Are flashcards effective for the Security+ exam?

Yes. Flashcards use active recall — retrieving an answer from memory — which research shows is one of the most effective study methods, especially in short, spaced sessions. Security+ is heavy on terminology (ports, protocols, attack types, crypto, frameworks), which is exactly what flashcards drill best.

What topics do the Security+ flashcards cover?

All five SY0-701 domains: General Security Concepts (CIA triad, controls, Zero Trust, cryptography), Threats/Vulnerabilities/Mitigations (attacks, malware, social engineering), Security Architecture (cloud, infrastructure, data protection, resilience), Security Operations (hardening, monitoring, IAM, incident response), and Security Program Management (governance, risk, compliance).

How should I study with these Security+ flashcards?

Lead with the highest-weighted domains — Security Operations (28%) and Threats, Vulnerabilities & Mitigations (22%) — then drill Program Management, Architecture, and General Concepts. Mix the modes: flip to learn, type to test recall, match for speed, and quiz to check yourself before a full practice test.

Are the Security+ flashcards free?

Yes — 100% free, all four study modes, no paywall and no sign-up.

Do these flashcards match the current Security+ exam blueprint?

Yes. The cards are organized to CompTIA's current SY0-701 exam objectives, covering all five scored domains in their official proportions, including the newer Zero Trust and Security Operations emphasis.

Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability — the three core goals of information security.

Ensuring only authorized people can read data; enforced by encryption and access control.

Ensuring data is accurate and unaltered; enforced by hashing and digital signatures.

Ensuring authorized users can access data when needed; enforced by redundancy and backups.

Assurance that someone cannot deny an action they performed; provided by digital signatures and logging.

Authentication (prove identity), Authorization (grant rights), and Accounting (log activity).

Verifying that a subject is who it claims to be (e.g., with a password, token, or biometric).

Granting an authenticated subject the rights to access specific resources.

Accounting (auditing)

Recording what authenticated subjects do, for tracking and forensics.

Authentication vs. authorization

Authentication proves WHO you are; authorization decides WHAT you may access.

A safeguard implemented by technology — firewall, encryption, MFA, antivirus.

An administrative safeguard — policies, risk assessments, security planning.

A safeguard carried out by people — awareness training, guard duty, config management.

A tangible safeguard — locks, fences, badges, cameras, bollards.

A control that stops an incident before it happens (e.g., a firewall rule or a lock).

A control that discourages an attacker (e.g., a warning sign or lighting).

A control that identifies an incident during or after it (e.g., an IDS or log review).

A control that fixes or limits damage after an event (e.g., restoring a backup).

An alternative control used when the primary control isn't feasible.

A control that directs behavior, such as a policy or procedure.

A model that removes implicit trust and verifies every request — 'never trust, always verify.'

Control plane (Zero Trust)

The 'brain' that makes access decisions: the Policy Engine and Policy Administrator.

Data plane (Zero Trust)

The part that enforces decisions on each request via the Policy Enforcement Point (PEP).

The Zero Trust component that decides to grant or deny access based on policy and context.

Policy Enforcement Point (PEP)

The Zero Trust component that allows or blocks each actual request to a resource.

Adjusting authentication requirements based on context and risk (a Zero Trust concept).

An area where access is trusted by default — what Zero Trust seeks to eliminate.

A decoy system that lures attackers away from real assets and records their behavior.

A network of honeypots that mimics a real environment to study attackers.

A bait file (e.g., 'passwords.xlsx') that triggers an alert when accessed.

Fake data (a credential, record, or API key) that signals compromise when used.

Encryption using one shared secret key to both encrypt and decrypt; fast (e.g., AES).

Asymmetric encryption

Encryption using a public/private key pair; one key encrypts, the other decrypts (e.g., RSA, ECC).

Advanced Encryption Standard — the dominant symmetric block cipher (128/192/256-bit keys).

A widely used asymmetric algorithm for key exchange and digital signatures.

Elliptic Curve Cryptography — asymmetric crypto giving strong security with smaller keys.

A key-exchange method that lets two parties derive a shared secret over an insecure channel.

A one-way function producing a fixed-length digest; used for integrity, not reversible.

A secure hashing algorithm producing a 256-bit digest, used for integrity verification.

