CompTIA CySA+ Training Boot Camp

Threat and vulnerability management

1.1 Explain the importance of threat data and intelligence

• Intelligence sources
  • Open-source intelligence
  • Proprietary/closed-source intelligence
  • Timeliness
  • Relevancy
  • Accuracy
• Confidence levels
• Indicator management
  • Structured Threat Information eXpression (STIX)
  • Trusted Automated eXchange of Indicator Information (TAXII)
  • OpenIoC
• Threat classification
  • Known threat vs. unknown threat
  • Zero-day
  • Advanced persistent threat
• Threat actors
  • Nation-state
  • Hacktivist
  • Organized crime
  • Insider threat
    • Intentional
    • Unintentional
• Intelligence cycle
  • Requirements
  • Collection
  • Analysis
  • Dissemination
  • Feedback
• Commodity malware
• Information sharing and analysis communities
  • Healthcare
  • Financial
  • Aviation
  • Government
  • Critical infrastructure

1.2 Given a scenario, utilize threat intelligence to support organizational security

• Attack frameworks
  • MITRE ATT&CK
  • The Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis
  • Kill chain
• Threat research
  • Reputational
  • Behavioral
  • Indicator of compromise (IoC)
  • Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS)
• Threat modeling methodologies
  • Adversary capability
  • Total attack surface
  • Attack vector
  • Impact
  • Likelihood
• Threat intelligence sharing with supported functions
  • Incident response
  • Vulnerability management
  • Risk management
  • Security engineering
  • Detection and monitoring

1.3 Given a scenario, perform vulnerability management activities

• Vulnerability identification
  • Asset criticality
  • Active vs. passive scanning
  • Mapping/enumeration
• Validation
  • True positive
  • False positive
  • True negative
  • False negative
• Remediation/mitigation
  • Configuration baseline
  • Patching
  • Hardening
  • Compensating controls
  • Risk acceptance
  • Verification of mitigation
• Scanning parameters and criteria
  • Risks associated with scanning activities
  • Vulnerability feed
  • Scope
  • Credentialed vs. non-credentialed
  • Server-based vs. agent-based
  • Internal vs. external
  • Special considerations
    • Types of data
    • Technical constraints
    • Workflow
    • Sensitivity levels
    • Regulatory requirements
    • Segmentation
    • Intrusion prevention system (IPS), intrusion detection system (IDS) and firewall settings

1.4 Given a scenario, analyze the output from common vulnerability assessment tools

• Web application scanner
  • OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP)
  • Burp suite
  • Nikto
  • Arachni
• Infrastructure vulnerability scanner
  • Nessus
  • OpenVAS
  • Qualys
• Software assessment tools and techniques
  • Static analysis
  • Dynamic analysis
  • Reverse engineering
  • Fuzzing
• Enumeration
  • Nmap
  • hping
  • Active vs. passive
  • Responder
• Wireless assessment tools
  • Aircrack-ng
  • Reaver
  • oclHashcat
• Cloud infrastructure assessment tools
  • ScoutSuite
  • Prowler
  • Pacu

1.5 Explain the threats and vulnerabilities associated with specialized technology

• Mobile
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Embedded
• Real-time operating system (RTOS)
• System-on-Chip (SoC)
• Field programmable gate array (FPGA)
• Physical access control
• Building automation systems
• Vehicles and drones
  • CAN bus
• Workflow and process automation systems
• Industrial control system
• Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)
  • Modbus

1.6 Explain the threats and vulnerabilities associated with operating in the cloud

• Cloud service models
  • Software as a Service (SaaS)
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS)
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Cloud deployment models
  • Public
  • Private
  • Community
  • Hybrid
• Function as a Service (FaaS)/ serverless architecture
• Infrastructure as code (IaC)
• Insecure application programming interface (API)
• Improper key management
• Unprotected storage
• Logging and monitoring
  • Insufficient logging and monitoring
  • Inability to access

1.7 Given a scenario, implement controls to mitigate attacks and software vulnerabilities

• Attack types
  • Extensible markup language (XML) attack
  • Structured query language (SQL) injection
  • Overflow attack
    • Buffer
    • Integer
    • Heap
  • Remote code execution
  • Directory traversal
  • Privilege escalation
  • Password spraying
  • Credential stuffing
  • Impersonation
  • Man-in-the-middle attack
  • Session hijacking
  • Rootkit
  • Cross-site scripting
    • Reflected
    • Persistent
    • Document object model (DOM)
• Vulnerabilities
  • Improper error handling
  • Dereferencing
  • Insecure object reference
  • Race condition
  • Broken authentication
  • Sensitive data exposure
  • Insecure components
  • Insufficient logging and monitoring
  • Weak or default configurations
  • Use of insecure functions
    • strcpy

