CompTIA CySA+ Study Guide: Exam CS0-001 (Packaging may vary) Study Guide Edition

First of all, this is literally the first book released regarding this exam. Second of all, the nature of the exam is a bit different compared to earlier CompTIA exams. This means ONLY reading a book will not be enough to pass this new exam.This book accurately covers the theory and general knowledge base (syllabus) needed to pass this exam. It's to the point and covers many aspects of work done by security analysts in SOCs. It will give you a good base to understand what software suites are used, and what are many procedures used in the industry (from security in the software development cycle, to analysis of incidents). The problem which some people may come up upon, is that the exam's format requires much more interaction between different skills, and this is taught by doing, and not by reading.The two main pieces of software that the CSA+ exam heavily covers is NMAP & Wireshark. Experience in reading logs (system & IDS/IPS) is also required. As questions go, they're mostly situational, namely they'll give you a situation or some output, and you have to identify the best problem/solution, which often is not as clear cut or direct. Simulations in the exam can also be confusing unless you have had a chance to look over & use these two pieces of software (along with some system reporting commands in Windows & Linux). I don't think this book fails to prepare you for these parts, simply because without direct experience, it's can be hard to actually understand the information presented in the exam.While this book has some labs described per each chapter, they might not be enough for everyone. I would also suggest watching some training videos (as of writing this review, only ITPro.TV has a complete CSA+ video course). And regarding use of SIEM software, these suites are often expensive and only found in larger, enterprise networks. So gaining experience on them is hard. Cybrary.it offers a set of online labs for this certification, and while not required, can help someone new to this field gain hands on experience. Supplementing this book with other training is pretty much required in order to pass the exam.As for me, the book worked well, covered the topics well, and along with supplementary training from third parties (videos) & just messing around on my computer, helped me pass this exam.

Update: I passed my test on the first try. I ended up going through this book about four times total as part of my own study method. I would recommend this book. I felt it was pretty detailed and touched on some other topics that may not have been covered by the other CySA+ books. It had a lot more pictures to go along with the reading to show the different reports, logs, etc. that you get from the various software required for the test.Previous: I haven’t taken my test yet, but I’ve read this book through almost twice now. It has a lot of diagrams and pictures to explain the topics. There are occasional typos, but the content seems great despite that minor flaw. I’ve compared this to the other CSA+ books available, and they’re all basically the same on covering all the objectives. One might explain a few concepts more or less than another one does, so they’re great to read together.

This is very good book. It read good and very easy to understand . Actually, this is best available study guide for CYSA +. The book follows the comptia objective which is good because you do not have print the objective and go through it . The book also explains concept in detail and gives good real life IT examples , it could be good reference material for work and to pass the certificate. The author also wrote amazing book for CISSP. I am reading that book also. sometimes I use it for tutoring my class mates and understanding the concept more.

Just getting into this study guide and have been happy with the information being covered on each topic. However, I came to the comments here to see if anyone else was having confusion setting up labs. Chapter 2 Lab exercises refers you back to the intro for information regarding downloading and setting up Kali Linux and Metasploitable virtual machines. While this is easy enough to google and find links out in the wild it is nice to have direct links especially for the less adventurous team members. I could have missed it, but i after re-reading the entire intro, I at least hope I'm not. The information covered by this cert fills a major knowledge gap that is present in the industry. Too many "analyst" out there using key words to skirt by. I have seen that the author is responding to comments here which is awesome and wanted to provide feedback.

A very well done cert guide. One of the better ones I've used lately. It covers the exam objectives entirely with nothing left out. I only used this book to study for the exam (well, that and ten years of InfoSec experience) and passed on the first try.

Covers a lot of content and they are clear when the CSA+ content differs from actual practice, so you have the information needed for the certification but at the same time you don't lose the perspective of the industry practices..I am using this book alongside Certmaster, there are a couple of differences in minor things but using both tools together seems to me really useful, hoping to pass the exam!

I think this book is great! I am on the last chapter and cannot wait to take the test. A couple grammar issues but considering this was one of the first study guides out, who freaking cares? Thorough and detailed. Hats of to Mike and Dave