An obsolete hash function, broken by collisions — should not be used for security.

Adding unique random data to a password before hashing so identical passwords differ.

Repeatedly hashing a password (e.g., bcrypt, PBKDF2, Argon2) to slow brute-force attacks.

A message hash encrypted with the signer's private key; proves integrity and authenticity.

Public key — when to use

Encrypt FOR someone with their public key; verify a signature with the signer's public key.

Private key — when to use

Decrypt what was sent to you; SIGN messages with your own private key.

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CompTIA Security+ Flashcards

CIA triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability — the three core goals of information security.
Confidentiality: Ensuring only authorized people can read data; enforced by encryption and access control.
Integrity: Ensuring data is accurate and unaltered; enforced by hashing and digital signatures.
Availability: Ensuring authorized users can access data when needed; enforced by redundancy and backups.
Non-repudiation: Assurance that someone cannot deny an action they performed; provided by digital signatures and logging.
AAA: Authentication (prove identity), Authorization (grant rights), and Accounting (log activity).
Authentication: Verifying that a subject is who it claims to be (e.g., with a password, token, or biometric).
Authorization: Granting an authenticated subject the rights to access specific resources.
Accounting (auditing): Recording what authenticated subjects do, for tracking and forensics.
Authentication vs. authorization: Authentication proves WHO you are; authorization decides WHAT you may access.
Technical control: A safeguard implemented by technology — firewall, encryption, MFA, antivirus.
Managerial control: An administrative safeguard — policies, risk assessments, security planning.
Operational control: A safeguard carried out by people — awareness training, guard duty, config management.
Physical control: A tangible safeguard — locks, fences, badges, cameras, bollards.
Preventive control: A control that stops an incident before it happens (e.g., a firewall rule or a lock).
Deterrent control: A control that discourages an attacker (e.g., a warning sign or lighting).
Detective control: A control that identifies an incident during or after it (e.g., an IDS or log review).
Corrective control: A control that fixes or limits damage after an event (e.g., restoring a backup).
Compensating control: An alternative control used when the primary control isn't feasible.
Directive control: A control that directs behavior, such as a policy or procedure.
Zero Trust: A model that removes implicit trust and verifies every request — 'never trust, always verify.'
Control plane (Zero Trust): The 'brain' that makes access decisions: the Policy Engine and Policy Administrator.
Data plane (Zero Trust): The part that enforces decisions on each request via the Policy Enforcement Point (PEP).
Policy Engine (PE): The Zero Trust component that decides to grant or deny access based on policy and context.
Policy Enforcement Point (PEP): The Zero Trust component that allows or blocks each actual request to a resource.
Adaptive identity: Adjusting authentication requirements based on context and risk (a Zero Trust concept).
Implicit trust zone: An area where access is trusted by default — what Zero Trust seeks to eliminate.
Honeypot: A decoy system that lures attackers away from real assets and records their behavior.
Honeynet: A network of honeypots that mimics a real environment to study attackers.
Honeyfile: A bait file (e.g., 'passwords.xlsx') that triggers an alert when accessed.
Honeytoken: Fake data (a credential, record, or API key) that signals compromise when used.
Symmetric encryption: Encryption using one shared secret key to both encrypt and decrypt; fast (e.g., AES).
Asymmetric encryption: Encryption using a public/private key pair; one key encrypts, the other decrypts (e.g., RSA, ECC).
AES: Advanced Encryption Standard — the dominant symmetric block cipher (128/192/256-bit keys).
RSA: A widely used asymmetric algorithm for key exchange and digital signatures.
ECC: Elliptic Curve Cryptography — asymmetric crypto giving strong security with smaller keys.
Diffie-Hellman: A key-exchange method that lets two parties derive a shared secret over an insecure channel.
Hashing: A one-way function producing a fixed-length digest; used for integrity, not reversible.
SHA-256: A secure hashing algorithm producing a 256-bit digest, used for integrity verification.
MD5: An obsolete hash function, broken by collisions — should not be used for security.
Salting: Adding unique random data to a password before hashing so identical passwords differ.
Key stretching: Repeatedly hashing a password (e.g., bcrypt, PBKDF2, Argon2) to slow brute-force attacks.
Digital signature: A message hash encrypted with the signer's private key; proves integrity and authenticity.
Public key — when to use: Encrypt FOR someone with their public key; verify a signature with the signer's public key.
