. Encryption also works at this layer.
  • Session Layer: This is where you would create a session, such as logging in and logging out.
  • Transport Layer: Ports are...