COMPTIA SECURITY+ SY0-701 TESTBANK |ALL QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS 2026/2027 | VERIFIED ANSWERS PLUS
RATIONALES | GRADED Q&A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
| VERIFIED LATEST 2027
1. Which of the following security concepts ensures that data has not been altered or
tampered with during transit or storage?
A. Availability
B. Confidentiality
C. Integrity
D. Non-repudiation
Integrity ensures that data remains accurate, complete, and unaltered by unauthorized
parties through the use of hashing and checksums.
2. An administrator implements cryptographic hash functions to verify system log files.
Which primary goal of the CIA triad does this control address?
A. Availability
B. Integrity
C. Confidentiality
D. Accountability
Cryptographic hashes generate unique digest values that change if file contents are modified,
directly maintaining and validating data integrity.
3. A security analyst needs to ensure that an sender cannot deny sending a specific
electronic message. Which technique should be implemented?
A. Symmetric encryption
B. Digital signatures
C. Steganography
D. Salting
Digital signatures combine asymmetric encryption and hashing to provide non-repudiation,
proving the sender's identity and message integrity.
4. Which control category describes a physical security guard positioned at an
organization’s entrance gate?
A. Technical control
B. Administrative control
,C. Physical control
D. Compensating control
Physical controls involve tangible security measures like guards, locks, fences, and badges
designed to restrict physical access to facilities.
5. A company updates its acceptable use policy (AUP) to restrict employee social media use
on company assets. Which control type is this?
A. Managerial
B. Technical
C. Operational
D. Physical
Managerial (or administrative) controls consist of policies, procedures, and oversight
mechanisms established by management to govern organizational behavior.
6. An organization installs web application firewalls (WAF) to detect and block SQL
injection attacks in real time. Which control function is being deployed?
A. Deterrent
B. Preventive
C. Corrective
D. Compensating
Preventive controls act proactively to stop security incidents or unauthorized activities before
they successfully occur.
7. Which of the following risk management strategies involves purchasing cybersecurity
insurance to handle potential financial impacts from a breach?
A. Risk Avoidance
B. Risk Acceptance
C. Risk Transference
D. Risk Mitigation
Risk transference shifts the financial burden or liabilities of a potential risk to a third party,
such as an insurance carrier.
8. An IT department decides to decommission a highly vulnerable legacy software platform
that cannot be patched. Which risk response is executed?
A. Risk Transference
B. Risk Mitigation
C. Risk Acceptance
,D. Risk Avoidance
Risk avoidance completely eliminates exposure to a threat by disabling, removing, or
refraining from the high-risk activity or system.
9. What term defines the maximum acceptable amount of time an organization's critical
business system can be offline following a disaster?
A. Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
B. Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD)
C. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
D. Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) represents the target duration of time within which a business
process must be restored after a disruption.
10. An organization establishes a metric defining the maximum acceptable data loss
measured in time. Which metric is described?
A. Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
B. Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
C. Service Level Agreement (SLA)
D. Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) determines the maximum tolerable age of data that can be
lost from an IT service due to a major incident.
11. A threat actor sends targeted emails to executives containing personalized details to
trick them into wire transferring company funds. What attack is this?
A. Vishing
B. Whaling
C. Pharming
D. Tailgating
Whaling is a specialized type of spear phishing targeted directly at high-profile executives and
corporate decision-makers.
12. Employees receive fraudulent text messages claiming to be from the internal HR
department regarding urgent benefits changes. What type of social engineering is
occurring?
A. Waterhole attack
B. Smishing
C. Dumpster diving
, D. Shoulder surfing
Smishing uses SMS text messaging to lure targets into revealing sensitive credentials or
downloading malicious payloads.
13. An attacker compromised a local popular news site frequented by employees of a target
defense firm to deliver malware. What technique was used?
A. Watering hole attack
B. Typosquatting
C. Brand impersonation
D. Influence campaign
A watering hole attack compromises a specific website known to be regularly visited by a
targeted group or organization.
14. An employee notices someone closely following them through a secured door without
scanning a badge. Which social engineering tactic was used?
A. Piggybacking / Tailgating
B. Pretexting
C. Eavesdropping
D. Impersonation
Tailgating (or piggybacking) occurs when an unauthorized individual physically follows an
authorized person into a restricted physical location.
15. An attacker registers the domain name "g00gle.com" to host a credential harvesting
site that looks like a legitimate site. What is this attack called?
A. Pretexting
B. DNS Poisoning
C. Typosquatting
D. Baiting
Typosquatting relies on common typographical errors made by users typing URL addresses
into a web browser.
16. Which threat actor type is typically funded by a foreign government and possesses high
operational sophistication and long-term persistence?
