CompTIA certifications

Security+ is the most widely held entry-level security certification. It is vendor-neutral and covers core security concepts, threats and mitigations, architecture, operations, and program management. Employers list it as a baseline requirement for security analyst, systems administrator and SOC roles, and it satisfies common compliance baselines for security work.

CySA+ is CompTIA's analyst-level security certification, a rung above Security+. It covers what a working SOC actually does: continuous monitoring, threat detection and hunting, vulnerability triage, and incident response. Version CS0-004 launched on 23 June 2026 and rebalanced the exam around four domains, with Security Operations alone accounting for 34%. It is vendor-neutral and commonly requested for SOC analyst, threat hunter and vulnerability analyst roles.

A+ Core 1 is the first half of CompTIA A+, the standard entry credential for IT support roles. It covers mobile devices, networking, hardware, virtualization and cloud. The largest single slice is hardware and network troubleshooting. You need both Core 1 and Core 2 (220-1202) to earn the A+ certification itself.

Network+ is CompTIA's vendor-neutral networking certification. It covers the concepts (OSI model, addressing, routing and switching, ports and protocols), how networks are built and cabled, how they are operated and monitored, how they are secured, and how they are troubleshot. Troubleshooting is the single heaviest domain, which tells you what the exam is really about: not naming things, but working out why a network is not doing what it should.