CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Practice Exam | Comprehensive
Cybersecurity Questions, Answers & Detailed Explanations
2026/2027
Question 1
What type of threat intelligence consists of raw technical indicators—
such as malicious IP addresses, domain names, and file hashes—
typically shared in machine-readable formats?
• A. Operational threat intelligence
• B. Tactical threat intelligence
• C. Strategic threat intelligence
• D. Physical threat intelligence
Correct Answer: B. Tactical threat intelligence
Detailed Rationale: Tactical threat intelligence focuses on the
immediate, technical indicators of compromise (IOCs) used by threat
actors, making it ideal for automated blocking and SIEM ingestion.
Question 2
What cryptographic concept involves splitting a private decryption key
and distributing the pieces to designated escrow agents so that multiple
parties are required to reconstruct it?
• A. Key escrow
• B. Perfect forward secrecy
• C. Key stretching
, • D. Tokenization
Correct Answer: A. Key escrow
Detailed Rationale: Key escrow ensures that cryptographic keys are
securely managed and recoverable by trusted third parties or multiple
administrators under strict governance policies.
Question 3
Which cloud service model places the highest security and
configuration burden on the customer, requiring them to manage the
operating system, network firewalls, and application patches?
• A. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• B. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• C. Software as a Service (SaaS)
• D. Function as a Service (FaaS)
Correct Answer: A. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Detailed Rationale: In an IaaS model, the cloud provider manages
physical hardware and virtualization, while the customer retains full
control and security responsibility for the OS, middleware, and
applications.
Question 4
What network virtualization technique logically divides a single physical
switch or network infrastructure into multiple isolated virtual networks
at Layer 2?
• A. VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)
, • B. Network Address Translation (NAT)
• C. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
• D. Domain Name System (DNS)
Correct Answer: A. VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)
Detailed Rationale: VLANs segment network traffic logically at the data
link layer, enhancing security and broadcast performance without
requiring separate physical switches.
Question 5
What access control model grants or restricts permissions dynamically
based on contextual attributes such as user location, time of day, device
health, and resource sensitivity?
• A. Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
• B. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• C. Discretionary Access Control (DAC)
• D. Mandatory Access Control (MAC)
Correct Answer: A. Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
Detailed Rationale: ABAC provides fine-grained, policy-based access
decisions by evaluating multiple environmental and user attributes
simultaneously.
Question 6
What vulnerability scoring system provides an open, standardized
method for rating the severity of computer system security
vulnerabilities on a scale from 0.0 to 10.0?
, • A. CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System)
• B. MITRE ATT&CK framework
• C. NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• D. ISO 27001 standard
Correct Answer: A. CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System)
Detailed Rationale: CVSS calculates vulnerability severity based on
exploit metrics, impact metrics, and environmental factors to help
organizations prioritize patching.
Question 7
What web application vulnerability allows an attacker to manipulate an
application into making HTTP requests to an arbitrary internal or
external secondary system?
• A. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
• B. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• C. SQL Injection (SQLi)
• D. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Correct Answer: A. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
Detailed Rationale: SSRF forces the vulnerable server to fetch data or
interact with internal systems that are normally inaccessible from the
external internet.
Question 8
What web application vulnerability occurs when an insecure direct
reference to an internal implementation object (such as a database key
Cybersecurity Questions, Answers & Detailed Explanations
2026/2027
Question 1
What type of threat intelligence consists of raw technical indicators—
such as malicious IP addresses, domain names, and file hashes—
typically shared in machine-readable formats?
• A. Operational threat intelligence
• B. Tactical threat intelligence
• C. Strategic threat intelligence
• D. Physical threat intelligence
Correct Answer: B. Tactical threat intelligence
Detailed Rationale: Tactical threat intelligence focuses on the
immediate, technical indicators of compromise (IOCs) used by threat
actors, making it ideal for automated blocking and SIEM ingestion.
Question 2
What cryptographic concept involves splitting a private decryption key
and distributing the pieces to designated escrow agents so that multiple
parties are required to reconstruct it?
• A. Key escrow
• B. Perfect forward secrecy
• C. Key stretching
, • D. Tokenization
Correct Answer: A. Key escrow
Detailed Rationale: Key escrow ensures that cryptographic keys are
securely managed and recoverable by trusted third parties or multiple
administrators under strict governance policies.
Question 3
Which cloud service model places the highest security and
configuration burden on the customer, requiring them to manage the
operating system, network firewalls, and application patches?
• A. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• B. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• C. Software as a Service (SaaS)
• D. Function as a Service (FaaS)
Correct Answer: A. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Detailed Rationale: In an IaaS model, the cloud provider manages
physical hardware and virtualization, while the customer retains full
control and security responsibility for the OS, middleware, and
applications.
Question 4
What network virtualization technique logically divides a single physical
switch or network infrastructure into multiple isolated virtual networks
at Layer 2?
• A. VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)
, • B. Network Address Translation (NAT)
• C. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
• D. Domain Name System (DNS)
Correct Answer: A. VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)
Detailed Rationale: VLANs segment network traffic logically at the data
link layer, enhancing security and broadcast performance without
requiring separate physical switches.
Question 5
What access control model grants or restricts permissions dynamically
based on contextual attributes such as user location, time of day, device
health, and resource sensitivity?
• A. Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
• B. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• C. Discretionary Access Control (DAC)
• D. Mandatory Access Control (MAC)
Correct Answer: A. Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
Detailed Rationale: ABAC provides fine-grained, policy-based access
decisions by evaluating multiple environmental and user attributes
simultaneously.
Question 6
What vulnerability scoring system provides an open, standardized
method for rating the severity of computer system security
vulnerabilities on a scale from 0.0 to 10.0?
, • A. CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System)
• B. MITRE ATT&CK framework
• C. NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• D. ISO 27001 standard
Correct Answer: A. CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System)
Detailed Rationale: CVSS calculates vulnerability severity based on
exploit metrics, impact metrics, and environmental factors to help
organizations prioritize patching.
Question 7
What web application vulnerability allows an attacker to manipulate an
application into making HTTP requests to an arbitrary internal or
external secondary system?
• A. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
• B. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• C. SQL Injection (SQLi)
• D. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Correct Answer: A. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
Detailed Rationale: SSRF forces the vulnerable server to fetch data or
interact with internal systems that are normally inaccessible from the
external internet.
Question 8
What web application vulnerability occurs when an insecure direct
reference to an internal implementation object (such as a database key
