Course: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analist+ (CS0-003)

Cybersecurity policies often require detailed network configuration changes and additions. Technicians must be proficient with the configuration and management of various TCP/IP protocols. In this course, I will start by discussing the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, network switching, and network access control. Next, I'll discuss the TCP/IP protocol suite as well as IPv4 and IPv6 addressing. I will then discuss network routing, dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), domain name system (DNS) and Wi-Fi authentication methods. Lastly, I will cover virtual private networks (VPNs), IP Security (IPsec) and network time synchronization. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Modern IT solutions communicate over various types of networks. Cybersecurity analysts must be able to configure and secure the ways that devices communicate over these networks. In this course, I will begin by creating on-premises and cloud-based virtual networks, followed by managing IP addressing on Linux, Windows, and in the cloud. Next, I will manage routing table entries in the cloud and implement domain name system (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) security. Lastly, I will harden a Wi-Fi router and configure IPsec in Windows. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Cloud computing is an integral part of IT solutions for individuals and organizations. A knowledge of how cloud computing services are deployed and managed is a requirement for securing cloud-based resources. In this course, I will start by discussing cloud computing deployment models, such as public and private clouds, followed by discussing various cloud computing service models. Next, I will cover a variety of cloud computing security solutions, and I will deploy Linux and Windows cloud-based virtual machines. I will then deploy a web application in the cloud, cover the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) security controls, and work with Microsoft Azure managed identities. Lastly, I will discuss and configure a content delivery network (CDN). This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Virtualization comes in a variety of forms, including operating system, application, and desktop virtualization. Cybersecurity analysts regularly manage and secure application containers and virtual machines on-premises and in the cloud. In this course, I will discuss the differences between operating system, application, and desktop virtualization. I will then configure Microsoft Hyper-V. Next, I will cover application containerization concepts, install Docker on Linux, and manage application containers on Linux. Lastly, I will install Docker on Windows and manage application containers on Windows. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

To remain compliant with relevant data privacy laws and regulations, organizations must have a way of identifying sensitive data and implementing security controls to protect that data. In this course, explore how physical security is related to digital data security, examples of personally identifiable information (PII), and how data loss prevention (DLP) solutions can prevent data exfiltration. Next, learn about common data privacy regulations and standards, including GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. Finally, discover how to use Amazon Macie and File Server Resource Manager to discover and classify sensitive information and learn about the importance of service level objectives (SLOs) and service level agreements (SLAs). This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Cybersecurity analysts and security tools can reference a variety of threat intelligence sources to keep up to date with the latest threats and mitigations. These can be used to help keep organization security policies as effective as possible. In this course, examine different threat intelligence sources, the common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) website, and the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base. Next, discover how the OWASP Top 10 can help harden vulnerable web applications, how advanced persistent threats (APTs) are executed, and common ISO/IEC standards. Finally, learn how to analyze CIS benchmark documents, the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), common organization security policy structures, and how organizational culture relates to IT security. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Risk is inevitable when relying on IT systems to manage data. Cybersecurity analysts can apply a variety of techniques to manage risk to an acceptable level. In this course, explore how risk management can minimize the impact of IT security events and discuss the relevance of recurring risk assessments and the use of a risk register. You will then consider risk treatments such as risk avoidance and risk transfer. Next, discover how to calculate the annual loss expectancy (ALE) and how this compares to the cost of security controls. Explore security control types such as preventative and compensating controls. Finally, you will look at how configuration management relates to IT security, how to establish security baselines and replicate cloud storage, and how to back up data to the cloud. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Organizations must prepare in advance for the inevitable disruption of business operations. This means proactive planning to not only prevent disruptions but also manage them to reduce their negative impact. In this course, you'll begin by exploring common characteristics of a business continuity plan (BCP) and how to conduct a business impact analysis (BIA). You will then consider disaster recovery and incident response plans and focus on incident response activities such as escalation, eradication, and containment. Next, discover the importance of lessons learned from past incidents in order to make future incident response more effective. Lastly, you will explore the cyber-attack kill chain and the diamond model of intrusion analysis. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Managing the running processes on Linux and Windows hosts not only improves performance but also impacts how secure those hosts are. Determining what an abnormal performance or activity is greatly facilitates comparisons to current activity to established baselines of normal performance and behavior. In this course, I will start by navigating through the Windows registry followed by exploring Linux hardware devices using the Linux command line. I will then use the Windows Device Manager tool to manage a hardware device. Next, I will create partitions and file systems on Linux and Windows hosts followed by covering how processes and daemons interact with the Linux OS. I will manage Linux and Windows processes and daemons, or services. Lastly, I will establish a normal performance baseline on a Windows Server using a data collector set. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Hardening authentication processes makes it more difficult for attackers to compromise accounts. Managing users and groups allows for access to required resources. In this course, you will explore authentication methods, including passwordless login. Then you will learn how to manage Linux users and groups using the command line and how to enable Secure Shell (SSH) public key authentication. Next, you will install and configure a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server and client, manage Windows and cloud users and groups, and examine dynamic membership cloud-based groups. Finally, you will configure multi-factor authentication (MFA) for AWS users, manage Windows password policies, and discover identity federation. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) exam.

