Introduction

Welcome to Security+ Exam Cram 2 . This book is intended to prepare you to take and pass the CompTIA Security+ exam, number SY0-101, as administered by both the Prometric and VUE testing organizations. This introduction explains CompTIA's Security+ certification program in general and talks about how the Exam Cram 2 series can help you prepare for that certification exam. You can learn more about Prometric by visiting its Web site at www.prometric.com, and you can learn more about VUE by visiting its Web site at www.vue.com.

Exam Cram 2 books help you understand and appreciate the subjects and materials you need to pass certification exams. Exam Cram 2 books are aimed strictly at test preparation and review. They do not teach you everything you need to know about a topic. Instead, the series presents and dissects the questions and problems that you're likely to encounter on a test. In preparing this book, we've worked from preparation guides and tests and from a battery of third-party test-preparation tools. The aim of the Exam Cram 2 series is to bring together as much information as possible about the certification exams that are its primary focus.

Nevertheless, to completely prepare yourself for any test, we recommend that you begin by taking the Self-Assessment immediately following this introduction. This tool will help you evaluate your knowledge base against the requirements for the CompTIA Security+ exam under both ideal and real circumstances.

Based on what you learn from that exercise, you might decide to begin your studies with some classroom training, or to pick up and read one of the many study guides available from third-party vendors , including Que Certification's Training Guide series. We also strongly recommend that you spend some time installing, configuring, and working with both Windows and Unix or Linux operating systems to patch and maintain them for the best and most current security possible, because the Security+ exam is focused on such activitiesand the knowledge and skills they can provide for youin large part.