SY0-801
CompTIA Security+ Certification Course
Every lesson for the Security+ SY0-801 exam — core security concepts, threats and attacks, security architecture, security operations, and program oversight — organized by the official CompTIA objectives.
CompTIA Security+ is the baseline certification for cybersecurity roles. It proves you can assess an organization's security, monitor and secure systems, and respond to incidents. The certification is one exam: SY0-801 (Security+ V8).
This course follows the official SY0-801 objectives section by section. Each lesson teaches one topic in plain language, and the full platform adds practice tests, exam-style performance-based questions (PBQs), hands-on labs on simulated Windows and Linux machines, and a readiness score that tells you when you're prepared to book the real exam.
148 free lesson previews
Everything in the CompTIA Security+ program
1,130 practice questions
Exam-style questions with full explanations, by domain or as timed full-length practice tests.
44 performance-based questions
Hands-on PBQs like the real exam — including an interactive build-a-PC bench simulator with drag-and-drop parts and cables.
38 flashcard decks
Key terms for every section with confidence-based review.
148 lessons
Every exam objective taught in plain language — previewable below without an account.
Guided study plan & readiness score
Set your exam date, follow a day-by-day plan, and watch a readiness score that tells you when you're prepared to book.
AI tutor
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Course outline
Preview every lesson below. A free account opens the first 4 sections of each exam, with their lessons, practice tests and PBQs, plus every flashcard deck.
CompTIA Security+
P1Security Foundations
- Inside the Security+ SY0-801 Exam8 min
- The CIA Triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability8 min
- AAA and Non-Repudiation11 min
- Defense in Depth and Least Privilege10 min
- Zero Trust Principles9 min
- Control Categories: Technical, Managerial, Operational, and Physical10 min
- Control Types: Preventive, Deterrent, Detective, Corrective, Compensating, and Directive10 min
- Classifying Controls in Real Scenarios11 min
- The Change Management Process: CAB, Owners, and Stakeholders11 min
- Impact Analysis, Testing, Backout Plans, and Failing Forward10 min
- Technical Implications of Change: Allow Lists, Downtime, Restarts, and Dependencies11 min
- Documentation and Version Control9 min
- Deception Technology: Honeypots, Honeynets, Honeyfiles, Honeytokens, and Canary Accounts11 min
- Physical Access Controls: Locks, Access Passes, Vestibules, and Surveillance11 min
- Physical Attacks: Tailgating, Shoulder Surfing, Skimming, and Forced Entry10 min
P2Cryptography and PKI
- Symmetric Encryption and Key Length11 min
- Asymmetric Encryption and Key Exchange10 min
- Encryption Levels: Full Disk, Partition, Volume, File, Database, and Record10 min
- Encryption in Transit: TLS, IPsec, and Secure Protocols10 min
- Cryptographic Tools and Key Management10 min
- Hashing Algorithms and Integrity10 min
- Salting and Secure Password Storage10 min
- Digital Signatures in Practice9 min
- How PKI Works: Key Pairs, Certificate Authorities, and the Root of Trust11 min
- Certificate Types: Self-Signed, Third-Party, Wildcard, and SAN10 min
- The Certificate Life Cycle: CSRs, Issuance, CRLs, and OCSP10 min
- Key Escrow and Troubleshooting Certificate Errors9 min
P3Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Attacks
- Threat Intelligence Sources and Threat Feeds11 min
- Likelihood, Impact, and the Threat Life Cycle9 min
- CVE and CVSS: Naming and Scoring Vulnerabilities10 min
- Prioritizing Vulnerabilities10 min
- Threat Actor Types11 min
- Threat Actor Motivations10 min
- Actor Attributes: Internal or External, Resources, and Sophistication10 min
- Advanced Persistent Threats and How Threat Vectors Work8 min
- Message-Based and Image-Based Vectors9 min
- Attachment-Based and Browser-Based Vectors10 min
- Network, Remote Access, and Endpoint Vectors9 min
- Supply Chain and Removable Media Vectors9 min
- IoT, OT, Physical, and Signal-Based Vectors8 min
- Phishing, Spear Phishing, and Whaling11 min
- Smishing, Vishing, and Quishing10 min
- Impersonation, Deepfakes, and Human-Based Vectors11 min
- Business Email Compromise11 min
- Viruses, Worms, Trojans, and Ransomware9 min
- Spyware, Adware, Keyloggers, Rootkits, and Logic Bombs8 min
- Fileless Malware and Living-off-the-Land Attacks8 min
- Indicators of Compromise: Hashes, Addresses, Domains, Processes, and Artifacts12 min
- Behavioral Indicators: Lockouts, Impossible Travel, Concurrent Sessions, and Log Tampering11 min
- DDoS and Protocol Downgrade Attacks11 min
- On-Path Attacks, Sniffing, Spoofing, and Rogue Devices11 min
- DNS Attacks and Cache Poisoning10 min
- Brute Force, Password Spraying, and User Enumeration10 min
- Replay Attacks and MFA Bypass11 min
- Injection Attacks10 min
- Buffer Overflows and Privilege Escalation10 min
- Forgery and Directory Traversal9 min
- Application Weaknesses: Race Conditions, Malicious Updates, Hardcoded Secrets, and Unsafe Error Handling10 min
- Unsupported, Unpatched, Obsolete, and Unmanaged Systems11 min
- OS, Virtualization, Zero-Day, and Cryptographic Vulnerabilities11 min
- Ports, Services, and Misconfiguration11 min
