CompTIA CASP+ (CASP Plus) Exam Syllabus

Risk Management 19%

1. Partnerships
2. Outsourcing
3. Cloud
4. Acquisition/merger – divestiture/demerger
   Data ownership
   Data reclassification

3. Security concerns of integrating diverse industries

1. Rules
2. Policies
3. Regulations
   Export controls
   Legal requirements
4. Geography
   Data sovereignty
   Jurisdictions

4. Internal and external influences

1. Competitors
2. Auditors/audit findings
3. Regulatory entities
4. Internal and external client requirements
5. Top-level management

5. Impact of de-perimeterization (e.g., constantly changing network boundary)

1. Telecommuting
2. Cloud
3. Mobile
4. BYOD
5. Outsourcing
6. Ensuring third-party providers have requisite levels of information security

1. New business
2. New technologies
3. Environmental changes
4. Regulatory requirements
5. Emerging risks

2. Support legal compliance and advocacy by partnering with human resources, legal, management and other entities
3. Understand common business documents to support security

1. Risk assessment (RA)
2. Business impact analysis (BIA)
3. Interoperability agreement (IA)
4. Interconnection security agreement (ISA)
5. Memorandum of understanding (MOU)
6. Service-level agreement (SLA)
7. Operating-level agreement (OLA)
8. Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
9. Business partnership agreement (BPA)
10. Master service agreement (MSA)

4. Research security requirements for contracts

1. Request for proposal (RFP)
2. Request for quote (RFQ)
3. Request for information (RFI)

5. Understand general privacy principles for sensitive information
6. Support the development of policies containing standard security practices

1. Separation of duties
2. Job rotation
3. Mandatory vacation
4. Least privilege
5. Incident response
6. Forensic tasks
7. Employment and termination procedures
8. Continuous monitoring
9. Training and awareness for users
10. Auditing requirements and frequency
11. Information classification

1. Magnitude of impact based on ALE and SLE
2. Likelihood of threat
   Motivation
   Source
   ARO
   Trend analysis
3. Return on investment (ROI)
4. Total cost of ownership

8. Translate technical risks in business terms
9. Recommend which strategy should be applied based on risk appetite

1. Avoid
2. Transfer
3. Mitigate
4. Accept

10. Risk management processes

1. Exemptions
2. Deterrence
3. Inherent
4. Residual

11. Continuous improvement/monitoring
12. Business continuity planning

1. RTO
2. RPO
3. MTTR
4. MTBF

13. IT governance

1. Adherence to risk management frameworks

14. Enterprise resilience

1. Gap analysis
2. Lessons learned
3. After-action reports

2. Reverse engineer/deconstruct existing solutions
3. Creation, collection and analysis of metrics

1. KPIs
2. KRIs

4. Prototype and test multiple solutions
5. Create benchmarks and compare to baselines
6. Analyze and interpret trend data to anticipate cyber defense needs
7. Analyze security solution metrics and attributes to ensure they meet business needs

1. Performance
2. Latency
3. Scalability
4. Capability
5. Usability
6. Maintainability
7. Availability
8. Recoverability
9. ROI
10. TCO

8. Use judgment to solve problems where the most secure solution is not feasible

Enterprise Security Architecture 25%

1. UTM
2. IDS/IPS
3. NIDS/NIPS
4. INE
5. NAC
6. SIEM
7. Switch
8. Firewall
9. Wireless controller
10. Router
11. Proxy
12. Load balancer
13. HSM
14. MicroSD HSM

2. Application and protocol-aware technologies

1. WAF
2. Firewall
3. Passive vulnerability scanners
4. DAM

3. Advanced network design (wired/wireless)

1. Remote access
   VPN
   IPSec
   SSL/TLS
   SSH
   RDP
   VNC
   VDI
   Reverse proxy
2. IPv4 and IPv6 transitional technologies
3. Network authentication methods
4. 802.1x
5. Mesh networks
6. Placement of fixed/mobile devices
7. Placement of hardware and applications

4. Complex network security solutions for data flow

1. DLP
2. Deep packet inspection
3. Data flow enforcement
4. Network flow (S/flow)
5. Data flow diagram

5. Secure configuration and baselining of networking and security components
6. Software-defined networking
7. Network management and monitoring tools

1. Alert definitions and rule writing
2. Tuning alert thresholds
3. Alert fatigue

8. Advanced configuration of routers, switches and other network devices

1. Transport security
2. Trunking security
3. Port security
4. Route protection
5. DDoS protection
6. Remotely triggered black hole

