CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Cheat Sheet

Review a compact CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) cheat sheet for threats, architecture, implementation, security operations, incident response, governance, risk, and compliance before IT Mastery practice.

Use this cheat sheet before a CompTIA Security+ practice set. It is built around the decision rules that show up in scenario questions: least privilege, layered controls, evidence, and incident-response order.

Open Security+ practice when you are ready for timed mocks, topic drills, explanations, and the full IT Mastery question bank.

Exam snapshot

ItemSecurity+ cue
VendorCompTIA
ExamSecurity+
Exam codeSY0-701
Main practice behaviorthreat analysis, secure architecture, implementation, operations, incident response, governance, risk, and compliance
IT Mastery statuslive practice available

Domain checklist

AreaWhat to knowCommon trap
General security conceptsCIA, control categories, authentication, authorization, and risk basicsmemorizing terms without use cases
Threats and mitigationsattack behavior, malware, social engineering, vulnerability patterns, and countermeasureschoosing a famous control unrelated to the behavior
Security architecturezero trust, segmentation, secure design, cloud, and resiliencetrusting network location alone
Security operationsmonitoring, vulnerability management, endpoint, identity, and incident workflowwiping systems before containment or evidence handling
Security program oversightpolicies, audits, privacy, risk treatment, and compliance evidencetreating compliance as paperwork only

Must-know distinctions

  • Authentication versus authorization: identity proof is not access approval.
  • Preventive versus detective versus corrective controls: each control category acts at a different point.
  • Risk acceptance versus risk mitigation: accepting risk is a formal decision, not ignoring it.
  • Containment versus eradication: first limit spread, then remove root cause.
  • Hashing versus encryption: hashing checks integrity; encryption protects confidentiality.
  • Vulnerability versus exploit versus threat: weakness, method, and actor or event are separate.
  • Zero trust versus VPN-only security: zero trust uses continuous verification and least privilege.

Common traps

  • Giving administrator access to solve a permissions issue.
  • Picking the strongest-sounding tool before identifying the threat.
  • Skipping evidence preservation during incident response.
  • Treating encryption as a complete security program.
  • Confusing policy existence with control effectiveness.

Practice strategy

Start with the free diagnostic and group misses by threat, architecture, implementation, operations, or governance. When reviewing, write the response phase or control category before reading the explanation. That habit makes distractors easier to reject.

Revised on Monday, May 25, 2026