Software and systems security

2.1 Given a scenario, apply security solutions for infrastructure management

• Cloud vs. on-premises
• Asset management
  • Asset tagging
• Segmentation
  • Physical
  • Virtual
  • Jumpbox
  • System isolation
    • Air gap
• Network architecture
  • Physical
  • Software-defined
  • Virtual private cloud (VPC)
  • Virtual private network (VPN)
  • Serverless
• Change management
• Virtualization
  • Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
• Containerization
• Identity and access management
  • Privilege management
  • Multifactor authentication (MFA)
  • Single sign-on (SSO)
  • Federation
  • Role-based
  • Attribute-based
  • Mandatory
  • Manual review
• Cloud access security broker (CASB)
• Honeypot
• Monitoring and logging
• Encryption
• Certificate management
• Active defense

2.2 Explain software assurance best practices

• Platforms
  • Mobile
  • Web application
  • Client/server
  • Embedded
  • System-on-chip (SoC)
  • Firmware
• Software development life cycle (SDLC) integration
• DevSecOps
• Software assessment methods
  • User acceptance testing
  • Stress test application
  • Security regression testing
  • Code review
• Secure coding best practices
  • Input validation
  • Output encoding
  • Session management
  • Authentication
  • Data protection
  • Parameterized queries
• Static analysis tools
• Dynamic analysis tools
• Formal methods for verification of critical software
• Service-oriented architecture
  • Security Assertions
• Markup Language (SAML)
  • Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
  • Representational State Transfer (REST)
  • Microservices

2.3 Explain hardware assurance best practices

• Hardware root of trust
  • Trusted platform module (TPM)
  • Hardware security module (HSM)
• eFuse
• Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
• Trusted foundry
• Secure processing
  • Trusted execution
  • Secure enclave
  • Processor security extensions
  • Atomic execution
• Anti-tamper
• Self-encrypting drive
• Trusted firmware updates
• Measured boot and attestation
• Bus encryption

Security operations and monitoring

3.1 Given a scenario, analyze data as part of security monitoring activities

• Heuristics
• Trend analysis
• Endpoint
  • Malware
    • Reverse engineering
  • Memory
  • System and application behavior
    • Known-good behavior
    • Anomalous behavior
    • Exploit techniques
  • File system
  • User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA)
• Network
  • Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and domain name system (DNS) analysis
    • Domain generation algorithm
  • Flow analysis
  • Packet and protocol analysis
    • Malware
• Log review
  • Event logs
  • Syslog
  • Firewall logs
  • Web application firewall (WAF)
  • Proxy
  • Intrusion detection system (IDS)/ Intrusion prevention system (IPS)
• Impact analysis
  • Organization impact vs. localized impact
  • Immediate vs. total
• Security information and event management (SIEM) review
  • Rule writing
  • Known-bad Internet protocol (IP)
  • Dashboard
• Query writing
  • String search
  • Script
  • Piping
• E-mail analysis
  • Malicious payload
  • Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
  • Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC)
  • Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
  • Phishing
  • Forwarding
  • Digital signature
  • E-mail signature block
  • Embedded links
  • Impersonation
  • Header

3.2 Given a scenario, implement configuration changes to existing controls to improve security

• Permissions
• Allowlisting
• Denylisting
• Firewall
• Intrusion prevention system (IPS) rules
• Data loss prevention (DLP)
• Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
• Network access control (NAC)
• Sinkholing
• Malware signatures
  • Development/rule writing
• Sandboxing
• Port security

3.3 Explain the importance of proactive threat hunting

• Establishing a hypothesis
• Profiling threat actors and activities
• Threat hunting tactics
  • Executable process analysis
• Reducing the attack surface area
• Bundling critical assets
• Attack vectors
• Integrated intelligence
• Improving detection capabilities

3.4 Compare and contrast automation concepts and technologies

• Workflow orchestration
  • Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR)
• Scripting
• Application programming interface (API) integration
• Automated malware signature creation
• Data enrichment
• Threat feed combination
• Machine learning
• Use of automation protocols and standards
  • Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)
• Continuous integration
• Continuous deployment/delivery

