CompTIA CySA+ Sample Questions for CS0-003 Exam Success

Prepare for the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) CS0-003 exam with this curated set of sample questions and practice tests. These CompTIA CySA+ Sample Questions are structured to reflect real-world scenarios in threat detection, incident response, security architecture, and vulnerability management. Ideal for cybersecurity professionals, analysts, and SOC team members, this resource includes CS0-003 mock exams, performance-based tasks, and detailed answer explanations. Whether you're exploring free CySA+ practice exams or looking for reliable dumps and test simulations, these tools will help strengthen your practical skills and exam readiness. Master the CySA+ certification with confidence using up-to-date, exam-relevant materials tailored for 2025 success.

CompTIA CySA+ Sample Questions List :

1. An SQL database is no longer accessible online due to a recent security breach. An investigation reveals that unauthorized access to the database was possible due to an SQL injection vulnerability. To prevent this type of breach in the future, which of the following security controls should be put in place before bringing the database back online? (Choose two.)

1. Secure storage policies

2. Browser security updates

3. Input validation

4. Web application firewall

5. Secure coding standards

6. Database activity monitoring

2. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for an organization wants to develop custom IDS rulesets faster, prior to new rules being released by IDS vendors. Which of the following BEST meets this objective?

1. Identify a third-party source for IDS rules and change the configuration on the applicable IDSs to pull in the new rulesets

2. Encourage cybersecurity analysts to review open-source intelligence products and threat database to generate new IDS rules based on those sources

3. Leverage the latest TCP- and UDP-related RFCs to arm sensors and IDSs with appropriate heuristics for anomaly detection

4. Use annual hacking conventions to document the latest attacks and threats, and then develop IDS rules to counter those threats

3. A company has entered into a business agreement with a business partner for managed human resources services. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) has been asked to provide documentation that is required to set up a business-to-business VPN between the two organizations. Which of the following is required in this scenario?

1. ISA

2. BIA

3. SLA

4. RA

4. An engineer is assisting with the design of a new virtualized environment that will house critical company services and reduce the datacenter's physical footprint. The company has expressed concern about the integrity of operating systems and wants to ensure a vulnerability exploited in one datacenter segment would not lead to the compromise of all others. Which of the following design objectives should the engineer complete to BEST mitigate the company's concerns? (Choose two.)

1. Deploy virtual desktop infrastructure with an OOB management network

2. Employ the use of vTPM with boot attestation

3. Leverage separate physical hardware for sensitive services and data

4. Use a community CSP with independently managed security services

5. A penetration tester has been contracted to conduct a physical assessment of a site. Which of the following is the MOST plausible method of social engineering to be conducted during this engagement?

1. Randomly calling customer employees and posing as a help desk technician requiring user password to resolve issues

2. Posing as a copier service technician and indicating the equipment had "œphoned home" to alert the technician for a service call

3. Simulating an illness while at a client location for a sales call and then recovering once listening devices are installed

4. Obtaining fake government credentials and impersonating law enforcement to gain access to a company facility

6. Following a security assessment, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is reviewing the results of the assessment and evaluating potential risk treatment strategies. As part of the CISO's evaluation, a judgment of potential impact based on the identified risk is performed. To prioritize response actions, the CISO uses past experience to take into account the exposure factor as well as the external accessibility of the weakness identified. Which of the following is the CISO performing?

1. Documentation of lessons learned

2. Quantitative risk assessment

3. Qualitative assessment of risk

4. Business impact scoring

7. Two new technical SMB security settings have been enforced and have also become policies that increase secure communications. Network Client: Digitally sign communication Network Server: Digitally sign communication A storage administrator in a remote location with a legacy storage array, which contains time-sensitive data, reports employees can no longer connect to their department shares. Which of the following mitigation strategies should an information security manager recommend to the data owner?

1. Accept the risk, reverse the settings for the remote location, and have the remote location file a risk exception until the legacy storage device can be upgraded

2. Accept the risk for the remote location, and reverse the settings indefinitely since the legacy storage device will not be upgraded

3. Mitigate the risk for the remote location by suggesting a move to a cloud service provider. Have the remote location request an indefinite risk exception for the use of cloud storage

4. Avoid the risk, leave the settings alone, and decommission the legacy storage device

8. A Chief Information Officer (CIO) publicly announces the implementation of a new financial system. As part of a security assessment that includes a social engineering task, which of the following tasks should be conducted to demonstrate the BEST means to gain information to use for a report on social vulnerability details about the financial system?

