CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) in 2026: format, difficulty, and why the military requires it
By SunTzu, founder of CertOwl • Published • 4 min read
Quick answer
CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) is the standard entry certification for security roles: up to 90 questions in 90 minutes, a passing score of 750 of 900, and a $439 voucher in 2026. It is also the go-to certification for DoD 8140 compliance, which is why thousands of government and contractor jobs require it.
The CompTIA Security+ is the most consequential exam in CompTIA's lineup. Not the hardest, not the deepest, but the one that appears as a hard requirement in the most job postings, especially anywhere near the US government. This guide covers the exam as it stands in 2026, plus the regulation that quietly makes it mandatory for thousands of positions.
The exam at a glance
- Current version: SY0-701
- Questions: up to 90, multiple choice plus performance-based questions
- Time: 90 minutes
- Passing score: 750 on the 100 to 900 scale, the highest bar among CompTIA's core certs (A+ Core 1 needs 675, Network+ needs 720)
- Price: $439 in the US as of the June 1, 2026 price increase
- Recommended background: CompTIA suggests Network+ level knowledge and around two years of IT experience. Suggests, not requires; there are no prerequisites
- Renewal: valid 3 years, renewable with continuing education credits
The content spans five domains: general security concepts, threats and vulnerabilities with their mitigations, security architecture, security operations (the biggest domain), and security program management. In practice that means everything from encryption basics and zero trust through phishing, malware and incident response to compliance frameworks and risk management vocabulary.
How hard is it really?
Coming from the A+ or Network+, the jump is noticeable in one specific way: Security+ questions are scenario-first. The exam rarely asks "what does CIA stand for." It describes a company, an incident or a design decision and asks what applies BEST. Memorized definitions alone leave you stranded between two plausible answers.
That's also what makes it passable for people who study correctly: understand the why behind each control and the exam becomes pattern recognition. Grind practice scenarios, read the explanations for right and wrong answers, and the "BEST answer" instinct develops. The general preparation playbook from our A+ difficulty guide applies, with the ratio tilted even further toward practice questions over passive reading.
DoD 8140: the regulation that sells this cert
Here's the part most exam guides skip, and it explains a lot about why Security+ demand never cools off.
The US Department of Defense runs a qualification program for its cyber workforce, currently governed by DoD Manual 8140.03 (the successor to the older 8570 rules). It defines dozens of cyber work roles, and personnel in those roles must hold approved qualifications. Certifications are the most common path, and seven CompTIA certification families sit on the approved list, covering roughly 30 DoD work roles. Security+ alone qualifies people for about twenty of them, more than any other single certification on the list.
You will sometimes see that list quoted as eight rather than seven, because SecurityX and its former name CASP+ are counted separately in some sources while the rename works its way through the paperwork, even though they are the same certification. The authoritative count is whatever the qualification matrix on the DoD Cyber Exchange currently shows, and our full DoD 8140 guide walks through the table role by role.
The enforcement timeline gives it teeth: qualification deadlines for military and civilian cyber staff have already passed (2025 into 2026), and defense contractors are now required to be qualified before starting work on relevant contracts.
Translated out of bureaucratic language: if you want to touch a DoD network as a soldier, civilian employee or contractor employee in a security role, someone will ask for your Security+ or an equivalent. This is why military members study for it before separating, why veterans use education benefits on it, and why defense contractors sometimes pay for it on the spot. It's less a certification market and more a compliance market, and it renews itself continuously.
If you're not American, the same cert still travels well. Security+ is recognized internationally, and plenty of European and Asian employers use it as the baseline security credential.
A warning this niche specifically needs
Because Security+ is a gatekeeper cert, the braindump industry circles it: sites selling "actual SY0-701 exam questions." Beyond being useless for learning, using real exam content violates CompTIA's policies, and candidates caught with unauthorized materials face score invalidation, certification revocation and a testing ban of at least 12 months, intent notwithstanding. For a cert people need for security clearance careers, that's radioactive. Study from the published objectives with original practice material and you keep both your integrity and your eligibility.
The sensible path to it
Book it when fresh 90-question practice simulations consistently land you above the passing threshold with time to spare. If you're coming from zero, the route through Network+ fundamentals first is slower but sturdier. If you're already in IT, two to three months of daily scenario practice is the most common recipe in successful exam reports.
Either way, the Security+ is the point where certifications stop being about getting any IT job and start being about which IT jobs. It's worth doing properly.
Test yourself: 3 quick questions
A security team needs an inline device that will automatically block malicious traffic in real time, not merely alert on it. What should they implement?
An IPS (intrusion prevention system) sits in the traffic path and can drop malicious packets before they reach their target. An IDS on a SPAN port only observes traffic and alerts, a SIEM correlates logs after the event, and a NetFlow collector records metadata about flows, without any ability to block.
Agents in a call center may see only the last four digits of a card number on their screen, while the other digits are displayed as asterisks. Which technique is being used?
Masking replaces some sensitive characters with substitute symbols during display, while the original data remains stored in the system. Tokenization replaces the entire value with a token in storage, encryption makes the data unreadable without a key, and hashing irreversibly converts the value into a digest, so none of those is a display with asterisks.
The SLE for a particular incident is EUR 10,000, and the incident is expected on average once every five years (ARO 0.2). What is the ALE (annualized loss expectancy)?
ALE is calculated as the SLE multiplied by the annualized rate of occurrence (ARO), thus 10,000 x 0.2 = EUR 2,000. The amount of EUR 50,000 would arise from erroneously multiplying by five years, EUR 10,000 ignores the frequency, and EUR 500 is the result of incorrect division.
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Frequently asked questions
Do I need the Network+ before Security+?
It is recommended, not required. CompTIA suggests Network+ plus around two years of security focused IT experience, but many pass without either.
How long does Security+ stay valid?
Three years. You renew through continuing education or by passing a higher level CompTIA exam.
Why does the military require Security+?
DoD 8140 sets certification baselines for defense IT roles, and Security+ is the most common way to meet them.
CertOwl's Security+ track teaches every SY0-701 objective through daily lessons and original scenario-style practice questions with explanations, plus full 90-question timed simulations. A+ and Network+ are free to everyone; Security+ is part of CertOwl Pro.
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