CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Practice Exam
Cover all five Security+ objective areas — general security concepts, threats and vulnerabilities, security architecture, security operations, and program management — with objective-mapped practice questions, instant feedback in Learn mode, and a full timed simulation in Exam mode. Start with a 24-hour free trial.
Start 24-hour free trial →CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) exam at a glance
- Vendor
- CompTIA
- Exam code
- SY0-701
- Certification
- CompTIA Security+
- Level
- Foundational / core cybersecurity
- Blueprint
- Exam version V7, launched November 7, 2023 (current edition)
- Format
- Maximum of 90 questions; multiple-choice and performance-based
- Duration
- 90 minutes
- Passing score
- 750 on a scale of 100–900
- Delivery
- Pearson VUE test center or online proctored
- Recommended experience
- CompTIA Network+ plus about two years in a security or systems-administrator role (recommended, not required)
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
- Renewal
- Valid three years; renew through CompTIA continuing education
Source: CompTIA — Security+ certification (exam details & V7 objectives). Verify current details with CompTIA before scheduling.
About the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) certification
CompTIA Security+ is the industry’s most widely recognized entry point into cybersecurity. It validates the core skills behind every security role — identifying threats and vulnerabilities, designing and hardening secure architectures, running day-to-day security operations, and managing risk and compliance — without tying you to a single vendor’s tools. It is a baseline requirement for many security and defense roles (it maps to numerous DoD 8140 work roles) and is often the credential that moves an IT generalist into a dedicated security career.
The current exam is version V7 (series code SY0-701), launched in November 2023. It delivers up to 90 questions — a mix of multiple-choice and hands-on performance-based items — across five objective areas, and the weighting is operations-heavy: Security operations (28%) is the single largest area, followed by Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations (22%). Every PowerKram practice question maps to one of the five areas, so a weak score points you at the exact objective to revisit. For context on the certification-versus-degree decision many candidates weigh when breaking into security, see our guide to choosing certifications over a college degree.
Security+ (SY0-701) exam objectives and weights
CompTIA splits the V7 exam across five objective areas. The weights below are CompTIA’s own and sum to 100% — plan your study time roughly in proportion to them.
Secure baselines and hardening, asset and vulnerability management, alerting and monitoring, enterprise security tools (firewalls, IDS/IPS, DLP, NAC, EDR/XDR), identity and access management, automation and orchestration, and incident response and digital forensics.
Threat actors and motivations, threat vectors and attack surfaces, application/hardware/cloud/OS vulnerabilities, analyzing malware, password, application, physical, network, and cryptographic attacks, and mitigation techniques such as segmentation, hardening, and patching.
Security governance (policies, standards, procedures), risk management and business impact analysis, third-party and vendor risk, compliance and privacy, audits and penetration testing, and security awareness including phishing training.
Architecture models (on-premises, cloud, virtualization, IoT, ICS, IaC), applying security principles to enterprise infrastructure, data protection and classification, and resilience and recovery including high availability and backups.
Security control types, fundamental concepts (CIA, non-repudiation, AAA, zero trust, deception technology), change management, and cryptographic solutions including PKI, encryption, hashing, and digital signatures.
Who the Security+ exam is for
Security+ is built for people stepping into cybersecurity: IT support and systems administrators moving into security, junior security analysts, and career changers establishing core credentials. CompTIA recommends Network+ plus about two years in a security or systems-administrator role — guidance rather than a hard gate. If you have not yet built the networking foundation it assumes, our Network+ practice exam is the usual step before Security+.
Because it is the baseline credential for so many security roles, Security+ opens a wide range of paths. The Cybersecurity Specialist role guide in our career hub lays out the day-to-day work, the salary range, and the certifications that build on Security+.
What this Security+ practice exam delivers
Score by objective area
Every question is tagged to one of the five V7 areas, so your report shows whether Security operations or Threats & vulnerabilities — the two heaviest — is dragging your score, not just an overall percentage.
Learn mode
Immediate feedback after each question with a full explanation of why the right answer is right and why the others are wrong — built for the scenario-based, “best response” reasoning Security+ tests.
Exam mode
A timed, 90-question-style simulation that mirrors the 90-minute format and its mix of multiple-choice and performance-based questions, so test day feels familiar.
