CompTIA CySA+ Certification Exam Prep: Hands-On Labs

Pass the CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-003) exam and build the skills of a working SOC analyst

A lot of exam prep teaches you to memorize answers. The CySA+ doesn't reward that. It hands you log snippets, packet captures, scan reports and incident scenarios, and asks what you'd actually do. This course is built the same way. It's taught by a practitioner, built around real analyst workflows, and backed by hands-on labs you can run on your own machine with free, open-source tools.

How this course is different

Exam-aligned from start to finish: Eight classes map directly to the four CS0-003 domains and their exam weights: Security Operations (33%), Vulnerability Management (30%), Incident Response and Management (20%), and Reporting and Communication (17%).

160 practice questions: Twenty questions per class, most of them scenario-based in the CySA+ style, each with a rationale explaining why the right answer is right and why the tempting one is wrong.

Four self-contained labs: No cloud account, no paid tools, no student portal. Using Kali Linux, Docker and open-source tools, you'll generate your own evidence and work it like an analyst:

• Lab 1 – SOC Alert Triage & Log Analysis: Work a live alert queue across Windows, Linux, Sysmon and proxy logs. Separate true positives from noise and write the escalation ticket.

• Lab 2 – Network Traffic Analysis: Use Wireshark and tshark to uncover a port scan, DNS tunneling exfiltration and C2 beaconing, then trace the traffic back to the process on the host.

• Lab 3 – Threat Intelligence Feeds: Evaluate a STIX 2.1 threat report and a messy partner feed, hunt for indicators, write YARA and Sigma rules, and share intelligence back.

• Lab 4 – Vulnerability Scanning & Output Review: Scan with Nmap and Trivy, validate findings, enrich them with CISA KEV and EPSS, and build a prioritized remediation plan with CVSS environmental scoring, SLAs and a formal risk exception.

Performance-based question (PBQ) strategy: A full review class covers how to approach PBQs, manage your time, and walk into exam day prepared.

Distributed by Manning Publications

This course was created independently by Derek Fisher and is distributed by Manning through our exclusive liveVideo platform.