Private key — when to use: Decrypt what was sent to you; SIGN messages with your own private key.
Hybrid encryption: Use asymmetric crypto to exchange a fast symmetric session key, then symmetric for the data (TLS).
PKI: Public Key Infrastructure — the CAs, policies, and keys that issue and manage digital certificates.
Certificate Authority (CA): A trusted entity that issues and signs digital certificates.
Root CA: The top, self-signed CA in a trust chain; usually kept offline for protection.
Intermediate CA: A CA signed by the root that issues end-entity certificates to protect the root key.
Digital certificate (X.509): A file binding a public key to a verified identity, signed by a CA.
CSR: Certificate Signing Request — a request sent to a CA to issue a certificate for a public key.
CRL: Certificate Revocation List — a published list of certificates the CA has revoked.
OCSP: Online Certificate Status Protocol — a real-time query to check if a certificate is revoked.
Certificate pinning: Associating a host with its expected certificate/key to resist fraudulent certs.
Wildcard certificate: A certificate that secures a domain and all its subdomains (e.g., *.example.com).
TPM: Trusted Platform Module — a hardware chip that securely stores keys and supports disk encryption.
HSM: Hardware Security Module — a tamper-resistant device for generating and storing keys.
Secure enclave: An isolated hardware region that protects data and keys even from the host OS.
Key escrow: Storing a copy of keys with a trusted third party so data can be recovered if a key is lost.
Steganography: Hiding data inside other data (e.g., within an image) so its existence is concealed.
Obfuscation: Making data or code hard to understand to slow analysis (not true encryption).
Blockchain: A distributed, append-only ledger secured by hashing and consensus.
Tokenization (crypto): Replacing sensitive data with a non-sensitive token mapped to the real value stored securely.
Cipher suite: The set of algorithms (key exchange, encryption, hashing) negotiated for a TLS session.
Perfect forward secrecy: Using ephemeral keys so a compromised long-term key can't decrypt past sessions.
Change management: A structured process to approve, document, test, and roll back changes safely.
Gap analysis: Comparing the current security posture to a desired state to find what's missing.
Phishing: A fraudulent message (usually email) that tricks the victim into revealing credentials or running malware.
Vishing: Voice phishing — a social-engineering attack carried out over a phone call.
Smishing: SMS phishing — a social-engineering attack delivered by text message.
Spear phishing: A phishing attack targeted at a specific individual using personalized details.
Whaling: A phishing attack that specifically targets high-value executives.
Business email compromise (BEC): Impersonating a trusted executive or vendor to authorize fraudulent payments.
Pretexting: Inventing a believable scenario or pretext to manipulate a victim into cooperating.
Pharming: Redirecting users from a legitimate site to a fake one, often via poisoned DNS.
Watering hole attack: Compromising a website the target group is known to visit, to infect them.
Typosquatting: Registering misspelled domains to catch users who mistype a URL.
Impersonation: Pretending to be someone trusted to gain access or information.
Tailgating: Following an authorized person through a secure door without credentials.
Dumpster diving: Searching discarded materials for sensitive information.
Shoulder surfing: Observing someone's screen or keypad to steal credentials or data.
Disinformation/misinformation: Spreading false content to manipulate beliefs or actions.
Threat actor: An individual or group that carries out an attack.
Nation-state actor: A government-sponsored, highly resourced threat actor; usually motivated by espionage.
Advanced persistent threat (APT): A skilled, well-resourced adversary that maintains long-term stealthy access.
Organized crime: A profit-driven, well-funded threat actor group.
Hacktivist: An attacker motivated by a political or social cause.
Insider threat: A current/former employee or partner who misuses authorized access.
Unskilled attacker: A 'script kiddie' who uses others' tools without deep expertise.
Shadow IT: Hardware, software, or services used without IT/security approval.
Threat vector: The path or means an attacker uses to gain access (email, USB, supply chain).
Attack surface: The total set of points where an attacker could try to enter or extract data.
Supply chain attack: Compromising a trusted vendor, MSP, or software update to reach the target.
Malware: Malicious software — ransomware, trojans, worms, viruses, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers.
Ransomware: Malware that encrypts data and demands payment for the decryption key.
Double extortion: Ransomware that also steals data and threatens to leak it if unpaid.
Trojan: Malware disguised as legitimate software that hides a malicious payload.
