CompTIA SY0-701 Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

CompTIA SY0-701 Online Questions & Answers

• Question 211:

  Which of the following should an organization implement to avoid unnecessary liability after the end of a legal contract obligation with a third party?

  A. Data encryption
  B. Data classification
  C. Data retention
  D. Data inventory
  C. Data retention

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  Explanation

  The best answer is C. Data retention. To avoid unnecessary liability after the end of a legal contract obligation with a third party, an organization should follow a proper data retention policy. Data retention policies define how long data must be kept and when it should be deleted or securely destroyed once it is no longer needed for legal, contractual, regulatory, or business purposes. Keeping third-party data longer than necessary can increase: legal exposure privacy risk breach impact storage and governance burden.

  Why the other options are incorrect:

  A. Data encryptionEncryption protects data confidentiality, but it does not address whether the data should still be retained at all.

  B. Data classificationClassification helps determine sensitivity and handling requirements, but it does not define when data should be disposed of.

  D. Data inventoryAn inventory helps identify what data exists, but it does not by itself reduce liability after contractual obligations end. From the SY0-701 perspective, reducing liability after contractual or legal obligations end requires proper retention schedules and secure disposal, so C is the correct answer.

• Question 212:

  An organization has a new regulatory requirement to implement corrective controls on a financial system.

  Which of the following is the most likely reason for the new requirement?

  A. To defend against insider threats altering banking details
  B. To ensure that errors are not passed to other systems
  C. To allow for business insurance to be purchased
  D. To prevent unauthorized changes to financial data
  B. To ensure that errors are not passed to other systems

• Question 213:

  An organization is leveraging a VPN between its headquarters and a branch location.

  Which of the following is the VPN protecting?

  A. Data in use
  B. Data in transit
  C. Geographic restrictions
  D. Data sovereignty
  B. Data in transit

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  Explanation

  Data in transit is data that is moving from one location to another, such as over a network or through the air. Data in transit is vulnerable to interception, modification, or theft by malicious actors. A VPN (virtual private network) is a technology that protects data in transit by creating a secure tunnel between two endpoints and encrypting the data that passes through it.

  References:

  CompTIA Security+ Study Guide: Exam SY0-701, 9th Edition, Chapter 4, page 145.

• Question 214:

  A software developer released a new application and is distributing the application files through the developer's website.

  Which of the following should the developer post on the website to allow users to verify the integrity of the downloaded files?

  A. Hashes
  B. Certificates
  C. Algorithms
  D. Salting
  A. Hashes

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  Explanation

  The correct answer is A. Hashes.

  A hash is a fixed-length value generated from data using a hashing algorithm. Developers often publish cryptographic hashes, such as SHA-256 hashes, so users can compare the published hash with the hash of the downloaded file. If the values match, the user has assurance that the file was not altered or corrupted after the hash was generated.

  This aligns with CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 topics related to integrity, cryptographic concepts, and secure software distribution.

  Why the other options are incorrect:

  B. Certificates Certificates are used to verify identity, support encryption, and enable trust in public key infrastructure. They may support code signing, but simply posting a certificate is not the standard method for users to manually verify file integrity.

  C. Algorithms Algorithms define the mathematical process used for hashing or encryption, but posting an algorithm alone does not allow users to verify a specific file's integrity.

  D. Salting Salting is commonly used with password hashing to defend against precomputed hash attacks, such as rainbow table attacks. It is not used for verifying downloaded file integrity. Therefore, the developer should post hashes for the downloadable files.

• Question 215:

  Which of the following practices would be best to prevent an insider from introducing malicious code into a company's development process?

  A. Code scanning for vulnerabilities
  B. Open-source component usage
  C. Quality assurance testing
  D. Peer review and approval
  D. Peer review and approval

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  Explanation

  Peer review and approval is a practice that involves having other developers or experts review the code before it is deployed or released. Peer review and approval can help detect and prevent malicious code, errors, bugs, vulnerabilities, and poor quality in the development process. Peer review and approval can also enforce coding standards, best practices, and compliance requirements. Peer review and approval can be done manually or with the help of tools, such as code analysis, code review, and code signing.

  References:

  CompTIA Security+ Study Guide: Exam SY0-701, 9th Edition, Chapter 11: Secure Application Development, page 543

• Question 216:

  Which of the following is a common, passive reconnaissance technique employed by penetration testers in the early phases of an engagement?

  A. Open-source intelligence
  B. Port scanning
  C. Pivoting
  D. Exploit validation
  A. Open-source intelligence

• Question 217:

  A security team receives reports about high latency and complete network unavailability throughout most of the office building. Flow logs from the campus switches show high traffic on TCP 445.

  Which of the following is most likely the root cause of this incident?

  A. Buffer overflow
  B. NTP amplification attack
  C. Worm
  D. Kerberoasting attack
  C. Worm

• Question 218:

  An administrator must replace an expired SSL certificate.

  Which of the following does the administrator need to create the new SSL certificate?

  A. CSR
  B. OCSP
  C. Key
  D. CRL
  A. CSR

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  Explanation

  A Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is a request sent to a certificate authority (CA) to issue an SSL certificate. The CSR contains information like the public key, which will be part of the certificate.

  References:

  Security+ SY0-701 Course Content, Security+ SY0-601 Book.

• Question 219:

  Which of the following should be used to ensure that a new software release has not been modified before reaching the user?

  A. Tokenization
  B. Encryption
  C. Hashing
  D. Obfuscation
  C. Hashing

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  Explanation

  Hashing is the correct mechanism for ensuring that a software release has not been modified prior to reaching the end user. Hashing provides integrity verification by generating a fixed-length digest (such as SHA-256) from the original software package. When users download the software, they can compute the hash locally and compare it to the hash value published by the vendor. If the values match, the software has not been altered; if they differ, tampering or corruption has occurred.

  CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 emphasizes hashing as a core cryptographic control used to verify integrity for files, updates, patches, and software distributions. Hashing is extremely sensitive to change-altering even a single bit in the file results in a completely different hash value.

  Encryption (B) protects confidentiality, not integrity. Tokenization (A) replaces sensitive data with tokens and is unrelated to software integrity. Obfuscation (D) makes code harder to read but does not guarantee it has not been modified.

  Therefore, hashing is the most appropriate and reliable method to ensure software integrity before release.

• Question 220:

  Which of the following describes the process of concealing code or text inside a graphical image?

  A. Symmetric encryption
  B. Hashing
  C. Data masking
  D. Steganography
  D. Steganography

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  Explanation

  Steganography is the process of hiding information within another medium, such as an image, audio, video, or text file. The hidden information is not visible or noticeable to the casual observer, and can only be extracted by using a specific technique or key. Steganography can be used for various purposes, such as concealing secret messages, watermarking, or evading detection by antivirus software

  References:

  1: CompTIA Security+ Study Guide: Exam SY0-701, 9th Edition, Chapter

  5: Cryptography and PKI, page 233

  2: CompTIA Security+ Certification Kit: Exam SY0-701, 7th Edition, Chapter

  5: Cryptography and PKI, page 235