1. Call the CIO and ask for an interview, posing as a job seeker interested in an open position

2. Compromise the email server to obtain a list of attendees who responded to the invitation who is on the IT staff

3. Notify the CIO that, through observation at events, malicious actors can identify individuals to befriend

4. Understand the CIO is a social drinker, and find the means to befriend the CIO at establishments the CIO frequents

9. During a security assessment, an organization is advised of inadequate control over network segmentation. The assessor explains that the organization's reliance on VLANs to segment traffic is insufficient to provide segmentation based on regulatory standards. Which of the following should the organization consider implementing along with VLANs to provide a greater level of segmentation?

1. Air gaps

2. Access control lists

3. Spanning tree protocol

4. Network virtualization

10. A recent assessment identified that several users' mobile devices are running outdated versions of endpoint security software that do not meet the company's security policy. Which of the following should be performed to ensure the users can access the network and meet the company's security requirements?

1. Vulnerability assessment

2. Risk assessment

3. Patch management

4. Device quarantine

11. An organization has employed the services of an auditing firm to perform a gap assessment in preparation for an upcoming audit. As part of the gap assessment, the auditor supporting the assessment recommends the organization engage with other industry partners to share information about emerging attacks to organizations in the industry in which the organization functions. Which of the following types of information could be drawn from such participation?

1. Threat modeling

2. Risk assessment

3. Vulnerability data

4. Exploit frameworks

12. A systems administrator at a medical imaging company discovers protected health information (PHI) on a general purpose file server. Which of the following steps should the administrator take NEXT?

1. Isolate all of the PHI on its own VLAN and keep it segregated at Layer 2

2. Immediately encrypt all PHI with AES 256

3. Delete all PHI from the network until the legal department is consulted

4. Consult the legal department to determine legal requirements

13. A recent penetration test identified that a web server has a major vulnerability. The web server hosts a critical shipping application for the company and requires 99.99% availability. Attempts to fix the vulnerability would likely break the application. The shipping application is due to be replaced in the next three months. Which of the following would BEST secure the web server until the replacement web server is ready?

1. Patch management

2. Antivirus

3. Application firewall

4. HIDS

14. A financial consulting firm recently recovered from some damaging incidents that were associated with malware installed via rootkit. Post-incident analysis is ongoing, and the incident responders and systems administrators are working to determine a strategy to reduce the risk of recurrence. The firm's systems are running modern operating systems and feature UEFI and TPMs. Which of the following technical options would provide the MOST preventive value?

1. Update and deploy GPOs

2. Configure and use measured boot

3. Strengthen the password complexity requirements

4. Update the antivirus software and definitions

15. To prepare for an upcoming audit, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) asks for all 1200 vulnerabilities on production servers to be remediated. The security engineer must determine which vulnerabilities represent real threats that can be exploited so resources can be prioritized to migrate the most dangerous risks. The CISO wants the security engineer to act in the same manner as would an external threat, while using vulnerability scan results to prioritize any actions. Which of the following approaches is described?

1. Blue team

2. Red team

3. Black box

4. White team

16. A company monitors the performance of all web servers using WMI. A network administrator informs the security engineer that web servers hosting the company's client-facing portal are running slowly today. After some investigation, the security engineer notices a large number of attempts at enumerating host information via SNMP from multiple IP addresses. Which of the following would be the BEST technique for the security engineer to employ in an attempt to prevent reconnaissance activity?

1. Install a HIPS on the web servers

2. Disable inbound traffic from offending sources

3. Disable SNMP on the web servers

4. Install anti-DDoS protection in the DMZ

17. A security incident responder discovers an attacker has gained access to a network and has overwritten key system files with backdoor software. The server was reimaged and patched offline. Which of the following tools should be implemented to detect similar attacks?

