SY0-701 - General Security Concepts (12% of the exam) - Section 1.2

Summarize fundamental security concepts.

Define the CIA triad of confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and explain non-repudiation, authentication, authorisation, and accounting (AAA). Describe how Zero Trust architecture shifts from perimeter-based trust, and recognise how deception technology such as honeypots fits within a defence-in-depth strategy.

CIA triadnon-repudiationAAAZero Trustdeception technology

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleGeneral Security Conceptseasy

Which statement best describes the integrity element of the CIA triad?

AIt ensures that information and systems remain accessible to authorised users when they are needed.
BIt ensures that data is protected from unauthorised modification and that any change can be detected. Correct
CIt ensures that only individuals with a legitimate need can read the contents of a message or file.
DIt ensures that a sender cannot later deny having created or sent a particular message or transaction.

Distinguish the integrity element of the CIA triad from confidentiality, availability, and non-repudiation. Integrity in the CIA triad addresses whether data has remained accurate and unaltered between the time it was created or sent and the time it is used. Controls such as cryptographic hashes, digital signatures, file integrity monitoring, and strict change management support integrity by either preventing or detecting unauthorised modification.

Why A is wrong: Tempting because accessibility is clearly a core security goal, but this statement defines availability, not integrity. Integrity is about correctness of data, not whether users can reach it.

Why B is correct: Correct. Integrity guarantees that data has not been altered in an unauthorised or undetected way, typically enforced through hashing, digital signatures, and access controls.

Why C is wrong: Tempting because limiting who can read data is a common security control, but restricting disclosure is the definition of confidentiality, not integrity.

Why D is wrong: Tempting because preventing denial of an action is a familiar security property, but that property is non-repudiation, which is a separate concept from integrity.

See more SY0-701 practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in General Security Concepts

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the SY0-701 bank for this domain.

Defence in depth, because multiple overlapping controls protect each application from attack.
Why it is wrong: Defence in depth uses layered controls, and Zero Trust deployments often include layering. However, defence in depth on its own does not require removing implicit LAN trust, so it is not the most precise description of the redesign.
Devices already joined to the internal domain are trusted by default and exempt from further verification.
Why it is wrong: Tempting because traditional networks often did treat domain joined devices as trusted, but Zero Trust explicitly rejects implicit trust based on network location or membership.
Identification, because the system is matching her username to a stored account.
Why it is wrong: Identification is when the user first claims an identity, typically by entering a username. It happens before authentication and is not the stage that decides what she may do afterwards.

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