Worm: Self-replicating malware that spreads across networks without user action.
Virus: Malware that attaches to a host file and spreads when that file is executed.
Spyware: Malware that secretly gathers information about a user or system.
Keylogger: Malware or hardware that records keystrokes to steal credentials.
Rootkit: Malware that hides at a privileged level (often the kernel) to maintain stealthy access.
Logic bomb: Malicious code that executes when a specific condition or time is met.
Bloatware: Unwanted pre-installed software that expands the attack surface.
Fileless malware: Malware that runs in memory using legitimate tools, leaving little on disk.
Botnet: A network of compromised devices controlled by an attacker (often for DDoS).
Buffer overflow: Writing more data than a buffer holds, overwriting adjacent memory to run code.
Race condition (TOCTOU): A timing flaw between time-of-check and time-of-use that can be exploited.
Memory injection: Inserting malicious code into a running process's memory space.
SQL injection: Inserting malicious SQL into input so the database runs unintended commands.
SQL injection fix: Use parameterized queries (prepared statements) plus input validation.
Cross-site scripting (XSS): Injecting script into a trusted site that runs in another user's browser.
XSS fix: Output encoding, input validation, and a Content Security Policy (CSP).
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF): Tricking a logged-in user's browser into sending an unwanted authenticated request.
Zero-day: A vulnerability unknown to the vendor with no patch available yet.
Misconfiguration: An insecure default or setting; a leading cause of breaches.
Default credentials: Factory usernames/passwords left unchanged — an easy attacker entry point.
VM escape: Breaking out of a virtual machine to access the hypervisor or host.
On-path attack: An attacker secretly relays or alters traffic between two parties (formerly MITM).
Replay attack: Capturing and re-sending valid data (e.g., a session token) to impersonate a user.
DNS poisoning: Corrupting DNS records to redirect users to malicious sites.
ARP poisoning: Sending forged ARP messages to associate the attacker's MAC with another IP.
DDoS attack: Overwhelming a target with traffic from many sources to deny service.
Amplification attack: Using a service to multiply traffic volume toward a victim (a DDoS technique).
Privilege escalation: Gaining higher rights than granted — vertical (to admin) or horizontal (to a peer).
Password spraying: Trying a few common passwords against many accounts to avoid lockouts.
Brute-force attack: Systematically trying many passwords or keys until one works.
Dictionary attack: Trying passwords from a list of likely words.
Rainbow table: A precomputed table of hashes used to crack unsalted password hashes.
Indicator of compromise (IoC): An artifact (IP, hash, behavior) suggesting a system was breached.
Mitigation: segmentation: Dividing a network into zones to limit how far an attacker can move.
Mitigation: least privilege: Granting only the minimum access needed to limit the blast radius.
Mitigation: patching: Applying updates to fix known vulnerabilities.
Mitigation: hardening: Removing unneeded services/accounts and applying secure baselines.
Application allow list: Permitting only approved software to run (stronger than block-listing).
Sandboxing: Running untrusted code in an isolated environment to contain harm.
Defense in depth: Layering multiple independent controls so one failure isn't a breach.
Shared responsibility model: Cloud split: provider secures the infrastructure; customer secures data, identity, and config.
Security OF vs. IN the cloud: Provider = security OF the cloud (infrastructure); customer = security IN the cloud (data/config).
IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service — customer manages OS, apps, and data (most responsibility).
PaaS: Platform as a Service — provider manages the platform; customer manages apps and data.
SaaS: Software as a Service — provider manages almost everything; customer manages data and access.
Virtualization: Running multiple guest operating systems on one physical host via a hypervisor.
Hypervisor: Software that creates and runs virtual machines (Type 1 bare-metal or Type 2 hosted).
Containerization: Packaging an app with its dependencies in an isolated container sharing the host kernel.
Serverless: Running code as functions without managing servers; the provider scales it.
Microservices: Building an app as small, independently deployable services.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Provisioning infrastructure from version-controlled machine-readable files.
Software-defined networking (SDN): Centrally programming network behavior via software, separate from hardware.
IoT: Internet of Things — networked everyday devices, often with weak built-in security.
ICS/SCADA: Industrial control systems that run physical processes; hard to patch, need segmentation.
Embedded system: A purpose-built computer inside a device, often with limited update ability.