No setup, no download
Runs in the browser with nothing to install. Your 24-hour trial unlocks the full bank and both modes — no credit card required.
Sample Security+ practice questions
Ten free questions spanning the five objective areas, each with a full explanation. The complete bank is available with the 24-hour trial.
A user receives an email appearing to be from their bank, asking them to verify account information. What type of attack is this?
- Phishing
- Man-in-the-middle
- Brute force
- Denial of service
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — phishing. A deceptive message impersonating a trusted institution to trick the recipient into revealing sensitive data is the textbook definition of phishing, a social-engineering attack.
Why not the others: man-in-the-middle (B) intercepts traffic between two parties; brute force (C) guesses credentials by repetition; denial of service (D) overwhelms a system to make it unavailable. None matches a deceptive email.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Social engineering →An employee plugs an unknown USB drive into a company computer and malware is installed. Which control could have prevented this?
- Endpoint protection with USB/removable-media blocking
- Single sign-on
- Password expiration
- Screen-lock timeout
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — endpoint protection with USB blocking. Controlling or blocking removable media at the endpoint stops malware from auto-running off an unknown drive — a device-control and hardening measure under security operations.
Why not the others: single sign-on (B), password expiration (C), and screen-lock timeout (D) all govern authentication or session behavior, not what executes from a plugged-in device.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Endpoint hardening → Further reading: PowerKram — security practices guide →A company needs to ensure only authorized employees can access sensitive files. Which access-control method is best?
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Data compression
- Network segmentation
- A guest network
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — RBAC. Role-based access control grants file permissions according to a user’s job role, enforcing least privilege so only authorized employees can reach sensitive data.
Why not the others: compression (B) reduces file size; segmentation (C) isolates network zones (useful, but not file-level authorization); a guest network (D) is for untrusted devices. None directly controls who may open the files.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Identity & access management →A user reports their laptop was stolen from a coffee shop. Which measure best protects the data on the stolen device?
- Full-disk encryption
- Uninstalling unused apps
- Updating the OS
- Increasing screen brightness
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — full-disk encryption. Encrypting the entire drive renders the data unreadable without the key, so a thief with physical possession still cannot access it — the data-protection control for lost or stolen devices.
Why not the others: uninstalling apps (B) and updating the OS (C) are good hygiene but do not protect data on a stolen disk; screen brightness (D) is irrelevant.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Data protection → Further reading: PowerKram — security practices guide →A security team wants to prevent attackers from exploiting known software vulnerabilities. What is the most effective solution?
- Regularly apply security patches and updates
- Change monitor resolution
- Install more printers
- Replace the keyboard
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — patch and update regularly. Patch management closes known vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them, and is a core mitigation technique. A disciplined patch cycle is the single most effective defense against known CVEs.
Why not the others: changing resolution (B), adding printers (C), and replacing a keyboard (D) have nothing to do with vulnerability remediation.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Mitigation techniques →A network administrator detects abnormal outbound traffic from a server. What is the best immediate action?
- Isolate the server from the network
- Update the user’s password
- Change the server’s hostname
- Disable the screensaver
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — isolate (contain) the server. Abnormal outbound traffic suggests compromise and possible data exfiltration; containment by isolating the host is the first incident-response step, stopping the bleeding before investigation.
Why not the others: changing a password (B), renaming the host (C), or disabling a screensaver (D) does nothing to halt active malicious traffic.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Incident response → Further reading: PowerKram — security practices guide →A manager wants to ensure employees use strong, unique passwords for every system. Which policy should be implemented?
- A password complexity and uniqueness policy
- A mandatory screensaver policy
- A printer-access policy
- A denial-of-service policy
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — a password complexity and uniqueness policy. A governance policy defining complexity, length, and no-reuse requirements (ideally paired with MFA and a password manager) is what enforces strong, unique credentials across systems.
Why not the others: a screensaver policy (B) addresses unattended sessions; a printer-access policy (C) is unrelated; “denial-of-service policy” (D) is not a credential control.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Security governance →A user browsing the internet is redirected to a fake website that looks identical to a legitimate one, even though they typed the correct address. What type of attack is this?