1. Vulnerability scanner

2. TPM

3. Host-based firewall

4. File integrity monitor

18. The risk subcommittee of a corporate board typically maintains a master register of the most prominent risks to the company. A centralized holistic view of risk is particularly important to the corporate Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) because:

1. IT systems are maintained in silos to minimize interconnected risks and provide clear risk boundaries used to implement compensating controls

2. risks introduced by a system in one business unit can affect other business units in ways in which the individual business units have no awareness

3. corporate general counsel requires a single system boundary to determine overall corporate risk exposure

4. major risks identified by the subcommittee merit the prioritized allocation of scare funding to address cybersecurity concerns

19. A company has hired an external security consultant to conduct a thorough review of all aspects of corporate security. The company is particularly concerned about unauthorized access to its physical offices resulting in network compromises. Which of the following should the consultant recommend be performed to evaluate potential risks?

1. The consultant should attempt to gain access to physical offices through social engineering and then attempt data exfiltration

2. The consultant should be granted access to all physical access control systems to review logs and evaluate the likelihood of the threat

3. The company should conduct internal audits of access logs and employee social media feeds to identify potential insider threats

4. The company should install a temporary CCTV system to detect unauthorized access to physical offices

20. Management is reviewing the results of a recent risk assessment of the organization's policies and procedures. During the risk assessment it is determined that procedures associated with background checks have not been effectively implemented. In response to this risk, the organization elects to revise policies and procedures related to background checks and use a third-party to perform background checks on all new employees. Which of the following risk management strategies has the organization employed?

1. Transfer

2. Mitigate

3. Accept

4. Avoid

21. A newly hired systems administrator is trying to connect a new and fully updated, but very customized, Android device to access corporate resources. However, the MDM enrollment process continually fails. The administrator asks a security team member to look into the issue. Which of the following is the MOST likely reason the MDM is not allowing enrollment?

1. The OS version is not compatible

2. The OEM is prohibited

3. The device does not support FDE

4. The device is rooted

22. An organization is preparing to develop a business continuity plan. The organization is required to meet regulatory requirements relating to confidentiality and availability, which are well-defined. Management has expressed concern following initial meetings that the organization is not fully aware of the requirements associated with the regulations. Which of the following would be MOST appropriate for the project manager to solicit additional resources for during this phase of the project?

1. After-action reports

2. Gap assessment

3. Security requirements traceability matrix

4. Business impact assessment

23. A SaaS-based email service provider often receives reports from legitimate customers that their IP netblocks are on blacklists and they cannot send email. The SaaS has confirmed that affected customers typically have IP addresses within broader network ranges and some abusive customers within the same IP ranges may have performed spam campaigns. Which of the following actions should the SaaS provider perform to minimize legitimate customer impact?

1. Inform the customer that the service provider does not have any control over third-party blacklist entries. The customer should reach out to the blacklist operator directly

2. Perform a takedown of any customer accounts that have entries on email blacklists because this is a strong indicator of hostile behavior

3. Work with the legal department and threaten legal action against the blacklist operator if the netblocks are not removed because this is affecting legitimate traffic

4. Establish relationship with a blacklist operators so broad entries can be replaced with more granular entries and incorrect entries can be quickly pruned

FAQs

1. What is the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 certification exam?

It is a globally recognized certification that validates cybersecurity skills in detecting, analyzing, and responding to threats across enterprise environments.

2. How do I become CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 certified?

You need to register for and pass the CS0-003 exam, which tests your ability to apply behavioral analytics and threat detection techniques.

3. What are the prerequisites for the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 exam?

There are no mandatory prerequisites, but CompTIA recommends Network+ and Security+ certifications or equivalent hands-on experience in cybersecurity.

4. How much does the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 certification cost?

The exam costs $392 USD, though prices may vary based on region.

5. How many questions are in the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 exam?

The exam consists of 85 multiple-choice and performance-based questions.

6. What topics are covered in the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 exam?

It covers threat management, vulnerability management, security architecture, incident response, and compliance.

7. How difficult is the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 certification exam?

It’s considered intermediate-level, requiring both technical knowledge and hands-on cybersecurity experience.

8. How long does it take to prepare for the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 exam?

Most candidates prepare for 10–12 weeks, depending on their cybersecurity background and study schedule.

9. What jobs can I get after earning the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 certification?

You can work as a Security Analyst, Incident Response Specialist, Threat Hunter, or SOC Analyst.

10. How much salary can I earn with a CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 certification?

Professionals with this certification typically earn between $80,000–$110,000 annually, depending on experience and job role.