If you’re planning on taking the Security+ exam, you should have a basic understanding of penetration testing. It is an important topic for the exam and it gave me the idea to post this blog.
What is Penetration Testing?
A penetration test (sometimes called a pentest) actively assesses deployed security controls within a system or network. It starts with a vulnerability scan but takes it a step further and actually tries to exploit the vulnerability by simulating or performing an attack.
Security testers typically perform a penetration test to demonstrate the actual security vulnerabilities within a system. This can help the organization determine the impact of a threat against a system. In other words, it helps an organization determine the extent of damage that an attacker could inflict by exploiting a vulnerability.

Although it’s not as common, it’s also possible to perform a penetration test to determine how an organization will respond to a compromised system. This allows an organization to demonstrate security vulnerabilities and flaws in policy implementation. For example, many organizations may have perfect policies on paper. However, if employees aren’t consistently following the policies, a penetration test can accurately demonstrate the flaws.
CompTIA Security+ Study Guide
The
CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-501 Study Guide
is an update to the top-selling SY0-201, SY0-301, and SY0-401 study guides, which have helped thousands of readers pass the exam the first time they took it. It includes the same elements readers raved about in the previous three versions.
Each of the eleven chapters presents topics in an easy to understand manner and includes real-world examples of security principles in action.
You’ll understand the important and relevant security topics for the Security+ exam, without being overloaded with unnecessary details. Additionally, each chapter includes a comprehensive review section to help you focus on what’s important.

Over 300 realistic practice test questions with in-depth explanations will help you test your comprehension and readiness for the exam. The book includes:
- A 75 question pre-test
- A 75 question post-test
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Each practice test question includes a detailed explanation to help you understand the content and the reasoning behind the question. You’ll be ready to take and pass the exam the first time you take it.
If you plan to pursue any of the advanced security certifications, this guide will also help you lay a solid foundation of security knowledge. Learn this material, and you’ll be a step ahead for other exams. This SY0-501 study guide is for any IT or security professional interested in advancing in their field, and a must-read for anyone striving to master the basics of IT security.
Kindle edition also available.
Many penetration tests include the following activities:
- Verify a threat exists.
- Bypass security controls.
- Actively test security controls.
- Exploit vulnerabilities.
For example, an organization could hire an external tester to test the security of a web application. A first step could check for a SQL injection vulnerability. If the vulnerability exists, the tester could then launch a SQL injection attack to harvest user credentials from a database. The attacker can then use these credentials to exploit other areas of the system. If the database included credentials of elevated accounts, the attacker can use these for privilege escalation and exploit other system vulnerabilities.
Because a penetration test can exploit vulnerabilities, it has the potential to disrupt actual operations and cause system instability. Because of this, it’s important to define boundaries strictly for a test. Ideally, the penetration test will stop right before performing an exploit that can cause damage or result in an outage. However, some tests cause unexpected results.
Testers sometimes perform penetration tests on test systems rather than the live production systems. For example, an organization may be hosting a web application accessible on the Internet. Instead of performing the test on the live server and affecting customers, penetration testers or administrators configure another server with the same web application. If a penetration test cripples the test server, it accurately demonstrates security vulnerabilities, but it doesn’t affect customers.
Remember this
A penetration test is an active test that can assess deployed security controls and determine the impact of a threat. It starts with a vulnerability scan and then tries to exploit vulnerabilities by actually attacking or simulating an attack.
Part 2 of Penetration Testing covers types of black box testing and more.
Security+ Practice Test Questions
SY0-501 Practice Test Questions
Over 300 realistic Security+ practice test questions
All questions include explanations so you’ll know why the correct answers are correct,
and why the incorrect answers are incorrect.
Pass the Security+ Exam
the First Time You Take It
Multiple quiz formats to let you use these questions based on the way you learn.
- Learn mode – randomized. View each of the questions in random order. Learn mode allows you to keep selecting answers until you select the correct answer. Once you select the correct answer, you’ll see the explanation. Click here to see how learn mode works.
- Learn mode – not randomized. View each of the questions in the same order. Use this if you want to make sure that you see all of the questions. Learn mode allows you to keep selecting answers until you select the correct answer. Once you select the correct answer, you’ll see the explanation. Click here to see how learn mode works.
- Test mode – randomized. View each of the questions in random order. In test mode, you can only see the correct answers and explanations after you complete the test. Click here to see how test mode works.
- Test mode – not randomized. View each of the questions in the same order. In test mode, you can only see the correct answers and explanations after you complete the test. Click here to see how test mode works.
- Test mode – 75 random questions. View 75 random questions from the full test bank similar to how the Security+ exam has a potential maximum of 75 multiple choice questions. In test mode, you can only see the correct answers and explanations after you complete the test. Click here to see how test mode works.
Get the full bank of SY0-501 Practice Test Questions Here
SY0-501 Practice Test Questions
INCLUDES QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU PREPARE
FOR THE NEW PERFORMANCE BASED QUESTIONS
Bonus – Performance Based Questions
Three sets of performance-based questions including over 30 questions. These questions show you what you can expect in the live exam. They include drag and drop, matching, sorting, and fill in the blank questions. See a
demo here.Bonus – Extra Practice Test Questions
New multiple-choice questions in the extra test bank. Questions are added occasionally. You can see what has been added recently
here.
Get the full bank of Security+ (SYO-501) Practice Test Questions Here
Get the full bank of Security+ Practice Test Questions
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