Incident response

4.1 Explain the importance of the incident response process

• Communication plan
  • Limiting communication to trusted parties
  • Disclosing based on regulatory/ legislative requirements
  • Preventing inadvertent release of information
  • Using a secure method of communication
  • Reporting requirements
• Response coordination with relevant entities
  • Legal
  • Human resources
  • Public relations
  • Internal and external
  • Law enforcement
  • Senior leadership
  • Regulatory bodies
• Factors contributing to data criticality
  • Personally identifiable information (PII)
  • Personal health information (PHI)
  • Sensitive personal information (SPI)
  • High value asset
  • Financial information
  • Intellectual property
  • Corporate information

4.2 Given a scenario, apply the appropriate incident response procedure

• Preparation
  • Training
  • Testing
  • Documentation of procedures
• Detection and analysis
  • Characteristics contributing to severity level classification
  • Downtime
  • Recovery time
  • Data integrity
  • Economic
  • System process criticality
  • Reverse engineering
  • Data correlation
• Containment
  • Segmentation
  • Isolation
• Eradication and recovery
  • Vulnerability mitigation
  • Sanitization
  • Reconstruction/reimaging
  • Secure disposal
  • Patching
  • Restoration of permissions
  • Reconstitution of resources
  • Restoration of capabilities and services
  • Verification of logging/communication to security monitoring
• Post-incident activities
  • Evidence retention
  • Lessons learned report
  • Change control process
  • Incident response plan update
  • Incident summary report
  • IoC generation
  • Monitoring

4.3 Given an incident, analyze potential indicators of compromise

• Network-related
  • Bandwidth consumption
  • Beaconing
  • Irregular peer-to-peer communication
  • Rogue device on the network
  • Scan/sweep
  • Unusual traffic spike
  • Common protocol over non-standard port
• Host-related
  • Processor consumption
  • Memory consumption
  • Drive capacity consumption
  • Unauthorized software
  • Malicious process
  • Unauthorized change
  • Unauthorized privilege
  • Data exfiltration
  • Abnormal OS process behavior
  • File system change or anomaly
  • Registry change or anomaly
  • Unauthorized scheduled task
• Application-related
  • Anomalous activity
  • Introduction of new accounts
  • Unexpected output
  • Unexpected outbound communication
  • Service interruption
  • Application log

4.4 Given a scenario, utilize basic digital forensics techniques

• Network
  • Wireshark
  • tcpdump
• Endpoint
  • Disk
  • Memory
• Mobile
• Cloud
• Virtualization
• Legal hold
• Procedures
• Hashing
  • Changes to binaries
• Carving
• Data acquisition

Compliance and assessment

5.1 Understand the importance of data privacy and protection

• Privacy vs. security
• Non-technical controls
  • Classification
  • Ownership
  • Retention
  • Data types
  • Retention standards
  • Confidentiality
  • Legal requirements
  • Data sovereignty
  • Data minimization
  • Purpose limitation
  • Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
• Technical controls
  • Encryption
  • Data loss prevention (DLP)
  • Data masking
  • Deidentification
  • Tokenization
  • Digital rights management (DRM)
    • Watermarking
  • Geographic access requirements
  • Access controls

5.2 Given a scenario, apply security concepts in support of organizational risk mitigation

• Business impact analysis
• Risk identification process
• Risk calculation
  • Probability
  • Magnitude
• Communication of risk factors
• Risk prioritization
  • Security controls
  • Engineering trade offs
• Systems assessment
• Documented compensating controls
• Training and exercises
  • Red team
  • Blue team
  • White team
  • Tabletop exercise
• Supply chain assessment
  • Vendor due diligence
  • Hardware source authenticity

5.3 Explain the importance of frameworks, policies, procedures and controls

• Frameworks
  • Risk-based
  • Prescriptive
• Policies and procedures
  • Code of conduct/ethics
  • Acceptable use policy (AUP)
  • Password policy
  • Data ownership
  • Data retention
  • Account management
  • Continuous monitoring
  • Work product retention
• Category
  • Managerial
  • Operational
  • Technical
• Control type
  • Preventative
  • Detective
  • Corrective
  • Deterrent
  • Compensating
  • Physical
• Audits and assessments
  • Regulatory
  • Compliance