Security zone: A network segment grouped by trust level to control traffic between areas.
DMZ: A perimeter network segment that hosts public-facing services, isolated from the internal LAN.
Firewall: A device that filters network traffic based on rules to enforce a security boundary.
Next-generation firewall (NGFW): A firewall adding application awareness, deep inspection, and threat intel.
WAF: Web Application Firewall — protects web apps from layer-7 attacks like injection and XSS.
UTM: Unified Threat Management — one appliance combining firewall, IPS, AV, filtering, and more.
IDS: Intrusion Detection System — detects and alerts on suspicious traffic (passive).
IPS: Intrusion Prevention System — detects and blocks suspicious traffic inline (active).
IDS vs. IPS: IDS only detects/alerts (passive); IPS sits inline and can block (active).
Proxy server: An intermediary that mediates and can filter client requests to other servers.
Jump server: A hardened pivot host used to administer systems in a secure zone.
Load balancer: Distributes traffic across multiple servers for availability and scale.
Fail-open vs. fail-closed: Fail-open allows traffic on failure (availability); fail-closed blocks it (security).
Active vs. passive (sensor): Active devices sit inline and can act; passive devices observe via a tap or span port.
802.1X: A port-based network access control standard that authenticates devices before granting access.
Port security: Limiting which devices (by MAC) can connect to a switch port.
Data at rest: Data stored on disk, database, or backup; protected with encryption and access control.
Data in transit: Data moving across a network; protected with TLS or VPN encryption.
Data in use: Data actively processed in memory; protected by techniques like secure enclaves.
Data classification: Labeling data by sensitivity (public, sensitive, confidential, critical) to set controls.
Data masking: Hiding part of a data value (e.g., showing only the last four digits).
Tokenization: Replacing sensitive data with a non-sensitive token; the real value is stored securely.
DLP: Data Loss Prevention — detects and blocks unauthorized movement of sensitive data.
Data sovereignty: The principle that data is subject to the laws of the country where it resides.
High availability (HA): Designing systems to stay operational with minimal downtime via redundancy.
Clustering: Linking servers so they act as one resilient unit, with failover.
Load balancing vs. clustering: Load balancing spreads traffic; clustering provides coordinated failover/redundancy.
Hot site: A fully equipped alternate site ready for near-instant failover (most expensive).
Warm site: A partially equipped recovery site needing some setup before use.
Cold site: A recovery site with space and power only; longest to bring online (cheapest).
Geographic dispersion: Placing redundant systems in different locations to survive regional disasters.
RAID: Redundant Array of Independent Disks — combines drives for redundancy and/or performance.
UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply — battery backup that keeps systems up during short outages.
3-2-1 backup rule: Keep 3 copies of data, on 2 media types, with 1 copy offsite.
RTO: Recovery Time Objective — the maximum acceptable time to restore a system.
RPO: Recovery Point Objective — the maximum acceptable data loss, measured back to the last backup.
RTO vs. RPO: RTO = how fast you recover (downtime); RPO = how much data you can lose.
MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures — average time a system runs before failing.
MTTR: Mean Time To Repair — average time to restore a failed system.
Snapshot: A point-in-time copy of a system or volume for quick recovery.
Journaling: Logging changes so a system can be restored to a consistent state after a crash.
Hardening: Reducing attack surface by removing unneeded services/accounts and applying secure baselines.
Secure baseline: A standard, approved secure configuration applied to systems.
MDM: Mobile Device Management — centrally enforces policies and security on mobile devices.
BYOD: Bring Your Own Device — employees use personal devices for work (higher risk).
COPE: Corporate-Owned, Personally Enabled — company device usable for personal tasks.
WPA3: The current secure Wi-Fi protocol; uses SAE to resist offline password cracking.
SAE: Simultaneous Authentication of Equals — WPA3's secure key-exchange handshake.
Sanitization: Securely erasing or destroying media so data can't be recovered before disposal.
Asset inventory: A maintained list of hardware/software assets, essential to securing them.
Vulnerability scan: An automated check that identifies known weaknesses in systems.
Penetration test: An authorized simulated attack that actually exploits weaknesses to prove risk.
Vuln scan vs. pen test: A scan only identifies weaknesses; a pen test exploits them.
CVE: Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures — a public catalog of unique vulnerability IDs.
CVSS: Common Vulnerability Scoring System — a 0–10 severity score for a vulnerability.
