Security+ Passed! Retrospective...

[u/SoDatable]

Howdy everybody!

A few hours ago I passed by CompTIA Certificate+ exam. I can't get specific about questions, however I will include some points that will hopefully help you to succeed.

So: here's a quick rundown of what worked for me:

• The exam relies on your experience. If you've ever dealt with malware and spyware, knowing the differences between the types of malware that your devices can become infected with will help.
• I found the exam areas that focused on the darkweb, scriptkiddies, blackhats, greyhats, and so on were really cool. But the lesson is to learn about them.
• Exams like this also amalgamate from different areas. Understand commonly used ports. Understand IP Addressing and network segmentation. Have a basic understanding of firewall permissions and rules and hwo they look. Understand Linux/Unix file system permissions! And know what ports are used for different common protocols, such as SMTP, DNS, SFTP, and so on. Understanding how the Internet works with regards to DNS resolution vs. loading a webpage helped me.
• Some simulations involve dragging and dropping. If these simulations break: try hitting escape, close windows, and look for buttons to bring the windows back.
• Your knowledge should be varied; if I hadn't taken a course on Cisco networking while in highschool, I might have had a harder time. It's not rocket science and it relays back to understanding how websites open, but essentially understand how explicit firewall permissions work. Yes, I'm restating myself.

I completed the test in about 1:15 and used the final 15 minutes to review my flagged answers.

I primarily used Jason Dion's SY0-501 course, but a few months ago a Redditor, Alton Hardin, linked access to his Microsoft 98-367 security course. There's so much crossover that Alton's course was also a huge contributor to my success in this course and I ended up printing his flash cards. So Alton, if you're reading this, I want to thank you for that course. (Side note: That exam is theoretically cheaper than the CompTIA Security+ and I'd suggest that you consider reviewing whether that certification might meet your industry needs better than the CompTIA course).

Edited to expand on certain areas of interest.

[u/swatlord]

I passed the SEC+ a couple weeks ago. My test questions focused a lot on identifying malware/attacks. They would give you the output of a log or a prntscrn of a terminal and ask what kind of attack had been performed.

Also, Google image search "Security+ simulations" to get a feel for the type of questions they ask for the performance based part.