October 2024 Professor Messer CompTIA Security Plus SY0-701 Study Group Session

This is the October 2024 Professor Messer CompTIA Security Plus SY0-701 study group session conducted live from Central Florida. The session occurred during a critical week for IT security, with a major PHP remote code execution vulnerability requiring emergency patches across all servers worldwide, and issues with certificate authority intermediate certificates in India. The current Security Plus exam version SY0-701 was released November 7, 2023 and will retire in June 2027, while the new SY0-801 version launches in November 2024 and will be available until June 2030, creating a six-month overlap period. The instructor covered multiple security concepts including file integrity monitoring (FIM) as the correct tool for detecting tampered system binaries on Windows servers, data states (at rest, in transit, and in use) with corresponding security controls like full disk encryption, TLS, VPN, secure enclaves, and least privilege access. The session included performance-based questions demonstrating how healthcare organizations protect patient information across different data states, and covered passive reconnaissance techniques including dumpster diving for discarded technical manuals and memos. The Security Plus exam consists of up to 90 questions in 90 minutes with a passing score of 750 out of 900, including both multiple choice and performance-based questions.