False positive: A reported vulnerability/alert that isn't actually a real issue.
False negative: A real vulnerability or attack that the tool failed to detect (dangerous).
Responsible disclosure: Reporting a vulnerability privately to the vendor before public release.
Bug bounty: A program that pays outside researchers for responsibly reported vulnerabilities.
Remediation: Fixing a vulnerability by patching, reconfiguring, or applying a compensating control.
Rescanning/validation: Re-scanning after remediation to confirm the fix actually worked.
SIEM: Security Information and Event Management — aggregates and correlates logs to detect threats.
Log aggregation: Centralizing logs from many sources for correlation and analysis.
Alert tuning: Adjusting detection rules to cut false positives and reduce alert fatigue.
SNMP: Simple Network Management Protocol — monitors and manages network devices.
NetFlow: A protocol that records IP traffic flow data for monitoring and analysis.
SOAR: Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response — automates response via playbooks.
EDR: Endpoint Detection and Response — monitors endpoints to detect and respond to threats.
XDR: Extended Detection and Response — correlates detection across endpoints, network, and cloud.
FIM: File Integrity Monitoring — alerts when critical files change unexpectedly.
Antivirus/anti-malware: Software that detects and removes malicious code on endpoints.
Web filtering: Blocking access to malicious or disallowed websites.
DNS filtering: Blocking resolution of known-malicious domains.
SPF: Sender Policy Framework — lists which mail servers may send for a domain.
DKIM: DomainKeys Identified Mail — cryptographically signs email to prove it wasn't altered.
DMARC: Ties SPF and DKIM together and tells receivers how to handle failures (anti-spoofing).
SPF/DKIM/DMARC: The email-authentication trio that fights spoofing and phishing.
Identity and access management (IAM): Policies and tools that manage identities and control access.
Provisioning/deprovisioning: Creating accounts on hire and promptly removing them on departure.
Identity proofing: Verifying a person's real-world identity before issuing credentials.
SSO: Single Sign-On — one authentication grants access to multiple systems.
Federation: Trusting identities from another domain to access resources (e.g., SAML, OIDC).
SAML: Security Assertion Markup Language — an XML standard for federated SSO.
OAuth: An authorization framework that lets apps access resources without sharing passwords.
OpenID Connect (OIDC): An authentication layer built on OAuth 2.0 for verifying identity.
LDAP: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol — queries and manages directory information.
Kerberos: A ticket-based network authentication protocol using a trusted Key Distribution Center.
MFA: Multi-factor authentication — two or more factors from different categories.
Something you know: An MFA knowledge factor — a password or PIN.
Something you have: An MFA possession factor — a token, phone, or smart card.
Something you are: An MFA inherence factor — a biometric like a fingerprint or face.
Why two passwords isn't MFA: Both are the same category (knowledge); MFA needs DIFFERENT factor types.
TOTP: Time-based One-Time Password — a short-lived code from an authenticator app.
RBAC: Role-Based Access Control — permissions follow the user's role.
MAC (access): Mandatory Access Control — the system enforces labels/clearances (high security).
DAC: Discretionary Access Control — the resource owner decides who gets access.
ABAC: Attribute-Based Access Control — access decided by attributes and context.
Least privilege: Granting only the minimum access needed to do a job.
Separation of duties: Splitting a sensitive task so no single person controls the whole process.
PAM: Privileged Access Management — controls, vaults, and audits admin accounts.
Just-in-time access: Granting elevated rights only for the moment they're needed, then revoking.
Incident response lifecycle: Preparation; detection & analysis; containment, eradication & recovery; post-incident.
IR: first action (live): Containment — isolate affected systems to stop the spread before eradicating.
Eradication: Removing the threat and any persistence from affected systems.
Recovery (IR): Restoring systems from known-good, tested backups and monitoring for reinfection.
Post-incident activity: Lessons learned and root cause analysis that feed back into preparation.
Tabletop exercise: A discussion-based walkthrough of an incident scenario to test the plan.
Threat hunting: Proactively searching for hidden threats that evaded automated detection.
Digital forensics: Collecting and analyzing evidence in a sound, documented way.
Chain of custody: Documentation of who handled evidence, when, and how — to keep it admissible.
Legal hold: A directive to preserve relevant data when litigation/investigation is anticipated.
Order of volatility: Collecting the most volatile evidence (RAM) before the least (disk, archives).