A. Hacktivist
B. Script Kiddie
C. Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)
D. Insider Threat
AND ANSWERS 2026/2027 | VERIFIED ANSWERS PLUS
RATIONALES | GRADED Q&A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
| VERIFIED LATEST 2027
1. Which of the following security concepts ensures that data has not been altered or
tampered with during transit or storage?
A. Availability
B. Confidentiality
C. Integrity
D. Non-repudiation
Integrity ensures that data remains accurate, complete, and unaltered by unauthorized
parties through the use of hashing and checksums.
2. An administrator implements cryptographic hash functions to verify system log files.
Which primary goal of the CIA triad does this control address?
A. Availability
B. Integrity
C. Confidentiality
D. Accountability
Cryptographic hashes generate unique digest values that change if file contents are modified,
directly maintaining and validating data integrity.
3. A security analyst needs to ensure that an sender cannot deny sending a specific
electronic message. Which technique should be implemented?
A. Symmetric encryption
B. Digital signatures
C. Steganography
D. Salting
Digital signatures combine asymmetric encryption and hashing to provide non-repudiation,
proving the sender's identity and message integrity.
4. Which control category describes a physical security guard positioned at an
organization’s entrance gate?
A. Technical control
B. Administrative control
,C. Physical control
D. Compensating control
Physical controls involve tangible security measures like guards, locks, fences, and badges
designed to restrict physical access to facilities.
5. A company updates its acceptable use policy (AUP) to restrict employee social media use
on company assets. Which control type is this?
A. Managerial
B. Technical
C. Operational
D. Physical
Managerial (or administrative) controls consist of policies, procedures, and oversight
mechanisms established by management to govern organizational behavior.
6. An organization installs web application firewalls (WAF) to detect and block SQL
injection attacks in real time. Which control function is being deployed?
A. Deterrent
B. Preventive
C. Corrective
D. Compensating
Preventive controls act proactively to stop security incidents or unauthorized activities before
they successfully occur.
7. Which of the following risk management strategies involves purchasing cybersecurity
insurance to handle potential financial impacts from a breach?
A. Risk Avoidance
B. Risk Acceptance
C. Risk Transference
D. Risk Mitigation
Risk transference shifts the financial burden or liabilities of a potential risk to a third party,
such as an insurance carrier.
8. An IT department decides to decommission a highly vulnerable legacy software platform
that cannot be patched. Which risk response is executed?
A. Risk Transference
B. Risk Mitigation
C. Risk Acceptance
,D. Risk Avoidance
Risk avoidance completely eliminates exposure to a threat by disabling, removing, or
refraining from the high-risk activity or system.
9. What term defines the maximum acceptable amount of time an organization's critical
business system can be offline following a disaster?
A. Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
B. Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD)
C. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
D. Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) represents the target duration of time within which a business
process must be restored after a disruption.
10. An organization establishes a metric defining the maximum acceptable data loss
measured in time. Which metric is described?
A. Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
B. Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
C. Service Level Agreement (SLA)
D. Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) determines the maximum tolerable age of data that can be
lost from an IT service due to a major incident.
11. A threat actor sends targeted emails to executives containing personalized details to
trick them into wire transferring company funds. What attack is this?
A. Vishing
B. Whaling
C. Pharming
D. Tailgating
Whaling is a specialized type of spear phishing targeted directly at high-profile executives and
corporate decision-makers.
12. Employees receive fraudulent text messages claiming to be from the internal HR
department regarding urgent benefits changes. What type of social engineering is
occurring?
A. Waterhole attack
B. Smishing
C. Dumpster diving
, D. Shoulder surfing
Smishing uses SMS text messaging to lure targets into revealing sensitive credentials or
downloading malicious payloads.
13. An attacker compromised a local popular news site frequented by employees of a target
defense firm to deliver malware. What technique was used?
A. Watering hole attack
B. Typosquatting
C. Brand impersonation
D. Influence campaign
A watering hole attack compromises a specific website known to be regularly visited by a
targeted group or organization.
14. An employee notices someone closely following them through a secured door without
scanning a badge. Which social engineering tactic was used?
A. Piggybacking / Tailgating
B. Pretexting
C. Eavesdropping
D. Impersonation
Tailgating (or piggybacking) occurs when an unauthorized individual physically follows an
authorized person into a restricted physical location.
15. An attacker registers the domain name "g00gle.com" to host a credential harvesting
site that looks like a legitimate site. What is this attack called?
A. Pretexting
B. DNS Poisoning
C. Typosquatting
D. Baiting
Typosquatting relies on common typographical errors made by users typing URL addresses
into a web browser.
16. Which threat actor type is typically funded by a foreign government and possesses high
operational sophistication and long-term persistence?
A. Hacktivist
B. Script Kiddie
C. Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)
D. Insider Threat
