SecurityX study guide
SecurityX · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
SecurityX (exam code CAS-005, version V5) is CompTIA's expert-level cybersecurity certification, launched on December 17, 2024 as the rebrand and update of CASP+. It is aimed at security architects and senior security engineers who design, build, and integrate secure solutions across complex environments and who support a resilient enterprise while addressing governance, risk, and compliance needs. The V5 exam covers four domains: Governance, Risk, and Compliance (20%), Security Architecture (27%), Security Engineering (31%), and Security Operations (22%) - 23 objectives in total, down from 28 in CASP+ V4. Topic areas include cloud capabilities and control strategies, deperimeterization (SASE, SD-WAN), zero trust, automation and infrastructure as code, advanced cryptography such as post-quantum and homomorphic encryption, SIEM analysis, threat hunting with STIX/TAXII and Sigma/YARA, and incident response including malware analysis and reverse engineering. Topics on this exam: Governance, Risk, and Compliance, Security Architecture, Security Engineering, and Security Operations. The SecurityX study guide has 4 sections and about 1,293 words.
01Governance, Risk, and Compliance
Governance sets direction: policies, roles, risk appetite, and oversight from senior leadership. Management executes it.
332 words, about 2 min02Security Architecture
The architecture domain tests whether you can reason about structure rather than configuration. Core principles: least privilege, defense in depth, separation of duties, fail-safe defaults, complete mediation, economy of mechanism, open design (Kerckhoffs's principle), least common mechanism, and psychological acceptability.
329 words, about 2 min03Security Engineering
Engineering is where architecture becomes implementation. Apply the Saltzer-Schroeder principles and model threats early: STRIDE (spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, elevation of privilege) enumerates threats per element; DREAD is a scoring rubric; attack trees decompose goals.
324 words, about 2 min04Security Operations
Use the NIST SP 800-61 lifecycle: preparation; detection and analysis; containment, eradication, and recovery; post-incident activity. Sequence matters - contain before you eradicate, and never destroy evidence in the name of speed.
308 words, about 2 min