e-Discovery: Identifying and producing electronic evidence for legal proceedings.
Governance: The policies, standards, procedures, and oversight that direct a security program.
Policy: A high-level statement of management's security intent and rules.
Standard: A specific mandatory requirement that supports a policy (e.g., password length).
Procedure: A step-by-step instruction for performing a task securely.
Guideline: A recommended, non-mandatory best practice.
Acceptable Use Policy (AUP): Defines acceptable use of organizational systems and data.
Change management policy: Requires approval, testing, documentation, and rollback for changes.
SDLC: Software Development Life Cycle — the structured process for building software securely.
Data owner: The person accountable for a data set and for setting its classification.
Data controller: The party that determines why and how personal data is processed.
Data processor: The party that processes personal data on the controller's behalf.
Data custodian/steward: The role that implements controls and maintains data quality day-to-day.
Risk management: Identifying, assessing, and treating risk to keep it within appetite.
Qualitative risk analysis: Rating risk by likelihood and impact (low/medium/high), no dollar values.
Quantitative risk analysis: Assigning dollar values to risk using SLE, ARO, and ALE.
Exposure factor (EF): The percentage of an asset's value lost in a single event.
SLE: Single Loss Expectancy = asset value × exposure factor.
ARO: Annualized Rate of Occurrence — expected number of events per year.
ALE: Annualized Loss Expectancy = SLE × ARO.
ALE example: A $20,000 SLE happening twice a year (ARO 2) gives an ALE of $40,000.
Risk register: A documented list of risks with owner, likelihood, impact, and treatment.
Risk appetite: The amount and type of risk an organization is willing to accept.
Risk tolerance: The acceptable variation around the risk appetite for a specific objective.
Key Risk Indicator (KRI): A metric that signals rising risk exposure.
Risk mitigation: Reducing a risk's likelihood or impact with controls.
Risk transference: Shifting risk to another party, e.g., buying cyber insurance.
Risk avoidance: Eliminating a risk by stopping the risky activity entirely.
Risk acceptance: Acknowledging a risk and taking no action because it's within appetite.
Four risk responses: Mitigate, transfer, avoid, accept.
Inherent vs. residual risk: Inherent = risk before controls; residual = risk remaining after controls.
Business impact analysis (BIA): Identifies critical functions and sets recovery objectives (RTO/RPO).
SLA: Service Level Agreement — defines guaranteed service levels and metrics with a provider.
MOU/MOA: Memorandum of Understanding/Agreement — outlines intentions between parties.
MSA: Master Service Agreement — overarching terms governing ongoing work.
SOW/WO: Statement of Work / Work Order — the specific deliverables and tasks.
NDA: Non-Disclosure Agreement — a confidentiality obligation between parties.
BPA: Business Partners Agreement — terms governing a partnership.
Due diligence: Investigating risks before entering an agreement or activity.
Due care: Taking reasonable, ongoing steps to protect assets (the 'prudent person' standard).
Right-to-audit clause: A contract term allowing a customer to audit a vendor's security.
Vendor/third-party risk: Risk introduced by suppliers, MSPs, and partners with access.
Supply chain analysis: Assessing the security of vendors and the components they provide.
Compliance: Meeting legal, regulatory, and contractual security requirements.
Consequences of non-compliance: Fines, sanctions, reputational damage, and possible loss of license.
Attestation: A formal statement confirming the state of controls (often by an auditor).
Privacy: right to be forgotten: An individual's right to request deletion of their personal data.
Data retention: Policy defining how long data is kept and when it's securely destroyed.
Internal vs. external audit: Internal audits are run by the organization; external by independent third parties.
Regulatory audit: An assessment required by a law or regulator (e.g., PCI DSS, HIPAA).
Known environment (white-box): A pen test where the tester has full knowledge of the target.
Partially known (gray-box): A pen test where the tester has limited information.
Unknown environment (black-box): A pen test with no prior information — simulates an outsider.
Passive reconnaissance: Gathering info without directly touching the target (e.g., OSINT).
Active reconnaissance: Directly probing the target (e.g., scanning), which can be detected.
Security awareness training: Ongoing education that teaches users to recognize and report threats.
Phishing campaign (internal): A simulated phishing test used to measure and improve user awareness.
Anomalous behavior recognition: Training users to spot and report unusual activity.
Onboarding/offboarding: Procedures for granting access on hire and revoking it on departure.
Playbook: A documented set of steps for responding to a specific type of incident.

