-: Welcome to this course 2 2
on the CompTIA CySA+ certification exam. 3 3
In this course, 4 4
you're going to learn everything you need to know 5 5
to take and pass the CompTIA CySA+ exam version CS0-003 6 6
on your first attempt. 7 7
Now, this certification is considered 8 8
to be an intermediate level certification, 9 9
and it's going to focus on your ability 10 10
to not only proactively capture, 11 11
monitor, and respond to network traffic findings, 12 12
but also to understand software 13 13
and application security, automation, 14 14
threat hunting, and IT regulatory compliance, 15 15
because all of these things 16 16
are going to affect your daily work 17 17
as a cybersecurity analyst. 18 18
Now, this certification is designed for IT 19 19
or cybersecurity professionals 20 20
who've already earned their Network+ 21 21
and Security+ certifications, 22 22
or those professionals who already have the equivalent level 23 23
of knowledge that is covered by those certifications. 24 24
Now, it's important to realize 25 25
that we're not going to be covering all the concepts 26 26
covered in those two certifications 27 27
and their associated courses 28 28
as we go through the videos in this course. 29 29
Instead, you're already assumed to have that level 30 30
of knowledge when you start this CySA+ course. 31 31
So, if you have not already taken 32 32
those certifications before, I do highly recommend 33 33
that you at least go back through my video courses 34 34
for each of those certifications once 35 35
before you start taking this CySA+ course. 36 36
Even if you don't take the Network+ 37 37
or Security+ certification exams themselves, 38 38
you definitely need to know the knowledge from those courses 39 39
if you want to be able to understand this course 40 40
and pass your Cybersecurity Analyst+ certification exam. 41 41
Now, the CySA+ exam is designed to test the knowledge 42 42
of somebody who's been working in the field 43 43
with about three to four years of hands-on experience. 44 44
Now, this is not a hard and fast requirement 45 45
to actually take the exam or this course, 46 46
but you should realize that you need 47 47
to have at least some knowledge 48 48
of the IT world and cybersecurity. 49 49
Otherwise, this is going to be 50 50
a really difficult certification for you. 51 51
Now, if you're not already working 52 52
in the cybersecurity field 53 53
and you're not already comfortable analyzing logs 54 54
and conducting instant responses 55 55
or threat hunting in the real world, 56 56
you are going to need to get some hands-on experience 57 57
as you go through this course 58 58
to help supplement what you're learning in the videos 59 59
and ensure that you're successful on exam day. 60 60
Therefore, this particular course 61 61
is designed for students 62 62
who already have some of that hands-on experience 63 63
with cybersecurity. 64 64
So, you're probably going to find 65 65
it's going to be a little bit easier 66 66
for you to complete this course 67 67
and the exam if you have a technology background. 68 68
But as I said, it's really not a fixed requirement 69 69
that's levied on you by CompTIA. 70 70
I've had many students who are brand new to IT 71 71
and cybersecurity who have taken this course 72 72
and they have passed their exam. 73 73
But those students had to put in a little bit 74 74
of extra effort and get that hands-on practice. 75 75
Now, if you don't have hands-on experience already, 76 76
I highly encourage you to be able to download 77 77
and experiment with each of the different tools 78 78
and techniques that we're going to go through in this course. 79 79
For example, if I'm talking about Nmap, 80 80
you should install Nmap and you should start running scans 81 81
against your home network 82 82
to get some hands-on experience with this tool. 83 83
Because there really is no substitute 84 84
for hands-on experience during your studies. 85 85
If you bought this course at diontraining.com, 86 86
your course does come with 40 hours 87 87
of guided hands-on labs 88 88
using our cloud-based networks and servers. 89 89
As you move throughout the course, 90 90
you're going to be logging in to our servers 91 91
and actually performing the on-the-job functions 92 92
of a cybersecurity analyst. 93 93
If you're brand new to all of this, 94 94
I highly recommend that you take that version of the course 95 95
or you need to build your own lab environment 96 96
to practice the techniques 97 97
that I'm going to be doing demonstration videos on 98 98
inside of this course too. 99 99
If you're already a cyber security professional 100 100
with some work experience under your belt, 101 101
this course is going to fill in any gaps in your knowledge 102 102