9. Security zones

1. DMZ
2. Separation of critical assets
3. Network segmentation

10. Network access control

1. Quarantine/remediation
2. Persistent/volatile or non-persistent agent
3. Agent vs. agentless

11. Network-enabled devices

1. System on a chip (SoC)
2. Building/home automation systems
3. IP video
4. HVAC controllers
5. Sensors
6. Physical access control systems
7. A/V systems
8. Scientific/industrial equipment

12. Critical infrastructure

1. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)
2. Industrial control systems (ICS)

1. SELinux
2. SEAndroid
3. TrustedSolaris
4. Least functionality

2. Endpoint security software

1. Anti-malware
2. Antivirus
3. Anti-spyware
4. Spam filters
5. Patch management
6. HIPS/HIDS
7. Data loss prevention
8. Host-based firewalls
9. Log monitoring
10. Endpoint detection response

3. Host hardening

1. Standard operating environment/ configuration baselining
   Application whitelisting and blacklisting
2. Security/group policy implementation
3. Command shell restrictions
4. Patch management
   Manual
   Automated
   Scripting and replication
5. Configuring dedicated interfaces
   Out-of-band management
   ACLs
   Management interface
   Data interface
6. External I/O restrictions
   USB
   Wireless
   Bluetooth
   NFC
   IrDA
   RF
   802.11
   RFID
   Drive mounting
   Drive mapping
   Webcam
   Recording mic
   Audio output
   SD port
   HDMI port
7. File and disk encryption
8. Firmware updates

4. Boot loader protections

1. Secure boot
2. Measured launch
3. Integrity measurement architecture
4. BIOS/UEFI
5. Attestation services
6. TPM

5. Vulnerabilities associated with hardware
6. Terminal services/application delivery services

1. Containerization
2. Configuration profiles and payloads
3. Personally owned, corporate-enabled
4. Application wrapping
5. Remote assistance access
   VNC
   Screen mirroring
6. Application, content and data management
7. Over-the-air updates (software/firmware)
8. Remote wiping
9. SCEP
10. BYOD
11. COPE
12. VPN
13. Application permissions
14. Side loading
15. Unsigned apps/system apps
16. Context-aware management
    Geolocation/geofencing
    User behavior
    Security restrictions
    Time-based restrictions

2. Security implications/privacy concerns

1. Data storage
   Non-removable storage
   Removable storage
   Cloud storage
   Transfer/backup data to uncontrolled storage
2. USB OTG
3. Device loss/theft
4. Hardware anti-tamper
   eFuse
5. TPM
6. Rooting/jailbreaking
7. Push notification services
8. Geotagging
9. Encrypted instant messaging apps
10. Tokenization
11. OEM/carrier Android fragmentation
12. Mobile payment
    NFC-enabled
    Inductance-enabled
    Mobile wallet
    Peripheral-enabled payments (credit card reader)
13. Tethering
    USB
    Spectrum management
    Bluetooth 3.0 vs. 4.1
14. Authentication
    Swipe pattern
    Gesture
    Pin code
    Biometric
    Facial
    Fingerprint
    Iris scan
15. Malware
16. Unauthorized domain bridging
17. Baseband radio/SOC
18. Augmented reality
19. SMS/MMS/messaging

3. Wearable technology

1. Devices
   Cameras
   Watches
   Fitness devices
   Glasses
   Medical sensors/devices
   Headsets
2. Security implications
   Unauthorized remote activation/ deactivation of devices or features
   Encrypted and unencrypted communication concerns
   Physical reconnaissance
   Personal data theft
   Health privacy
   Digital forensics of collected data

1. Secure: by design, by default, by deployment

2. Specific application issues

1. Unsecure direct object references
2. XSS
3. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
4. Click-jacking
5. Session management
6. Input validation
7. SQL injection
8. Improper error and exception handling
9. Privilege escalation
10. Improper storage of sensitive data
11. Fuzzing/fault injection
12. Secure cookie storage and transmission
13. Buffer overflow
14. Memory leaks
15. Integer overflows
16. Race conditions
    Time of check
    Time of use
17. Resource exhaustion
18. Geotagging
19. Data remnants
20. Use of third-party libraries
21. Code reuse

3. Application sandboxing
4. Secure encrypted enclaves
5. Database activity monitor
6. Web application firewalls
7. Client-side processing vs. server-side processing