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By Career EmployerUpdated Jun 19, 2026

300+ free CompTIA Security+ flashcards — 4 ways to study

CompTIA Security+ Flashcard of the Day

The classic card. Do you know this one?

Click Study Flashcards above to open the flashcard hub — hundreds of Security+ cards you can flip, match, type, or quiz yourself on. Every card is drawn from the five official SY0-701 domains, so you study exactly what the exam tests.^[2] Pair them with our free practice test and study guide.

CompTIA Security+ is one of the 14 CompTIA certifications — explore our CompTIA flashcards to compare and prep across the whole family.

Security+ Flashcard Study Modes

Most flashcard sites give you one thing: a card to flip. Ours has four modes so you can both learn the material and prove you know it — the difference between recognizing an answer and recalling it under exam pressure.

Flip (Study) — the classic card. Flip term ↔ definition, shuffle the deck, and mark each card “Got it” or “Still learning.”
Match (Game) — a timed game: pair each term to its definition as fast as you can. Great for cementing attack types, ports, and crypto vocabulary.
Type (Recall) — read the definition and type the term. Typing forces true active recall instead of passive recognition.
Quiz (Test) — multiple-choice questions generated from the cards, so you self-test exactly like exam day.

Free CompTIA Security+ flashcards from Career Employer — active recall for the SY0-701 exam

Why Flashcards Work for Security+

Flashcards aren’t busywork — they’re built on active recall: pulling an answer out of memory strengthens it far more than re-reading notes. Pair that with spacing — short sessions across several days rather than one cram — and you retain more in less time.

Security+ is dense with terminology — attack types, malware families, cryptography, network appliances, access-control models, and GRC acronyms.^[3] Spaced flashcards are the most efficient way to keep it all fresh. Used alongside our practice test and study guide, they turn review time into measurable progress.

Security+ Flashcards by Domain

The cards are organized by the five official SY0-701 domains. Drill the highest-weighted ones first — Security Operations and Threats, Vulnerabilities & Mitigations make up half the exam:^[2]

Security+ flashcards by domain and weight
Domain	Exam weight
Security Operations	28%
Threats, Vulnerabilities & Mitigations	22%
Security Program Management & Oversight	20%
Security Architecture	18%
General Security Concepts	12%

How to Get the Most Out of These Flashcards

Lead with the heavy domains. Security Operations (28%) and Threats, Vulnerabilities & Mitigations (22%) are half the exam — start there.
Use Type and Quiz, not just Flip. Recognizing the right answer is easy; recalling and choosing it is the real test.
Drill your weakest domain. Pick a single domain deck and grind it until the Match time drops and the Quiz score climbs.
Then prove it. When the cards feel easy, confirm with a full practice test — aim comfortably above 750 before exam day.

Security+ Flashcards FAQ

Hundreds of free Security+ flashcards, organized across all five SY0-701 domains — General Security Concepts, Threats/Vulnerabilities/Mitigations, Security Architecture, Security Operations, and Security Program Management & Oversight. They're free with no account required.

References

1.CompTIA. “CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Certification.” comptia.org. ↑
2.CompTIA. “Security+ (SY0-701) Exam Objectives.” comptia.org. ↑
3.National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0.” nist.gov. ↑

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