and build a solid foundation for you 103 103
as you prepare to take the CySA+ exam. 104 104
Now, before we dive into the course materials, 105 105
let me quickly introduce myself. 106 106
My name is Jason Dion 107 107
and I'm the lead instructor at Dion Training. 108 108
I've been working in the IT and cybersecurity field 109 109
for over two decades for organizations both large and small. 110 110
When I'm talking about small organizations, 111 111
I'm talking about organizations 112 112
with less than about 20 to 30 people. 113 113
That's a company like my own, Dion Training. 114 114
Now, when I talk about large organizations, 115 115
one of my last positions 116 116
was for an organization that spans six continents, 117 117
dozens of countries, and millions of end users. 118 118
And guess what? 119 119
All these organizations are vulnerable 120 120
to the same types of cyber attacks, 121 121
which means that every day, 122 122
our teams have to defend our networks 123 123
from intruders and attackers. 124 124
Now, we use proactive defenses, 125 125
we conducted threat hunting, and unfortunately, 126 126
sometimes we were part of some instant responses too. 127 127
So, I'm not just an instructor, 128 128
but I'm also a practitioner with decades of experience. 129 129
Rest assured, you are in good hands with us. 130 130
In fact, I'm an authorized instructor 131 131
for the CompTIA CySA+ exam, 132 132
and my company 133 133
is a CompTIA authorized platinum delivery partner. 134 134
Due to our close partnership with CompTIA, 135 135
our courses align directly 136 136
with the official curriculum and the exam objectives. 137 137
This course is designed to serve 138 138
as a full textbook replacement, 139 139
but I know a lot of people like to read a textbook, 140 140
while they're studying as well. 141 141
For those folks, 142 142
we recommend the official CompTIA CySA+ student guide 143 143
if you're planning to go out and purchase a textbook. 144 144
Now, let's talk about the exam itself. 145 145
The CompTIA CySA+ exam consists of four domains 146 146
or areas of knowledge 147 147
that you're going to get questions on come test day. 148 148
The first domain is security operations, 149 149
which is 33% of your exam. 150 150
The second domain is vulnerability management, 151 151
which is 30% of your exam. 152 152
The third domain is incident response management 153 153
which is 20% of your exam. 154 154
And the fourth domain is reporting in communication, 155 155
which makes up the last 17% of your exam. 156 156
Now, under each of these domains, 157 157
there are several other objectives 158 158
that explained something 159 159
you have to either know or be able to do on exam day. 160 160
For example, objective 1.1 161 161
states that you have to be able 162 162
to explain the importance of system 163 163
and network architecture concepts in security operations. 164 164
And then, it provides a bulleted list 165 165
of about 36 different individual items 166 166
that you're going to get questions about. 167 167
Now, all of these objectives are provided 168 168
in a document that CompTIA calls the exam objectives. 169 169
And you can download this document 170 170
from the second lesson of this course as a PDF. 171 171
I do recommend that you download this and print it out, 172 172
because it's going to give you a great checklist 173 173
of everything we're going to cover inside of this course. 174 174
Now, a lot of my students often ask, 175 175
why are courses don't start out with objective 1.1 176 176
and teach everything in that objective 177 177
in linear order based on the exam objectives document 178 178
and then moving on to objective 1.2 and 1.3, and so on? 179 179
Well, the reason for this is that the list there 180 180
isn't really a good order to teach from. 181 181
CompTIA doesn't group things 182 182
based on the concepts or how we're going to teach them, 183 183
but instead, it's just a long checklist 184 184
of things that they want to make sure 185 185
are included as an exam question. 186 186
So, as we go through more than 350 lessons in this course, 187 187
I'm going to cover everything listed 188 188
in that objectives document, I promise you, 189 189
but I am not going to cover them 190 190
in the order that's listed in that PDF. 191 191
The reason for this is that it's just not a good order 192 192
to teach those concepts in. 193 193
That's going to make it a lot harder for you 194 194
to learn everything 195 195
for the exam if I taught things in order. 196 196
So, instead, I have rearranged everything 197 197
into a more logical order 198 198
and I'm going to reference the domains 199 199
and the objectives as we move through the course together. 200 200
At the beginning of each section of the course, 201 201
I'm going to tell you exactly which domains 202 202
and which objectives 203 203
we are going to cover in that section of videos. 204 204
And as we're going around, 205 205
you're going to see that we're jumping around a lot, 206 206
but at least you'll know where you are 207 207
and you can check it off of your list. 208 208
This way, I'll give you the best learning experience 209 209
you can learn most efficiently 210 210
and it will still map directly back to those objectives. 211 211
For example, in the next section of the course, 212 212
we're actually going to start out in domain two 213 213
by covering objective 2.5. 214 214
This state that you must be able to explain concepts 215 215
related to vulnerability response, handling, and management. 216 216
Because this is so fundamental to everything else 217 217
we're going to cover in the next 350 or so videos, 218 218
we really need to cover this early on in the course 219 219
and not wait until we get to domain two 220 220
and objective 2.5, which could take us several hours 221 221
if we are working literally 222 222
through those exam objectives in the PDF. 223 223
So, that's what I mean by saying 224 224
that we're going to be taking some of these things out of order 225 225
and we're not going to be teaching in a strict linear order. 226 226
Similarly, when you sit down 227 227
to take the real exam on test day, 228 228
you're going to be getting a mixture of questions 229 229
from all four domains 230 230
and their 15 objectives in a random order. 231 231
So, by us jumping around while teaching it, 232 232
we're actually better preparing you for the exam too. 233 233
Essentially, when you look at the exam objectives, 234 234
remember, it's just a list of everything 235 235
that you need to know to do well on the exam. 236 236
It is not a table of contents 237 237
that we're going to actually teach from in that linear order. 238 238
Now, come test day, you're going to find 239 239
that the certification exam is going to consist mostly 240 240
of multiple choice questions, 241 241
but you're also 242 242
going to get three to five performance-based questions. 243 243
Now, these PBQs, 244 244
which most of my students like to call them simulations 245 245
is going to require you 246 246
to perform some kind of job function 247 247
in a simulated environment. 248 248
For example, the exam might ask you 249 249
to analyze some log snippets 250 250
from three to five machines, 251 251
and then match those with a vulnerability 252 252
that's being identified 253 253
based on the logs that you just read, 254 254
and then pick out 255 255
how you would remediate that particular issue. 256 256
Now, don't worry too much 257 257
about the simulations just yet though. 258 258
I promise, I'm going to make sure 259 259
you are well-prepared for them 260 260
before you go and sit for that real certification exam 261 261
by going through all of our different lessons 262 262
and demonstrations inside of this course together. 263 263
Now, as far as the amount of questions 264 264
you're going to get on exam day, 265 265
you're going to get up to 85 questions. 266 266
Now, in truth, you're actually going to get somewhere 267 267
between 75 and 85 questions, 268 268
because if you get more simulation questions, 269 269
you're going to get less multiple choice. 270 270
And if you have more multiple choice, 271 271
you're going to have less simulations. 272 272
Like I said, most students who are sitting 273 273
for the exam are going to get somewhere 274 274
between three to five simulations on the exam, 275 275
which means you're going to get somewhere 276 276
between 75 and 80 multiple choice questions on the exam. 277 277
Now, in order to pass the CySA+ certification exam, 278 278
you have to score at least 750 points 279 279
out of 900 possible points available on that exam. 280 280
Now, to be able to take the exam, 281 281
you are going to have to pay an exam fee, 282 282
and you do that by buying what's called an exam voucher. 283 283
You can do this by going to store.comptia.org 284 284
and buying it directly 285 285
from the CompTIA web store at the full retail price. 286 286
Once you go to the CompTIA store, 287 287
you're going to see the voucher costs somewhere around $400 288 288
for the Cybersecurity Analyst+ exam 289 289
depending on where you live in the world, 290 290
because CompTIA does use different pricing 291 291
based on the country you're going to test in. 292 292
Now, regardless of where you live in the world though, 293 293
you can save 10% off your exam voucher 294 294
if you go to the website, diontraining.com/vouchers. 295 295