1. JSON/REST
2. Browser extensions
   ActiveX
   Java applets
3. HTML5
4. AJAX
5. SOAP
6. State management
7. JavaScript

8. Operating system vulnerabilities
9. Firmware vulnerabilities

Enterprise Security Operations 20%

1. Malware sandboxing
2. Memory dumping, runtime debugging
3. Reconnaissance
4. Fingerprinting
5. Code review
6. Social engineering
7. Pivoting
8. Open source intelligence
   Social media
   Whois
   Routing tables
   DNS records
   Search engines

2. Types

1. Penetration testing
   Black box
   White box
   Gray box
2. Vulnerability assessment
3. Self-assessment
   Tabletop exercises
4. Internal and external audits
5. Color team exercises
   Red team
   Blue team
   White team

1. Network tool types

1. Port scanners
2. Vulnerability scanners
3. Protocol analyzer
   Wired
   Wireless
4. SCAP scanner
5. Network enumerator
6. Fuzzer
7. HTTP interceptor
8. Exploitation tools/frameworks
9. Visualization tools
10. Log reduction and analysis tools

2. Host tool types

1. Password cracker
2. Vulnerability scanner
3. Command line tools
4. Local exploitation tools/frameworks
5. SCAP tool
6. File integrity monitoring
7. Log analysis tools
8. Antivirus
9. Reverse engineering tools

3. Physical security tools

1. Lock picks
2. RFID tools
3. IR camera

1. Electronic inventory and asset control
2. Data retention policies
3. Data recovery and storage
4. Data ownership
5. Data handling
6. Legal holds

2. Data breach

1. Detection and collection
   Data analytics
2. Mitigation
   Minimize
   Isolate
3. Recovery/reconstitution
4. Response
5. Disclosure

3. Facilitate incident detection and response

1. Hunt teaming
2. Heuristics/behavioral analytics
3. Establish and review system, audit and security logs

4. Incident and emergency response

1. Chain of custody
2. Forensic analysis of compromised system
3. Continuity of operations
4. Disaster recovery
5. Incident response team
6. Order of volatility

5. Incident response support tools

1. dd
2. tcpdump
3. nbtstat
4. netstat
5. nc (Netcat)
6. memdump
7. tshark
8. foremost

6. Severity of incident or breach

1. Scope
2. Impact
3. Cost
4. Downtime
5. Legal ramifications

7. Post-incident response

1. Root-cause analysis
2. Lessons learned
3. After-action report

1. Adapt data flow security to meet changing business needs
2. Standards

1. Open standards
2. Adherence to standards
3. Competing standards
4. Lack of standards
5. De facto standards

3. Interoperability issues

1. Legacy systems and software/current systems
2. Application requirements
3. Software types
   In-house developed
   Commercial
   Tailored commercial
   Open source
4. Standard data formats
5. Protocols and APIs

4. Resilience issues

1. Use of heterogeneous components
2. Course of action automation/orchestration
3. Distribution of critical assets
4. Persistence and non- persistence of data
5. Redundancy/high availability
6. Assumed likelihood of attack

5. Data security considerations

1. Data remnants
2. Data aggregation
3. Data isolation
4. Data ownership
5. Data sovereignty
6. Data volume

6. Resources provisioning and deprovisioning

1. Users
2. Servers
3. Virtual devices
4. Applications
5. Data remnants

7. Design considerations during mergers, acquisitions and demergers/divestitures
8. Network secure segmentation and delegation
9. Logical deployment diagram and corresponding physical deployment diagram of all relevant devices
10. Security and privacy considerations of storage integration
11. Security implications of integrating enterprise applications

1. CRM
2. ERP
3. CMDB
4. CMS
5. Integration enablers
   Directory services
   DNS
   SOA
   ESB

1. Cloud and virtualization considerations and hosting options
   Public
   Private
   Hybrid
   Community
   Multi-tenancy
   Single tenancy
2. On-premise vs. hosted
3. Cloud service models
   SaaS
   IaaS
   PaaS

2. Security advantages and disadvantages of virtualization

1. Type 1 vs. Type 2 hypervisors
2. Container-based
3. vTPM
4. Hyperconverged infrastructure
5. Virtual desktop infrastructure
6. Secure enclaves and volumes

3. Cloud augmented security services

1. Anti-malware
2. Vulnerability scanning
3. Sandboxing
4. Content filtering
5. Cloud security broker
6. Security as a service
7. Managed security service providers

