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

Symmetric Algorithms

For the Security+ exam, you must know the characteristics of each of the symmetric algorithms, from when it is used to its key length. Remember, they will never ask you which key encrypts or decrypts, as the answer would always be the private key, also known as the shared key. Let's look at each of these characteristics in turn:

  • Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): AES comes in three key strengths: 128-, 192-, and 256-bits. AES is commonly used for L2TP/IPSec VPNs.
  • Data Encryption Standard (DES): DES groups data into 64-bit blocks, but for the purpose of the exam it is seen as a 56-bit key, making it the fastest but weakest of the symmetric algorithms. This could be used for L2TP/IPSec VPNs, but is weaker than AES.
  • Triple DES (3DES): 3DES applies the DES key three times and is said to be a 168-bit key. This could be used for L2TP/IPSec VPNs, but is weaker...