- Stale Credentials, Rogue Devices, and Shadow IT10 min
- Modern Attack Surfaces: Identity Providers, Public Repositories, Object Storage, Mobile, and Wireless11 min
- Attacking AI Models: Manipulation, Poisoning, and Evasion11 min
- Prompt Injection and Jailbreaking10 min
- AI Data Loss, Privacy, Session Hijacking, and Code Execution11 min
- Bias, Explainability, Hallucinations, and Ethics11 min
P4Security Architecture
- Cloud Deployment Models and Shared Responsibility11 min
- Serverless, Microservices, Multicloud, and Infrastructure as Code10 min
- On-Premises, OT, Air-Gapped Networks, and Segmentation10 min
- Technical and Business Considerations in Architecture10 min
- Security Zones and Attack Surface Reduction11 min
- Placing Security Devices on the Network11 min
- Failure Modes and Diversity11 min
- Zero Trust Architecture: Identity, Device Health, and Application Access11 min
- VPNs, Tunneling, and Remote Access13 min
- Secure Communication: Encrypted Messaging, Out-of-Band Management, and File Transfer11 min
- Security Service Edge10 min
- Identity in the Architecture: gMSAs, Least-Privilege Accounts, and Privilege Creep11 min
- Data Types, States, and Classifications11 min
- Data Protection Methods: Masking, Tokenization, Hashing, Encryption, and Obfuscation11 min
- Data Roles: Owner, Custodian, Steward, Operator, Controller, and Subprocessor10 min
- Data Handling, the Data Life Cycle, and Regulated Data11 min
- Recovery Sites and Platform Diversity11 min
- Redundancy: Load Balancing, Clustering, Autoscaling, and Power10 min
- Backups: Retention, Immutability, Scope, and Restore Testing11 min
- Continuity Testing, Disaster Recovery, and Capacity Planning9 min
- Recovery Metrics: RTO, RPO, MTTR, and MTBF9 min
P5Security Operations
- Hardening and Secure Baselines: Group Policy and SELinux14 min
- Endpoint Security: Antivirus, EDR, XDR, and Host-Based IDS/IPS9 min
- Application Control and Sandboxing10 min
- Mobile Device Management10 min
- Firewalls: Rule-Based, Layer 4 and Layer 7, UTM, and Rate Limiting10 min
- Writing and Ordering Firewall Rules12 min
- Web Application Firewalls, Proxies, Content Filters, and DLP10 min
- Network and Wireless Intrusion Detection and Prevention10 min
- Network Access Control: 802.1X, Captive Portals, and Posture Checks9 min
- Segmentation and Access Controls as Mitigations10 min
- Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and BIMI11 min
- Secure Coding Controls: Input Validation, Secure Cookies, Static Analysis, and Code Signing10 min
- Secrets Scanning and Repository Security10 min
- The Asset Management Life Cycle10 min
- Disposal and Decommissioning10 min
- Finding Vulnerabilities: Scanning, IPAM, CSPM, and Code Review11 min
- Assessing Severity and Reading Penetration Test Reports9 min
- Remediation, Verification, and Reporting11 min
- Monitoring Systems, Applications, and Infrastructure11 min
- SIEM, Dashboards, and Alert Tuning10 min
- Monitoring Protocols: Syslog, SNMP, NetFlow, and SCAP11 min
- Monitoring Tools: Agents, Benchmarks, Scanners, and Packet Analyzers11 min
- Provisioning, Deprovisioning, and Identity Proofing11 min
- Federation and Single Sign-On: SAML, OAuth, and LDAP11 min
- Account Types: User, Privileged, Service, Third-Party, and Emergency Access10 min
- Multifactor Authentication Methods11 min
- Access Control Models: Role, Rule, Mandatory, Discretionary, Time-Based, and Just-in-Time9 min
- Passwords, Passkeys, and Access Reviews10 min
- Automation Use Cases in Security Operations11 min
- Automation Considerations: Guardrails, Complexity, and Process Risk11 min
- AI in Security Operations: Agentic AI, Chatbots, and Predictive Analysis10 min
- SecOps Pipelines and Workflows11 min
- Preparing for Incidents: Training, Tabletop Exercises, and Playbooks11 min
- Identification and Threat Hunting9 min
- Investigation: Digital Forensics, Chain of Custody, and E-Discovery10 min
- Containment, Negotiation, Eradication, and Recovery10 min
- Notification and Post-Incident Activities11 min
- Log Types for Security Investigations11 min
- Investigation Data Sources: NetFlow, Packet Captures, Scans, and Footage11 min
- System Images and Evidence Integrity10 min
- Log Parsing and Investigation Stakeholders13 min
P6Program Management and Oversight
- Security Policies Every Organization Needs11 min
- Standards, Guidelines, and Procedures11 min
- Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans10 min
- Risk Identification and Assessment10 min
- Quantitative Risk Analysis: SLE, ARO, and ALE9 min
- Risk Treatment and Residual Risk10 min
- Risk Registers, Business Impact Analysis, and Risk Appetite10 min
- Vendor Selection and Due Diligence11 min
- Vendor Agreements: SLA, SLO, MOU, MOA, NDA, MSA, and SOW10 min
- Vendor Monitoring and Constraints10 min
- Compliance Programs and the Cost of Non-Compliance11 min
- Privacy and Legal Compliance11 min
- Audits and Assessments: Internal, External, and Gap Analysis11 min
- Penetration Testing: Environments, Types, and Reconnaissance11 min
- Threat Frameworks: MITRE ATT&CK, the Cyber Kill Chain, and the Diamond Model10 min
- Frameworks, Standards, and Functional and Behavioral Testing11 min
- Building a Security Awareness Program11 min
- Security Awareness Training Topics11 min
- Measuring Awareness: Metrics, Reports, and Behavior Risk Scoring10 min
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