- DNS spoofing (pharming)
- Shoulder surfing
- Physical theft
- Keylogging
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — DNS spoofing (pharming). Poisoning or spoofing DNS resolution sends a user to a malicious site that mimics the real one even when they enter the correct address — the defining trait of pharming via DNS manipulation.
Why not the others: shoulder surfing (B) is observing someone’s screen or keystrokes; physical theft (C) is stealing a device; keylogging (D) records keystrokes. None redirects a correctly typed address to a fake site.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Network attacks → Further reading: PowerKram — security practices guide →A company wants to ensure only authorized mobile devices can access its internal resources. Which solution is most appropriate?
- Mobile device management (MDM)
- Enabling Bluetooth
- Updating device wallpapers
- Increasing device volume
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — MDM. Mobile device management enrolls and controls devices, enforcing policy, compliance posture, and conditional access so only authorized, compliant devices reach internal resources.
Why not the others: enabling Bluetooth (B) can expand attack surface; wallpapers (C) and volume (D) are irrelevant to access control.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Mobile solutions →A cybersecurity analyst needs to monitor network traffic for threats in real time. Which tool should be used?
- An intrusion detection system (IDS)
- A patch-management system
- A document-management system
- A printer queue
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — an IDS. An intrusion detection system inspects network traffic in real time and alerts on suspicious or malicious activity — the monitoring tool for threat detection (an IPS adds active blocking).
Why not the others: patch management (B) remediates vulnerabilities; a document-management system (C) handles files; a printer queue (D) manages print jobs. None monitors traffic for threats.
Source: CompTIA Security+ objectives — Alerting & monitoring →Keep going: study guides and career paths
Security+ is the gateway credential for a cybersecurity career — it pays off fastest when you pair it with the next skill and a clear sense of where it leads. Two PowerKram hubs back this exam up.
Deep dive: Security+ exam structure, scoring, study path & what comes next
Exam structure and how it’s scored
The V7 Security+ exam (SY0-701) delivers a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes, combining multiple-choice items with performance-based questions that put you into a simulated configuration or analysis task. Scoring is scaled from 100 to 900, and the passing mark is 750. Performance-based items are time-consuming and tend to cluster early, so a common tactic is to flag and skip them, clear the multiple-choice questions, then return. Many questions are scenario-based and ask for the best response among several plausible ones. See our cybersecurity study guides →
Where the weight sits
Security operations (28%) is the largest area by some margin, with Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations (22%) and Security program management (20%) close behind; Security architecture (18%) and General security concepts (12%) round it out. The practical takeaway is that day-to-day operations and threat knowledge dominate the exam, so that is where most study time belongs — though the smaller concepts and architecture areas are dense with definitions worth locking down for easy marks. PowerKram’s objective-level scoring surfaces which of the five is weakest in your first practice run. Read the enterprise security practices guide →
Realistic study path
CompTIA recommends Network+ knowledge plus around two years in a security or sysadmin role, so most candidates need six to ten weeks of focused review: work the five areas, drill objective-tagged practice questions, and re-weight each week toward your weakest area — commonly the cryptography concepts or the governance and risk material for hands-on candidates. Because Security+ leans on terminology and best-practice judgment, practising scenario questions and reading the reasoning behind each answer matters as much as memorizing definitions. Read certifications vs. a college degree →
Recommended experience, cost, and delivery
Security+ has no hard prerequisite, but CompTIA recommends Network+ and about two years of security or systems-administration experience. The exam is delivered through Pearson VUE at a test center or online with a proctor; the online option needs a quiet, private room and a webcam system check. It is offered in five languages: English, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai. Fees and renewal rules vary by region and change over time, so confirm the current voucher price and continuing-education requirements on CompTIA’s site before you book. CompTIA’s official Security+ page →
What comes after Security+
Security+ is the foundation of CompTIA’s security path and a baseline for many roles, including numerous DoD 8140 work roles. From here, common directions are deeper cybersecurity certifications (such as CySA+ for analysis or PenTest+ for offensive work), or, for those moving toward senior network-security design, CompTIA’s expert-tier architecture credential. For role-by-role context on where these paths lead, browse our Career Hub. CloudNetX (expert network architect) practice exam →
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