All You Need to Know About CompTIA Security+ Certification

The unprecedented COVID-19 situation has dramatically increased the dependency of one and all on the internet. People across domains sectors, businesses, etc have shifted to online solutions due to the social distancing norms. This massive shift has just increased data vulnerability thereby resulting in an increased demand for certified cybersecurity professionals. So if you are interested in making a career in this ever-evolving domain, you should definitely check out the CompTIA Security+ Certification.

Introduction to CompTIA

CompTIA or the Computing Technology Industry Association is a non-profit trade association based in America. It issues vendor-neutral professional certifications in more than 120 nations across the globe for the IT Industry. 

CompTIA was created in 1982 and it releases more than 50 industry studies per year in order to keep a track of the industry trends and the corresponding changes. To date, over 2.2 million people have earned CompTIA certifications since the association was established.

As mentioned earlier, CompTIA provides a number of valuable certifications that range from entry-level to expert-level, out of which, the CompTIA Security+ certification is designed for the cybersecurity industry. 

What is CompTIA Security+ Certification?

The CompTIA Security+ Exam is a globally acknowledged certification exam that confirms the standard skills that you need in order to perform important tasks dealing with security and to pursue a career as an IT security professional.

The CompTIA Security+ accentuates hands-on practical skills, that ensure the certified security professional is very well-groomed to solve any sort of issues with Information Security. CompTIA Security+ is the first security certification that IT professionals need to acquire. It authorizes the security professional with the core knowledge that is required to serve any roles that deal with cybersecurity in order to provide a breakthrough to fetch intermediate-level cybersecurity jobs. 

A Cybersecurity professional who holds the CompTIA Security+ certification, will not just know to identify security issues but also to address those issues.

Why CompTIA Security+ Certification?

As a matter of fact, anyone who holds a CompTIA Security+ certification will have a weapon to target any intermediate-level job in cybersecurity. Apart from that, there are a number of other benefits as well. For the purpose of this session, I will be discussing a few of these benefits.

• Industry Standard
  The CompTIA Security+ certification is often considered as one of the best elemental information security certifications in the current cybersecurity market. Not just that, it also accelerated by ANSI that ensures the capability to apply the required knowledge, skills, and attributes that are required to be compliant with the ISO 17024 Standard.
• Vendor Neutral
  As mentioned earlier, the CompTIA Security+ Certification is a vendor-neutral certification. This basically implies that you can focus on the basic cybersecurity principles and you do not have to focus on any specific vendors’  security or technology. This way, you will not be confined to any specific set of skills and you will have a weir horizon, making you a better fit for any sort of cybersecurity job roles, thereby keeping you always in-demand.
• Increased Salaries
  I think we all would admit to the fact that salary is one of the biggest driving factors for anyone to choose some specific career. As a CompTIA Security+ certificated professional, you are sure to make great money.
  The salary basically varies depending on various factors like the geographical location, the amount of experience, the hiring organization, soft skills of the candidate, job role, etc.
  Some of the CompTIA Security+ jobs and their average salaries according to Indeed.com are:
  • Systems administrator $84,939
  • Network administrator $73,157
  • Security administrator $93,102
  • Security engineer $131,424
    

• Work Across Sectors
  As a CompTIA Security+ Certified Professional, you will be eligible to fetch cybersecurity jobs in any sector be it private or public.
  A number of leading organizations such as Amazon, Dell, E&Y, Accenture, Capgemini, Intel, HP, Verizon, etc have made it mandatory to be CompTIA Security+ Certified when applying for various security profiles.
  According to a Microsoft developer blog, CompTIA Security+ is an authorized certification for the US Department of Defense and a subset of a much broader initiative commonly referred to DoD-Directive 8140/8570; a compliancy policy required of all authorized users of a DoD Information System. It is required for all government employees, military service members, contractors, or others who have approved clearances to DoD networks to perform information security roles. 
  
