Course Description

Through our expertly guided virtual classrooms, you'll immerse yourself in the world of cyber security, learning to effectively safeguard organisations from cyber threats.

Our course is designed to provide you with a robust understanding of threat analysis, intrusion detection, incident response, and forensic investigations, all under the tutelage of experienced instructors.

So, whether you're starting your IT career or looking to enhance your existing knowledge, our CompTIA CySA+ certification course is the perfect stepping stone to advancing your career in cyber security.

Start your journey with us today!

Modules Covered

Our CompTIA CySA+ Cyber Security Analyst course syllabus is comprehensive, covering a range of topics and concepts essential to the role of a Cyber Security Analyst. When you enrol on our course, you can expect to learn:

Security Analytics: Understanding and applying the principles of security analytics, and using these to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities.
Threat Management: Learning to identify, assess, and manage threats to IT infrastructure.
Appropriate Tools: Selecting and utilising the right tools for threat detection, vulnerability management, and cyber incident responses.
Identity and Access Management: Implementing effective identity and access management strategies to safeguard sensitive information.
Software Development Lifecycle: Understanding the software development lifecycle and how security considerations should be integrated at each stage.
Threat Detection Tools: Gaining competencies in using threat detection tools to identify and mitigate cyber threats.
Appropriate Forensics Tools: Picking and using the appropriate forensics tools to investigate and analyse cyber incidents.
Review Security Architecture: Reviewing and enhancing security architecture to improve overall security posture.
Performance Data Analysis: Analysing performance data to identify potential security issues and improve systems' resilience.
Security Issues Related: Identifying and addressing security issues related to networking, applications, and systems.
Post Incident Response Process: Learning to effectively manage the post-incident response process, including documentation, analysis, and implementation of preventative measures.
Network Vulnerabilities and Access Management: Identifying network vulnerabilities and implementing appropriate access management measures to maintain security.

Module 1: 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

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
Organised 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, utilise threat intelligence to support organisational security.

Attack frameworks

MITRE ATT&CK
The Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis
Kill chain

Threat research

Reputational
Behavioural
Indicator of compromise (IoC)
Standard vulnerability scoring system (CVSS)

Threat modelling 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

Inhibitors to remediation

Memorandum of understanding (MOU)
Service-level agreement (SLA)
Organisational governance
Business process interruption
Degrading functionality
Legacy systems

1.4 Given a scenario, analyse the output from standard 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
hoping
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 specialised 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

2.0 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-define
Virtual private cloud (VPC)
Virtual private network (VPN)
Serverless

Change management

Virtualisation

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

Containerisation

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 defence

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
Parameterised 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

3.0 Security Operations and Monitoring

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

Heuristics

Trend analysis

Endpoint

Malware
Reverse engineering
Memory
System and application behaviour
Known-good behaviour
Anomalous behaviour
Exploit techniques
File system
User and entity behaviour 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

Organisational impact vs localised 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

Safelisting

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

4.0 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
Sanitisation
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, analyse potential indicators of compromise.

Network-related

Bandwidth consumption
Beaconing
Irregular peer-to-peer communication
The rogue device on the network
Scan/sweep
Unusual traffic spike
Common protocol over a non-standard port

Host-related

Processor consumption
Memory consumption
Drive capacity consumption
Unauthorised software
Malicious process
Unauthorised change
Unauthorised privilege
Data exfiltration
Abnormal OS process behaviour
File system change or anomaly
Registry change or anomaly
Unauthorised scheduled task

Application-related

Anomalous activity
Introduction of new accounts
Unexpected output
Unexpected outbound communication
Service interruption
Application log

4.4 Given a scenario, utilise basic digital forensics techniques.

Network

Wireshark
tcpdump

Endpoint

Disk
Memory

Mobile

Cloud

Virtualisation

Legal hold

Procedures

Hashing

Changes to binaries

Carving

Data acquisition

5.0 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 minimisation
Purpose limitation
A non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

Technical controls

Encryption
Data loss prevention (DLP)
Data masking
Deidentification
Tokenisation
Digital rights management (DRM)?
Watermarking
Geographic access requirements
Access controls

5.2 Given a scenario, apply security concepts to support organisational risk mitigation.

Business impact analysis

Risk identification process

Risk calculation

Probability
Magnitude

Communication of risk factors

Risk prioritisation

Security controls -
Engineering tradeoffs

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

Accreditation

CompTIA - The Computing Technology Industry Association

CompTIA is the world’s leading tech association and the voice of the world’s IT industry. CompTIA is a non-profit trade association providing leading vendor-neutral certification programmes that have been developed in connection with their membership community of IT professionals.

Benefits

The CompTIA CySA+ certification opens doors to a range of rewarding job roles in Cyber Security.

Each role involves unique responsibilities, and salaries vary depending on experience and expertise.

Here are some potential job roles, from entry-level to senior positions, along with their average UK salaries*:

IT Technician: An entry-level role involving basic IT support tasks. Average salary: £20,000 to £30,000 per annum.

Cyber Security Analyst: This role involves protecting IT infrastructure through threat analysis and mitigation. Average salary: £30,000 to £50,000 per annum.

Information Security Analyst: This position involves planning and implementing security measures. Average salary: £35,000 to £55,000 per annum.

Network Security Specialist: This role involves protecting an organisation's network from threats. Average salary: £45,000 to £65,000 per annum.

Cyber Security Engineer: This role involves designing, implementing, and managing secure IT systems. Average salary: £50,000 to £80,000 per annum.

Cyber Security Manager: A leadership role, overseeing an organisation's cyber security strategy and team. Average salary: £60,000 to £100,000 per annum.

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO): A senior leadership role, responsible for an organisation's information and data security. Average salary: £80,000 to £150,000 per annum.

*Source Payscale

Eligibility

Our CompTIA CySA+ certification course is designed for individuals ready to dive deep into the world of cyber security. If you're just starting or contemplating a career in cyber security, this course is an excellent choice. For professionals already working in IT and networking fields, our course can provide a fast-track into cyber security, equipping you with the knowledge and credentials to make a swift and successful transition.

However, if you're entirely new to the IT sector, we advise starting with the CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, and CompTIA Security+ certifications. These foundational qualifications, coupled with some industry experience, will prepare you better for the complex realm of cyber security.

The rewards for individuals who acquire the skills, experience, and certifications in cyber security are substantial, making it a worthwhile investment.

In an increasingly digital world, the demand for Cyber Security Analysts is on an upward trajectory, and the CompTIA CySA+ certification could be your ticket to this exciting, rewarding, and rapidly growing field.