CompTIA CAS-004 Exam Topics

CompTIA CAS-004 Exam Overview :

Exam Name:	CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) Exam
Exam Code:	CAS-004
Certifications:	CompTIA CASP Certification
Actual Exam Duration:	165 minutes
Expected no. of Questions in Actual Exam:	90
See Expected Questions:	CompTIA CAS-004 Expected Questions in Actual Exam

CompTIA CAS-004 Exam Objectives :

Section	Weight	Objectives
1.0 Security Architecture	29%	1.1 Given a scenario, analyze the security requirements and objectives to ensure an appropriate, secure network architecture for a new or existing network. • Services - Load balancer - Intrusion detection system (IDS)/ network intrusion detection system (NIDS)/wireless intrusion detection system (WIDS) - Intrusion prevention system (IPS)/ network intrusion prevention system (NIPS)/wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) - Web application firewall (WAF) - Network access control (NAC) - Virtual private network (VPN) - Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) - Firewall/unified threat management (UTM)/next-generation firewall (NGFW) - Network address translation (NAT) gateway - Internet gateway - Forward/transparent proxy - Reverse proxy - Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection - Routers - Mail security - Application programming interface (API) gateway/Extensible Markup Language (XML) gateway - Traffic mirroring - Switched port analyzer (SPAN) ports - Port mirroring - Virtual private cloud (VPC) - Network tap - Sensors - Security information and event management (SIEM) - File integrity monitoring (FIM) - Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps - NetFlow - Data loss prevention (DLP) - Antivirus • Segmentation - Microsegmentation - Local area network (LAN)/ virtual local area network (VLAN) - Jump box - Screened subnet - Data zones - Staging environments - Guest environments - VPC/virtual network (VNET) - Availability zone - NAC lists - Policies/security groups - Regions - Access control lists (ACLs) - Peer-to-peer - Air gap • Deperimeterization/zero trust - Cloud - Remote work - Mobile - Outsourcing and contracting - Wireless/radio frequency (RF) networks • Merging of networks from various organizations - Peering - Cloud to on premises - Data sensitivity levels - Mergers and acquisitions - Cross-domain - Federation - Directory services • Software-defined networking (SDN) - Open SDN - Hybrid SDN - SDN overlay 1.2 Given a scenario, analyze the organizational requirements • Scalability - Vertically - Horizontally • Resiliency - High availability - Diversity/heterogeneity - Course of action orchestration - Distributed allocation - Redundancy - Replication - Clustering • Automation - Autoscaling - Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) - Bootstrapping • Performance • Containerization • Virtualization • Content delivery network • Caching to determine the proper infrastructure security design. 1.3 Given a scenario, integrate software applications securely into an enterprise architecture. • Baseline and templates - Secure design patterns/ types of web technologies - Storage design patterns - Container APIs - Secure coding standards - Application vetting processes - API management - Middleware • Software assurance - Sandboxing/development environment - Validating third-party libraries - Defined DevOps pipeline - Code signing - Interactive application security testing (IAST) vs. dynamic application security testing (DAST) vs. static application security testing (SAST) • Considerations of integrating enterprise applications - Customer relationship management (CRM) - Enterprise resource planning (ERP) - Configuration management database (CMDB) - Content management system (CMS) - Integration enablers - Directory services - Domain name system (DNS) - Service-oriented architecture (SOA) - Enterprise service bus (ESB) • Integrating security into development life cycle - Formal methods - Requirements - Fielding - Insertions and upgrades - Disposal and reuse - Testing - Regression - Unit testing - Integration testing - Development approaches - SecDevOps - Agile - Waterfall - Spiral - Versioning - Continuous integration/ continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines - Best practices - Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) - Proper Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) headers 1.4 Given a scenario, implement data security techniques for securing enterprise architecture. • Data loss prevention - Blocking use of external media - Print blocking - Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) blocking - Clipboard privacy controls - Restricted virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) implementation - Data classification blocking • Data loss detection - Watermarking - Digital rights management (DRM) - Network traffic decryption/ deep packet inspection - Network traffic analysis • Data classification, labeling, and tagging - Metadata/attributes • Obfuscation - Tokenization - Scrubbing - Masking • Anonymization • Encrypted vs. unencrypted • Data life cycle - Create - Use - Share - Store - Archive - Destroy • Data inventory and mapping • Data integrity management • Data storage, backup, and recovery - Redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID 1.5 Given a scenario, analyze the security requirements and objectives to provide the appropriate authentication and authorization controls. • Credential management - Password repository application - End-user password storage - On premises vs. cloud repository - Hardware key manager - Privileged access management • Password policies - Complexity - Length - Character classes - History - Maximum/minimum age - Auditing - Reversable encryption • Federation - Transitive trust - OpenID - Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) - Shibboleth • Access control - Mandatory access control (MAC) - Discretionary access control (DAC) - Role-based access control - Rule-based access control - Attribute-based access control • Protocols - Remote Authentication Dial-in User Server (RADIUS) - Terminal Access Controller Access Control System (TACACS) - Diameter - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) - Kerberos - OAuth - 802.1X - Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) • Multifactor authentication (MFA) - Two-factor authentication (2FA) - 2-Step Verification - In-band - Out-of-band • One-time password (OTP) - HMAC-based one-time password (HOTP) - Time-based one-time password (TOTP) • Hardware root of trust • Single sign-on (SSO) • JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) web token (JWT) • Attestation and identity proofing 1.6 Given a set of requirements, implement secure cloud and virtualization solutions. • Virtualization strategies - Type 1 vs. Type 2 hypervisors - Containers - Emulation - Application virtualization - VDI • Provisioning and deprovisioning • Middleware • Metadata and tags • Deployment models and considerations - Business directives - Cost - Scalability - Resources - Location - Data protection - Cloud deployment models - Private - Public - Hybrid - Community • Hosting models - Multitenant - Single-tenant • Service models - Software as a service (SaaS) - Platform as a service (PaaS) - Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) • Cloud provider limitations - Internet Protocol (IP) address scheme - VPC peering • Extending appropriate on-premises controls • Storage models - Object storage/file-based storage - Database storage - Block storage - Blob storage - Key-value pairs 1.7 Explain how cryptography and public key infrastructure (PKI) support security objectives and requirements. • Privacy and confidentiality requirements • Integrity requirements • Non-repudiation • Compliance and policy requirements • Common cryptography use cases - Data at rest - Data in transit - Data in process/data in use - Protection of web services - Embedded systems - Key escrow/management - Mobile security - Secure authentication - Smart card • Common PKI use cases - Web services - Email - Code signing - Federation - Trust models - VPN - Enterprise and security automation/orchestration 1.8 Explain the impact of emerging technologies on enterprise security and privacy. • Artificial intelligence • Machine learning • Quantum computing • Blockchain • Homomorphic encryption - Private information retrieval - Secure function evaluation - Private function evaluation • Secure multiparty computation • Distributed consensus • Big Data • Virtual/augmented reality • 3-D printing • Passwordless authentication • Nano technology • Deep learning - Natural language processing - Deep fakes • Biometric impersonation
2.0 Security Operations	30%	2.1 Given a scenario, perform threat management activities. • Intelligence types - Tactical - Commodity malware - Strategic - Targeted attacks - Operational - Threat hunting - Threat emulation • Actor types - Advanced persistent threat (APT)/nation-state - Insider threat - Competitor - Hacktivist - Script kiddie - Organized crime • Threat actor properties - Resource - Time - Money - Supply chain access - Create vulnerabilities - Capabilities/sophistication - Identifying techniques • Intelligence collection methods - Intelligence feeds - Deep web - Proprietary - Open-source intelligence (OSINT) - Human intelligence (HUMINT) • Frameworks - MITRE Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, & Common knowledge (ATT&CK) - ATT&CK for industrial control system (ICS) - Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis - Cyber Kill Chain 2.2 Given a scenario, analyze indicators of compromise and formulate an appropriate response. • Indicators of compromise - Packet capture (PCAP) - Logs - Network logs - Vulnerability logs - Operating system logs - Access logs - NetFlow logs - Notifications - FIM alerts - SIEM alerts - DLP alerts - IDS/IPS alerts - Antivirus alerts - Notification severity/priorities - Unusual process activity • Response - Firewall rules - IPS/IDS rules - ACL rules - Signature rules - Behavior rules - DLP rules - Scripts/regular expressions 2.3 Given a scenario, perform vulnerability management activities. • Vulnerability scans - Credentialed vs. non-credentialed - Agent-based/server-based - Criticality ranking - Active vs. passive • Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) - Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF) - Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language (OVAL) - Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) - Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) - Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) - Common Configuration Enumeration (CCE) - Asset Reporting Format (ARF) • Self-assessment vs. third- party vendor assessment • Patch management • Information sources - Advisories - Bulletins - Vendor websites - Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) - News reports 2.4 Given a scenario, use the appropriate vulnerability assessment and penetration testing methods and tools. • Methods - Static analysis - Dynamic analysis - Side-channel analysis - Reverse engineering - Software - Hardware - Wireless vulnerability scan - Software composition analysis - Fuzz testing - Pivoting - Post-exploitation - Persistence • Tools - SCAP scanner - Network traffic analyzer - Vulnerability scanner - Protocol analyzer - Port scanner - HTTP interceptor - Exploit framework - Password cracker • Dependency management • Requirements - Scope of work - Rules of engagement - Invasive vs. non-invasive - Asset inventory - Permissions and access - Corporate policy considerations - Facility considerations - Physical security considerations - Rescan for corrections/changes 2.5 Given a scenario, analyze vulnerabilities and recommend risk mitigations. • Vulnerabilities - Race conditions - Overflows - Buffer - Integer - Broken authentication - Unsecure references - Poor exception handling - Security misconfiguration - Improper headers - Information disclosure - Certificate errors - Weak cryptography implementations - Weak ciphers - Weak cipher suite implementations - Software composition analysis - Use of vulnerable frameworks and software modules - Use of unsafe functions - Third-party libraries - Dependencies - Code injections/malicious changes - End of support/end of life - Regression issues • Inherently vulnerable system/application - Client-side processing vs. server-side processing - JSON/representational state transfer (REST) - Browser extensions - Flash - ActiveX - Hypertext Markup Language 5 (HTML5) - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) - Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) - Machine code vs. bytecode or interpreted vs. emulated • Attacks - Directory traversal - Cross-site scripting (XSS) - Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) - Injection - XML - LDAP - Structured Query Language (SQL) - Command - Process - Sandbox escape - Virtual machine (VM) hopping - VM escape - Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)/ route hijacking - Interception attacks - Denial-of-service (DoS)/DDoS - Authentication bypass - Social engineering - VLAN hopping 2.6 Given a scenario, use processes to reduce risk. • Proactive and detection - Hunts - Developing countermeasures - Deceptive technologies - Honeynet - Honeypot - Decoy files - Simulators - Dynamic network configurations • Security data analytics - Processing pipelines - Data - Stream - Indexing and search - Log collection and curation - Database activity monitoring • Preventive - Antivirus - Immutable systems - Hardening - Sandbox detonation • Application control - License technologies - Allow list vs. block list - Time of check vs. time of use - Atomic execution • Security automation - Cron/scheduled tasks - Bash - PowerShell - Python • Physical security - Review of lighting - Review of visitor logs - Camera reviews - Open spaces vs. confined spaces 2.7 Given an incident, implement the appropriate response. • Event classifications - False positive - False negative - True positive - True negative • Triage event • Preescalation tasks • Incident response process - Preparation - Detection - Analysis - Containment - Recovery - Lessons learned • Specific response playbooks/processes - Scenarios - Ransomware - Data exfiltration - Social engineering - Non-automated response methods - Automated response methods - Runbooks - SOAR • Communication plan • Stakeholder management 2.8 Explain the importance of forensic concepts. • Legal vs. internal corporate purposes • Forensic process - Identification - Evidence collection - Chain of custody - Order of volatility - Memory snapshots - Images - Cloning - Evidence preservation - Secure storage - Backups - Analysis - Forensics tools - Verification - Presentation • Integrity preservation - Hashing • Cryptanalysis • Steganalysis 2.9 Given a scenario, use forensic analysis tools. • File carving tools - Foremost - Strings • Binary analysis tools - Hex dump - Binwalk - Ghidra - GNU Project debugger (GDB) - OllyDbg - readelf - objdump - strace - ldd - file • Analysis tools - ExifTool - Nmap - Aircrack-ng - Volatility - The Sleuth Kit - Dynamically vs. statically linked • Imaging tools - Forensic Toolkit (FTK) Imager - dd • Hashing utilities - sha256sum - ssdeep • Live collection vs. post-mortem tools - netstat - ps - vmstat - ldd - lsof - netcat - tcpdump - conntrack - Wireshark