• Skills Will Always be In-demand
  As mentioned earlier, The CompTIA Security+ Exam is a globally acknowledged certification exam that provides a CompTIA Security+ certified professional the standard skillset that is required in order to perform important tasks dealing with security and to pursue a career in IT security professional. As the world of cybersecurity is always on the lookout for skilled professionals, CompTIA certified professionals will have all the necessary skills such as Compliance and Operational Security, Threats and Vulnerabilities, Application, Data and Host Security, Access Control and Identity Management, Cryptography, etc that will just be a reason for you to always stay in-demand.

What is the Eligibility for CompTIA Security+ and Who is it for?

CompTIA Security+ Certification Exam can be taken by anyone who has two years of experience in IT administration with exposure to IT security or some equivalent training. Anyone who is looking for positions such as:

• Systems administrator
• Network administrator
• Security administrator
• Junior IT auditor/penetration tester
• Security specialist
• Security consultant
• Security engineer

What are the skills you will acquire?

The CompTIA Security+ examination focuses on all the fundamental skills that are required in order to fetch a cybersecurity job. Not just that, the latest version of the CompTIA Secuirity+ examination brings into consideration the current scenario of how the cybersecurity jobs are evolving and becoming more specialized, for example, like the positions such as that of security analytics. This is another reason for the increased importance and demand for CompTIA Security+ certified professionals for a variety of job roles.

This certification will groom the candidates to practically understand as well as provide appropriate solutions to cybersecurity issues. 

Anyone who successfully clears the exam will validate a number of skills such as:

• The knowledge of Identifying strategies that are created by malicious cybercriminals to invade networks and hosts and create the appropriate antidote in order to defend the networks and hosts that are under attack
• Will have sound knowledge of the basic principles of the organizations IT security and all the elements of effective cybersecurity policies
• Candidates will be well versed with the security technologies and knowledge of cryptographic standards and products
• The capability of installing and configuring the network- and host-based security technologies
• Will be able to describe how wireless and remote access security is enforced
• Knowledge of the security standards and the security tools and products that are required to enable web security and communications technologies
• Can create plans that ensure the continuity of business, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery
• Compile the application and program susceptibility and also analyze the development and deployment techniques designed to mitigate them

CompTIA Security+ Exam Details

What are the areas that the exam focuses on?

The CompTIA Security+ Certification Exam focuses on the following areas:

• The probable Security Threats, Attacks and Vulnerabilities in order to find out the indicators of compromise and figure out the types of malware or compare and contrast the types of cyber attacks
• Identity and Access Management: This area focuses on the Implementation of identity and access management controls or to differentiate the common account management practices
• Technologies and Tools: Deals with Troubleshooting the most common IT security problems or also securely deploy the mobile devices 
• Risk Management: This area focuses on explaining the importance of security policies, plans, and procedures that are associated with the security of the organizational 
• Architecture and design: This basically deals with Summarizing secure application development, deployment, cloud, and virtualization concepts
• Cryptography and PKI: You should be able to compare and contrast basic concepts of cryptography or implement public key infrastructure

How many and what type of questions are there in the exam?

The CompTIA Security+ Certification Exam has 90 questions. These will be divided into multiple-choice questions, drag and drop activities, and performance-based items.

The MCQ’s can be either single-answer or multiple-answer type. The performance-based questions are designed in order to analyze your capability to solve issues in a simulated environment.

Now one thing that you have to keep in mind is time management as most of the examination questions will show up during the initial period of the exam and you will not be able to look at the clock when you are solving them.

Once you complete these questions, you will receive an optional survey form comprising 12 questions that deal with your personal study practices and the reason why you chose the CompTIA Security+ Examination. 

Exam Duration

Candidates who take up the CompTIA Security+ Certification Examination will be given 90 minutes to answer 90 questions that are explained in the previous topic. Please make a note that this does not include the time that you will need to complete all the check-in formalities at the examination center. Therefore, it is best that you are present at the center well before the scheduled examination time.

This brings us to the end of this article. I hope it has given you all the required insights on the CompTIA Security+ certification.

If you wish to learn cybersecurity and build a colorful career in cybersecurity, then take a look at our newly launched CompTIA Security+ Certification Training which is a first-of-a-kind official partnership between Edureka & CompTIA Security+. It offers you a chance to earn a global certification that focuses on core cybersecurity skills that are indispensable for security and network administrators. 

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