Free SY0-701 Sample Questions — CompTIA Security+ 2023

CompTIA Security+ 2023 (SY0-701) is a professional-level CompTIA certification exam. The blueprint splits the exam across 5 domains, starting with General Security Concepts, Threats, Vulnerabilities and Mitigations, Security Architecture. On exam day you face around 90 questions in 90 minutes, in formats such as multiple-choice and performance-based. The 20 questions below are free samples written to match that style: answer each one first, then reveal the correct answer and note which topics you miss. The SY0-701 is rated intermediate in difficulty, and most candidates prepare with at least 24 months of hands-on experience. Because every answer is revealed in place, you can work through the whole set without leaving this page. Work through all 20 samples before deciding whether to buy the full 590+ question PDF.

  • 20 free questions
  • pass mark 750/1000
  • 90 min
  • $425 official fee
  • blueprint vv7.0
  • Every free question shows the correct answer
  • Questions follow the official 5-domain blueprint
  • No account or email required
  • 590+ questions in the full PDF

Looking for more? Click here to get the full PDF with 590+ practice questions for $10 for offline study and deeper preparation.

Question 1

Which of the following should be used to ensure an attacker is unable to read the contents of a mobile device's drive if the device is lost?

  • A. TPM
  • B. ECC
  • C. FDE
  • D. HSM
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
C. FDE
Question 2

A penetration tester finds an unused Ethernet port during an on-site penetration test. Upon plugging a device into the unused port, the penetration tester notices that the machine is assigned an IP address, allowing the tester to enumerate the local network. Which of the following should an administrator implement in order to prevent this situation from happening in the future?

  • A. Port security
  • B. Transport Layer Security
  • C. Proxy server
  • D. Security zones
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. Port security
Question 3

Which of the following phases of the incident response process attempts to minimize disruption?

  • A. Recovery
  • B. Containment
  • C. Preparation
  • D. Analysis
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
B. Containment
Question 4

A security administrator needs a method to secure data in an environment that includes some form of checks so track any changes. Which of the following should the administrator set up to achieve this goal?

  • A. SPF
  • B. GPO
  • C. NAC
  • D. FIM
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
D. FIM
Question 5

A company must ensure sensitive data at rest is rendered unreadable. Which of the following will the company most likely use?

  • A. Hashing
  • B. Tokenization
  • C. Encryption
  • D. Segmentation
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
C. Encryption
Question 6

Which of the following would enable a data center to remain operational through a multiday power outage?

  • A. Generator
  • B. Uninterruptible power supply
  • C. Replication
  • D. Parallel processing
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. Generator
Question 7

An alert references attacks associated with a zero-day exploit. An analyst places a bastion host in the network to reduce the risk of the exploit. Which of the following types of controls is the analyst implementing?

  • A. Compensating
  • B. Detective
  • C. Operational
  • D. Physical
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. Compensating
Question 8

Which of the following should a company use to provide proof of external network security testing?

  • A. Business impact analysis
  • B. Supply chain analysis
  • C. Vulnerability assessment
  • D. Third-party attestation
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
D. Third-party attestation
Question 9

Which of the following are the first steps an analyst should perform when developing a heat map? (Choose two.)

  • A. Methodically walk around the office noting Wi-Fi signal strength
  • B. Log in to each access point and check the settings
  • C. Create or obtain a layout of the office
  • D. Measure cable lengths between access points
  • E. Review access logs to determine the most active devices
  • F. Remove possible impediments to radio transmissions
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
  • A. Methodically walk around the office noting Wi-Fi signal strength
  • C. Create or obtain a layout of the office
Question 10

After a security incident, a systems administrator asks the company to buy a NAC platform. Which of the following attack surfaces is the systems administrator trying to protect?