Strong authorization settings limit permissions to resources for authenticated entities. Cybersecurity analysts must be aware of how to not only configure resource permissions, but also how to evaluate existing permissions to ensure adherence to the principle of least privilege. In this course, you will discover how authorization is related to, but differs from, authentication. Then you will explore access control models, such as role-based access control (RBAC) and attribute-based access control (ABAC). Next, you will find out how to manage Linux and Windows file system permissions using the command lines. Finally, you will learn how to configure Windows dynamic access control, work with privileged access management in Linux using sudo, and manage RBAC permissions in the Microsoft Azure cloud. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Confidentiality, integrity, and availability are core pillars of IT security governance. Cybersecurity analysts can harden IT environments using various encryption and hashing techniques. In this course, examine how the CIA triad relates to IT security and how cryptography protects sensitive data. Next, discover how to configure EFS file encryption and Microsoft BitLocker encryption, and use a customer-managed key to enable encryption for an Azure storage account. Finally, learn how to hash files in Linux and Windows, about hardware security modules (HSMs), and how TLS supersedes SSL. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates are used to secure IT environments in many different ways, such as through e-mail encryption and web server HTTPS bindings. Technicians must have an understanding of how PKI certificates are requested, issued, and used. In this course, I'll start by discussing the PKI hierarchy from certification authorities (CAs) down to issued certificates and explore the PKI certificate life cycle. Next, I will deploy a private CA on the Windows platform and demonstrate how to manage PKI certificate templates. Then, I will acquire PKI certificates and configure a web server HTTPS binding. Lastly, I will configure a website to allow access only from clients with trusted PKI certificates. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Firewall solutions control which types of network traffic are allowed into, through, or to leave a host or network. Cybersecurity analysts must know which type of firewall is needed for a given requirement as well as the placement of the firewall solution on the network. In this course, you will begin with a comparison of firewall types such as packet filtering, next-generation, and web application firewalls and learn how to determine their placement on the network. Then you will configure Windows Defender and Linux firewall settings. Next, you will configure Azure network security group firewall rules and explore the role played by forward and reverse proxy servers. Finally, you will install the Squid proxy server on Linux, find out how intrusion detection and prevention systems can address security concerns, and install and configure the Snort IDS. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Hardening refers to attack surface reduction in IT environments and can be applied to any type of device or software environment, including storage area networks (SANs). Firmware and software patches should be applied to ensure that potential security flaws in code have been addressed. In this course, I will begin by covering hardening techniques for a variety of IT environments, followed by using Microsoft Group Policy to configure security settings for Active Directory domain-joined computers. Next, I will discuss storage area networks and related security considerations. I will then remove the need for virtual machine (VM) public IP addresses by allowing remote access through Microsoft Azure Bastion. I will discuss the importance of applying hardware and software patches. Lastly, I will install and configure a Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server and deploy updates to Microsoft Azure virtual machines. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Malicious actors are motivated and influenced by a variety of factors, and one of the most effective security mechanisms organizations can employ is user awareness and training on security threats. Cybersecurity analysts must be aware of various types of attacks and how scripting languages and tools are used to execute these attacks. In this course, learn about threat actor types and their motivations and how security baselines facilitate the identification of non-compliant devices. Next, explore examples of social engineering attacks and use the Social-Engineer Toolkit (SET) to execute such an attack. Finally, examine the characteristics of malware types, common scripting languages, and how to recognize potential indicators of malicious activity. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Understanding the characteristics of various types of attacks goes a long way in helping cybersecurity analysts prevent and detect malicious activity. A knowledge of techniques and attacks such as buffer overflows and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks facilitates mitigation planning. In this course, I will begin by covering how SYN flood attacks from the 3-way Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) handshake. Next, I will detail various types of buffer overflow, cross-site scripting (XSS), and injection attacks. I will then execute a structured query language (SQL) injection attack followed by discussing potential extensible markup language (XML) vulnerabilities and DDoS attack mitigations. Moving on, I will run a denial-of-service (DoS), client web browser, and reverse shell attack. Lastly, I will spoof network traffic, crack Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) passwords and discuss common Wi-Fi attacks. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Malware mitigation techniques include the deployment, configuration, and ongoing management of virus and threat endpoint protection. Online tools such as VirusTotal can be used to upload suspicious files that might contain malware. Cybersecurity technicians must be able to determine the authenticity of email messages as well as create sandbox environments for testing configurations. In this course, you will begin by configuring Windows virus and threat protection and uploading a potentially infected file to VirusTotal. Next, you will determine when to use cloud-based and on-premises malware analysis solutions like Joe Sandbox and Cuckoo Sandbox. Then you will view email details in an effort to determine message authenticity and you will create a repeatable compliant environment using Azure Blueprints. Finally, you will learn how to work with user virtual private networks (VPNs) and the Tor web browser and find out how bug bounties offer rewards for the identification of flaws in hardware and software. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Vulnerability scanning identifies host and network vulnerabilities and must be an ongoing task. Penetration testing is an active security method by which there is an attempt to exploit discovered vulnerabilities. In this course, you will discover how to plan for, schedule, and execute vulnerability assessments, identify common vulnerability scanning tools, and conduct an nmap scan. Next, you will use Nessus and Zenmap to execute security scans and text web app security using the OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) tool. Then you will explore penetration testing and the Metasploit framework and use the Burp Suite tool as an HTTP intermediary proxy. Finally, you will learn how to manage Azure policy, investigate potential indicators of compromise, and examine how IT security relates to industrial control systems. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Security must be included in all phases of IT system and software development designs. Continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (CI/CD) integrates development and ongoing management of IT solutions. Cybersecurity analysts must understand IT governance and digital forensics concepts. Begin this course by examining the role of security in the software development life cycle (SDLC). Then you will explore CI/CD and learn how Git is used for file version control. Next, you will discover how the Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) framework applies to IT governance and you will investigate digital forensics. Finally, you will configure legal hold settings for a cloud storage account and list common digital forensics hardware and software solutions. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

Logging and monitoring are crucial aspects of IT security governance. The ability to configure and centrally monitor logs to detect anomalies can prevent security incidents or minimize their impact. In this course, learn how to view Linux log files, configure log rotation for log retention, and configure Linux log forwarding to a central logging host. Next, work with Windows Event Viewer logs and configure Windows log forwarding. Finally, discover how tracking malicious actor activity is possible using honeypots and honeynets and how to implement a honeypot. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.

SIEM solutions serve as centralized data ingestion and analysis engines that seek out potential security issues. Security incident response can be partially or fully automated using SOAR solutions. In this course, discover the benefits of security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) security incident monitoring and response solutions. Next, explore threat positives and negatives, followed by deploying the Splunk SIEM on Linux. Finally, learn how to configure a Splunk universal forwarder and use various tools to capture and analyze network traffic. This course can be used to prepare for the CS0-003: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam.