A few weeks ago I took the CompTIA Security+ (version SY0-301) exam after 2 weeks of intense self-study and managed to successfully pass after a nerve-racking 90 minutes of questions. The exam covers all aspects of information security, including networking, access control, security threats & mitigation technique and cryptography. It doesn’t go into a huge amount of detail into any of the topics, but instead gives a broad understanding of all the areas. I highly recommend the exam for any forensic investigators who want to get a broader understanding of the infosec world, and unlike the extortionate EnCE or SANS courses – you only need to pay for a study book and the exam (which was a few hundred pounds). The exam will be moving very shortly to the newer version, 401, which will have updated concepts but the general feel will be the same. Below are some of the materials I found useful (and useless!) for my study.

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