Because we teach tens of thousands 296 296
of students every year how to pass their CompTIA exams, 297 297
CompTIA provides us with a special discount rate 298 298
on our exam vouchers that we purchase for our students. 299 299
But you can only get that 10% discount 300 300
by going to diontraining.com/vouchers. 301 301
Now, once you buy the voucher there, 302 302
it's going to be delivered to you 303 303
in about 10 minutes through our online portal. 304 304
Now, don't worry about going out 305 305
and buying your voucher just yet though, 306 306
because we still have a lot 307 307
of work to do before you go and take your exam. 308 308
Now, when you buy a voucher, they do expire over time. 309 309
Most vouchers are going to last anywhere 310 310
from 11 to 12 months after you purchase it 311 311
and because we have so much to still cover, 312 312
I don't recommend you run out and buy your exam voucher yet. 313 313
But I just wanted to let you know ahead of time 314 314
that you're going to be able to go get your voucher 315 315
for a 10% discount if you go to diontraining.com/vouchers 316 316
to purchase that exam voucher. 317 317
Finally, here are my four tips for success in this course. 318 318
First, for every video in this course, 319 319
you could turn on closed captioning if you'd like. 320 320
Each video is captioned by a real human for more accuracy 321 321
and this allows you to read along 322 322
with the course as I'm teaching it if you need to. 323 323
Many of my students speak English as their second language 324 324
and they really enjoy having the captions playing 325 325
to aid in their comprehension 326 326
as they're listening and watching the videos. 327 327
Now, if you want to enable closed captions, 328 328
simply click on the CC button 329 329
in the bottom of your video player. 330 330
My second tip is about playback speed. 331 331
Some students say that I speak too fast 332 332
and others say I speak too slow. 333 333
Either way though, you control the speed 334 334
of that instruction by clicking on the gear icon 335 335
and the 1x button in the bottom of your video player. 336 336
Then, you can choose 1.25 or 1.5x 337 337
if you want me to teach faster 338 338
or you can select 0.75 or 0.5 339 339
if you want me to teach slower. 340 340
Faster or slower, 341 341
the choice is yours to learn most effectively. 342 342
The third and probably one of the most important tips 343 343
is about our student support group. 344 344
We have a student support group 345 345
with several thousand other students 346 346
who are studying for the CySA+ exam 347 347
and other cybersecurity, IT, 348 348
and project management certification throughout our courses. 349 349
Now, if you'd like to join the fun, 350 350
you can find us at facebook.com/groups/diontraining 351 351
and request to join this private group. 352 352
In this group, we answer your questions, 353 353
put out additional free content, 354 354
and we help each other throughout our IT careers. 355 355
Also, if you ask a question there, 356 356
you'll usually get an answer in just a few minutes, 357 357
because we have so many students online 358 358
anytime of the day or night, 359 359
with over 35,000 people currently in that group. 360 360
So, if you're on Facebook, 361 361
I really recommend that you join the group today, 362 362
because it is really helpful as you're studying. 363 363
Now, if you aren't on Facebook, 364 364
you can still get your questions answered 365 365
if you get stuck during the course. 366 366
You can do this by simply posting a question 367 367
inside the Q and A section of this course. 368 368
If you're opting to use this support method, 369 369
either myself or one of my Dion Training team members 370 370
will answer your question directly 371 371
within 48 hours, in most cases, Monday through Friday. 372 372
Like I said, the Facebook group 373 373
does tend to get your questions answered faster 374 374
simply because there are more people available 375 375
and online anytime of the day or night to support you. 376 376
Now, the fourth and final tip is that this course 377 377
does come with a downloadable study guide 378 378
as a PDF in the next lesson. 379 379
I recommend that you download it, 380 380
print it out, and highlight on it, circle it, 381 381
take notes directly on it, whatever you need to do 382 382
to make sure you're highlighting the information. 383 383
And that way, you can use it as a ready reference 384 384
during your offline studies before you take the exam. 385 385
Now, with all the introductions behind us, 386 386
let's get started with our journey 387 387
to becoming a cybersecurity analyst 388 388
by beginning our studies for the CySA+ exam.