4. Vulnerabilities associated with comingling of hosts with different security requirements

1. VMEscape
2. Privilege elevation
3. Live VM migration
4. Data remnants

5. Data security considerations

1. Vulnerabilities associated with a single server hosting multiple data types
2. Vulnerabilities associated with a single platform hosting multiple data types/owners on multiple virtual machines

6. Resources provisioning and deprovisioning

1. Virtual devices
2. Data remnants

1. Certificate-based authentication
2. Single sign-on
3. 802.1x
4. Context-aware authentication
5. Push-based authentication

2. Authorization

1. OAuth
2. XACML
3. SPML

3. Attestation
4. Identity proofing
5. Identity propagation
6. Federation

1. SAML
2. OpenID
3. Shibboleth
4. WAYF

7. Trust models

1. RADIUS configurations
2. LDAP
3. AD

1. Key stretching
2. Hashing
3. Digital signature
4. Message authentication
5. Code signing
6. Pseudo-random number generation
7. Perfect forward secrecy
8. Data-in-transit encryption
9. Data-in-memory/processing
10. Data-at-rest encryption
    Disk
    Block
    File
    Record
11. Steganography

2. Implementations

1. Crypto modules
2. Crypto processors
3. Cryptographic service providers
4. DRM
5. Watermarking
6. GPG
7. SSL/TLS
8. SSH
9. S/MIME
10. Cryptographic applications and proper/improper implementations
    Strength
    Performance
    Feasibility to implement
    Interoperability
11. Stream vs. block
12. PKI
    Wild card
    OCSP vs. CRL
    Issuance to entities
    Key escrow
    Certificate
    Tokens
    Stapling
    Pinning
13. Cryptocurrency/blockchain
14. Mobile device encryption considerations
15. Elliptic curve cryptography
16. P-256 vs. P-384 vs. P521

1. Resource and services
2. Desktop and application sharing
3. Remote assistance

2. Unified collaboration tools

1. Conferencing
   Web
   Video
   Audio
2. Storage and document collaboration tools
3. Unified communication
4. Instant messaging
5. Presence
6. Email
7. Telephony and VoIP integration
8. Collaboration sites
   Social media
   Cloud-based

Research, Development and Collaboration 13%

1. Perform ongoing research

1. Best practices
2. New technologies, security systems and services
3. Technology evolution (e.g., RFCs, ISO)

2. Threat intelligence

1. Latest attacks
2. Knowledge of current vulnerabilities and threats
3. Zero-day mitigation controls and remediation
4. Threat model

3. Research security implications of emerging business tools

1. Evolving social media platforms
2. Integration within the business
3. Big Data
4. AI/machine learning

4. Global IA industry/community

1. Computer emergency response team (CERT)
2. Conventions/conferences
3. Research consultants/vendors
4. Threat actor activities
5. Emerging threat sources

1. Systems development life cycle

1. Requirements
2. Acquisition
3. Test and evaluation
4. Commissioning/decommissioning
5. Operational activities
   Monitoring
   Maintenance
   Configuration and change management
6. Asset disposal
7. Asset/object reuse

2. Software development life cycle

1. Application security frameworks
2. Software assurance
   Standard libraries
   Industry-accepted approaches
   Web services security (WS-security)
   Forbidden coding techniques
   NX/XN bit use
   ASLR use
   Code quality
   Code analyzers
   Fuzzer
   Static
   Dynamic
3. Development approaches
   DevOps
   Security implications of agile, waterfall and spiral software development methodologies
   Continuous integration
   Versioning
4. Secure coding standards
5. Documentation
   Security requirements traceability matrix (SRTM)
   Requirements definition
   System design document
   Testing plans
6. Validation and acceptance testing
   Regression
   User acceptance testing
   Unit testing
   Integration testing
   Peer review

3. Adapt solutions to address:

1. Emerging threats
2. Disruptive technologies
3. Security trends

4. Asset management (inventory control)

1. Sales staff
2. Programmer
3. Database administrator
4. Network administrator
5. Management/executive management
6. Financial
7. Human resources
8. Emergency response team
9. Facilities manager
10. Physical security manager
11. Legal counsel

2. Provide objective guidance and impartial recommendations to staff and senior management on security processes and controls
3. Establish effective collaboration within teams to implement secure solutions
4. Governance, risk and compliance committee