  • A. Bluetooth
  • B. Wired
  • C. NFC
  • D. SCADA
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
B. Wired
Question 11

A company's end users are reporting that they are unable to reach external websites. After reviewing the performance data for the DNS severs, the analyst discovers that the CPU, disk, and memory usage are minimal, but the network interface is flooded with inbound traffic. Network logs show only a small number of DNS queries sent to this server. Which of the following best describes what the security analyst is seeing?

  • A. Concurrent session usage
  • B. Secure DNS cryptographic downgrade
  • C. On-path resource consumption
  • D. Reflected denial of service
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
D. Reflected denial of service
Question 12

A security team receives reports about high latency and complete network unavailability throughout most of the office building. Flow logs from the campus switches show high traffic on TCP 445. Which of the following is most likely the root cause of this incident?

  • A. Buffer overflow
  • B. NTP amplification attack
  • C. Worm
  • D. DoS attack
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
C. Worm
Question 13

A security team is setting up a new environment for hosting the organization's on-premises software application as a cloud-based service. Which of the following should the team ensure is in place in order for the organization to follow security best practices?

  • A. Virtualization and isolation of resources
  • B. Network segmentation
  • C. Data encryption
  • D. Strong authentication policies
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. Virtualization and isolation of resources
Question 14

A systems administrator wants to prevent users from being able to access data based on their responsibilities. The administrator also wants to apply the required access structure via a simplified format. Which of the following should the administrator apply to the site recovery resource group?

  • A. RBAC
  • B. ACL
  • C. SAML
  • D. GPO
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. RBAC
Question 15

A company's accounting department receives an urgent payment message from the company's bank domain with instructions to wire transfer funds. The sender requests that the transfer be completed as soon as possible. Which of the following attacks is described?

  • A. Business email compromise
  • B. Vishing
  • C. Spear phishing
  • D. Impersonation
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. Business email compromise
Question 16

A security analyst learns that an attack vector, which was used as a part of a recent incident, was a well-known IoT device exploit. The analyst needs to review logs to identify the time of initial exploit. Which of the following logs should the analyst review first?

  • A. Endpoint
  • B. Application
  • C. Firewall
  • D. NAC
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
C. Firewall
Question 17

During an investigation, an incident response team attempts to understand the source of an incident. Which of the following incident response activities describes this process?

  • A. Analysis
  • B. Lessons learned
  • C. Detection
  • D. Containment
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. Analysis
Question 18

Which of the following best practices gives administrators a set period to perform changes to an operational system to ensure availability and minimize business impacts?

  • A. Impact analysis
  • B. Scheduled downtime
  • C. Backout plan
  • D. Change management boards
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
B. Scheduled downtime
Question 19

Which of the following is used to improve security and overall functionality without losing critical application data?

  • A. Reformatting
  • B. Decommissioning
  • C. Patching
  • D. Encryption
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
C. Patching
Question 20

A systems administrator uses a key to encrypt a message being sent to a peer in a different branch office. The peer then uses the same key to decrypt the message. Which of the following describes this example?

  • A. Symmetric
  • B. Asymmetric
  • C. Hashing
  • D. Salting
Show Answer
Correct Answer:
A. Symmetric

SY0-701 sample questions FAQ

Are these SY0-701 sample questions from the real exam?

No. They are original practice questions written to match the format and topic mix of the CompTIA Security+ 2023 exam, which contains around 90 questions. Treat them as representative practice, not leaked exam content.

How many free SY0-701 sample questions do I get?

This page includes 20 questions, each with its correct answer you can reveal in place. The full study PDF expands that to 590+ questions.

Do the sample questions include the correct answers?

Yes. Open the answer panel under each question to see which option is correct. Answer first, then reveal, so the set works as a self-check rather than a reading exercise.

Is 20 sample questions enough to pass the SY0-701?

Not on its own. Use the samples to find weak topics, revise them against the official domains, then work through the full 590+ question set under timed conditions before booking the exam.

Aced these? Get the Full Exam

Download the complete SY0-701 study bundle with 590+ questions in a single printable PDF.