3.0 Security Engineering and Cryptography	26%	3.1 Given a scenario, apply secure configurations to enterprise mobility. • Managed configurations - Application control - Password - MFA requirements - Token-based access - Patch repository - Firmware Over-the-Air - Remote wipe - WiFi - WiFi Protected Access (WPA2/3) - Device certificates - Profiles - Bluetooth - Near-field communication (NFC) - Peripherals - Geofencing - VPN settings - Geotagging - Certificate management - Full device encryption - Tethering - Airplane mode - Location services - DNS over HTTPS (DoH) - Custom DNS • Deployment scenarios - Bring your own device (BYOD) - Corporate-owned - Corporate owned, personally enabled (COPE) - Choose your own device (CYOD) • Security considerations - Unauthorized remote activation/ deactivation of devices or features - Encrypted and unencrypted communication concerns - Physical reconnaissance - Personal data theft - Health privacy - Implications of wearable devices - Digital forensics of collected data - Unauthorized application stores - Jailbreaking/rooting - Side loading - Containerization - Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and carrier differences - Supply chain issues - eFuse 3.2 Given a scenario, configure and implement endpoint security controls. • Hardening techniques - Removing unneeded services - Disabling unused accounts - Images/templates - Remove end-of-life devices - Remove end-of-support devices - Local drive encryption - Enable no execute (NX)/ execute never (XN) bit - Disabling central processing unit (CPU) virtualization support - Secure encrypted enclaves/ memory encryption - Shell restrictions - Address space layout randomization (ASLR) • Processes - Patching - Firmware - Application - Logging - Monitoring • Mandatory access control - Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux)/ Security-Enhanced Android (SEAndroid) - Kernel vs. middleware • Trustworthy computing - Trusted Platform Module (TPM) - Secure Boot - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)/basic input/ output system (BIOS) protection - Attestation services - Hardware security module (HSM) - Measured boot - Self-encrypting drives (SEDs) • Compensating controls - Antivirus - Application controls - Host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS)/Host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS) - Host-based firewall - Endpoint detection and response (EDR) - Redundant hardware - Self-healing hardware - User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) 3.3 Explain security considerations impacting specific sectors and operational technologies. • Embedded - Internet of Things (IoT) - System on a chip (SoC) - Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) - Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) • ICS/supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) - Programmable logic controller (PLC) - Historian - Ladder logic - Safety instrumented system - Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) • Protocols - Controller Area Network (CAN) bus - Modbus - Distributed Network Protocol 3 (DNP3) - Zigbee - Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) - Data distribution service • Sectors - Energy - Manufacturing - Healthcare - Public utilities - Public services - Facility services 3.4 Explain how cloud technology adoption impacts organizational security. • Automation and orchestration • Encryption configuration • Logs - Availability - Collection - Monitoring - Configuration - Alerting • Monitoring configurations • Key ownership and location • Key life-cycle management • Backup and recovery methods - Cloud as business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) - Primary provider BCDR - Alternative provider BCDR • Infrastructure vs. serverless computing • Application virtualization • Software-defined networking • Misconfigurations • Collaboration tools • Storage configurations - Bit splitting - Data dispersion • Cloud access security broker (CASB) 3.5 Given a business requirement, implement the appropriate PKI solution. • PKI hierarchy - Certificate authority (CA) - Subordinate/intermediate CA - Registration authority (RA) • Certificate types - Wildcard certificate - Extended validation - Multidomain - General purpose • Certificate usages/profiles/templates - Client authentication - Server authentication - Digital signatures - Code signing • Extensions - Common name (CN) - Subject alternate name (SAN) • Trusted providers • Trust model • Cross-certification • Configure profiles • Life-cycle management • Public and private keys • Digital signature • Certificate pinning • Certificate stapling • Certificate signing requests (CSRs) • Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) vs. certificate revocation list (CRL) • HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) 3.6 Given a business requirement, implement the appropriate cryptographic protocols and algorithms. • Hashing - Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA) - Hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) - Message digest (MD) - RACE integrity primitives evaluation message digest (RIPEMD) - Poly1305 • Symmetric algorithms - Modes of operation - Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) - Electronic codebook (ECB) - Cipher block chaining (CBC) - Counter (CTR) - Output feedback (OFB) - Stream and block - Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) - Triple digital encryption standard (3DES) - ChaCha - Salsa20 • Asymmetric algorithms - Key agreement - Diffie-Hellman - Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) - Signing - Digital signature algorithm (DSA) - Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (RSA) - Elliptic-curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) • Protocols - Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/ Transport Layer Security (TLS) - Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) - Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) - Secure Shell (SSH) - EAP • Elliptic curve cryptography - P256 - P384 • Forward secrecy • Authenticated encryption with associated data • Key stretching - Password-based key derivation function 2 (PBKDF2) - Bcrypt 3.7 Given a scenario, troubleshoot issues with cryptographic implementations. • Implementation and configuration issues - Validity dates - Wrong certificate type - Revoked certificates - Incorrect name - Chain issues - Invalid root or intermediate CAs - Self-signed - Weak signing algorithm - Weak cipher suite - Incorrect permissions - Cipher mismatches - Downgrade • Keys - Mismatched - Improper key handling - Embedded keys - Rekeying - Exposed private keys - Crypto shredding - Cryptographic obfuscation - Key rotation - Compromised keys
4.0 Governance, Risk, and Compliance	15%	4.1 Given a set of requirements, apply the appropriate risk strategies. • Risk assessment - Likelihood - Impact - Qualitative vs. quantitative - Exposure factor - Asset value - Total cost of ownership (TCO) - Return on investment (ROI) - Mean time to recovery (MTTR) - Mean time between failure (MTBF) - Annualized loss expectancy (ALE) - Annualized rate of occurrence (ARO) - Single loss expectancy (SLE) - Gap analysis • Risk handling techniques - Transfer - Accept - Avoid - Mitigate • Risk types - Inherent - Residual - Exceptions • Risk management life cycle - Identify - Assess - Control - People - Process - Technology - Protect - Detect - Respond - Restore - Review - Frameworks • Risk tracking - Risk register - Key performance indicators - Scalability - Reliability - Availability - Key risk indicators • Risk appetite vs. risk tolerance - Tradeoff analysis - Usability vs. security requirements • Policies and security practices - Separation of duties - Job rotation - Mandatory vacation - Least privilege - Employment and termination procedures - Training and awareness for users - Auditing requirements and frequency 4.2 Explain the importance of managing and mitigating vendor risk. • Shared responsibility model (roles/responsibilities) - Cloud service provider (CSP) - Geographic location ? - Infrastructure - Compute - Storage - Networking - Services - Client - Encryption ? - Operating systems - Applications - Data • Vendor lock-in and vendor lockout • Vendor viability - Financial risk - Merger or acquisition risk • Meeting client requirements - Legal - Change management - Staff turnover - Device and technical configurations • Support availability • Geographical considerations • Supply chain visibility • Incident reporting requirements • Source code escrows • Ongoing vendor assessment tools • Third-party dependencies - Code - Hardware - Modules • Technical considerations - Technical testing - Network segmentation - Transmission control - Shared credentials 4.3 Explain compliance frameworks and legal considerations, and their organizational impact. • Security concerns of integrating diverse industries • Data considerations - Data sovereignty - Data ownership - Data classifications - Data retention - Data types - Health - Financial - Intellectual property - Personally identifiable information (PII) - Data removal, destruction, and sanitization • Geographic considerations - Location of data - Location of data subject - Location of cloud provider • Third-party attestation of compliance • Regulations, accreditations, and standards - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - International Organization for Standardization (ISO) - Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) - National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) - Common Criteria - Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Security Trust Assurance and Risk (STAR) • Legal considerations - Due diligence - Due care - Export controls - Legal holds - E-discovery • Contract and agreement types - Service-level agreement (SLA) - Master service agreement (MSA) - Non-disclosure agreement (NDA) - Memorandum of understanding (MOU) - Interconnection security agreement (ISA) - Operational-level agreement - Privacy-level agreement 4.4 Explain the importance of business continuity and disaster recovery concepts. • Business impact analysis - Recovery point objective - Recovery time objective - Recovery service level - Mission essential functions • Privacy impact assessment • Disaster recovery plan (DRP)/ business continuity plan (BCP) - Cold site - Warm site - Hot site - Mobile site • Incident response plan - Roles/responsibilities - After-action reports • Testing plans - Checklist - Walk-through - Tabletop exercises - Full interruption test - Parallel test/simulation test
Official Information		https://www.comptia.org/certifications/comptia-advanced-security-practitioner

Updates in the CompTIA CAS-004 Exam Topics:

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