We’ve all heard it before: cybersecurity is a highly sought-after skill for all enterprises. Security certifications are one way that employers can evaluate the security expertise of their current and future security staff. They need security experts at all levels to counter the pervasive threat of “bad actors”, which can disrupt operations and steal valuable information.
Organizations need more than just engineers and architects. Qualified administrators are needed to manage the day-to-day security activities that protect enterprise systems, networks and information. CompTIA’s Security+ certification is where it all comes in. It is widely recognized as the best way to validate your security skills.
CompTIA updates its certifications three years every year due to the changing cybersecurity landscape, which includes the morphing and evolution of technology. CompTIA Security+ (SY0-501) will soon be retired. Security+ SY0-601 will replace it.
There are many questions that arise when there is a change to a certification process. This includes those who are certified already, those on the current certification track and those who are just starting. This post will cover the changes between SY0-501 & SY0-601 as well as answer the following questions:
I am already SY0-501-certified! What does SY0-601 refer to?
I’m ready to take the SY0-501 test! Do I take the SY0-501 exam or wait?
I would like to be security-certified Do I choose the CompTIA Security+ certification?

Next, we’ll discuss how to prepare for and pass the exam. Let’s first look at the changes to the CompTIA Security+ exam and what you can expect from it.
CompTIA Security+ Sy0-601: What’s changed since SY0-501
CompTIA Security+ SY0-501 exam and curriculum were introduced in order to increase cybersecurity awareness. This includes incident response, security controls, and forensics. This has made it more important to have sysadmins or network admins who are skilled in all aspects of security management.
Security administrators must be able determine and implement security solutions for an organization’s hybrid environment. They also need to monitor these solutions and respond to security incidents and events. Certified security professionals must also be able to understand and apply the principles of risk, compliance and governance.
CompTIA Security+ SY0-601 has been redesigned to be more focused and deeper than its predecessor. The new exam covers five domains, one less than SY0-501. It also has fewer objectives (35), but has 25% more examples than the old exam. CompTIA’s SY0-601 certification objectives document states that the new Security+ certification is equivalent to two years’ experience in a job as a security/systems administrator.
These domains are included in the new exam:
Attacks, Threats and Vulnerabilities (24%).
Architecture and Design (21%).
Implementation (25%)
Operations and Incident Response (16%)
Governance, Risk, Compliance (14%)

Let’s take a look at the Threats and Attacks domain to see how deep the exam covers. You will be required to identify and explain more than 20 social engineering attack techniques. You will also be required to analyze given scenarios in order to identify more than 30 types of attacks against systems, networks, apps, and systems, including malware, cloud-based, and on-premises.