SY0-701 General Security Concepts Practice Question
A security engineer writes a script that computes SHA-256 hashes of critical server configuration files every night and sends an alert if any hash value has changed since the previous night. Which security goal is this control primarily designed to protect?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse integrity with confidentiality because hashing involves cryptographic algorithms, leading candidates to mistakenly think it protects secrecy rather than detecting unauthorized modification.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Integrity
The script computes SHA-256 hashes of configuration files and compares them nightly to detect any unauthorized or accidental changes. This directly protects the integrity of the files by ensuring they have not been modified, which is the core security goal of integrity. Confidentiality and availability are not addressed by hash comparison.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Confidentiality
Why it's wrong here
Confidentiality concerns preventing unauthorized parties from reading or disclosing sensitive information. Hashing is a one-way function that produces a fixed-size digest, but it does not encrypt or hide the original content of the configuration file; any entity with file read permission can still view it. The hash only serves as a tamper-evident fingerprint, not a mechanism to protect the data at rest from being read. Therefore, hashing does not contribute to confidentiality.
When this WOULD be correct
A question where the control involves encrypting configuration files or restricting read access to them, such as 'A security engineer implements file-level encryption to protect server configuration files from unauthorized viewing. Which security goal is primarily protected?'
- ✓
Integrity
Why this is correct
Integrity ensures that data has not been tampered with or altered by unauthorized parties. Comparing hashes allows the engineer to detect any unauthorized changes to the configuration files, directly supporting the integrity goal. This is the correct answer.
- ✗
Availability
Why it's wrong here
Availability ensures that systems, data, and services remain accessible to authorized users when needed. Computing SHA-256 hashes is a local, read-only operation that neither improves system uptime nor mitigates disruptions like denial-of-service attacks, hardware failures, or network outages. It does not provide redundancy, failover, or recovery capabilities. Thus, hashing configuration files has no direct bearing on maintaining availability, making this option incorrect.
When this WOULD be correct
A question asking about a control that ensures configuration files are accessible and not deleted or corrupted, such as redundant backups or failover systems, would make availability the correct answer.
- ✗
Authentication
Why it's wrong here
Authentication verifies the identity of a user, system, or process, typically through credentials or certificates. Hashing configuration files computes a digest of the file contents, which reveals that a change occurred but does not identify who or what made that change. An attacker who compromises the system could modify the file, recompute the hash, and the engineer would still not know the identity of the entity responsible. Therefore, hashing alone supports integrity detection, not authentication.
When this WOULD be correct
A question asking which security goal is primarily protected by requiring a username and password (or biometric) before allowing changes to configuration files would have authentication as the correct answer.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The SY0-701 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓IntegrityCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Integrity ensures that data has not been tampered with or altered by unauthorized parties. Comparing hashes allows the engineer to detect any unauthorized changes to the configuration files, directly supporting the integrity goal. This is the correct answer.
✗ConfidentialityWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The script detects unauthorized changes to configuration files, which is a measure to ensure data has not been altered, directly supporting integrity. Confidentiality concerns preventing unauthorized disclosure, not detecting changes.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question where the control involves encrypting configuration files or restricting read access to them, such as 'A security engineer implements file-level encryption to protect server configuration files from unauthorized viewing. Which security goal is primarily protected?'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse hashing with encryption or think that protecting files from tampering also implies keeping them secret, but hashing alone does not provide confidentiality.
✗AvailabilityWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The control detects unauthorized changes to configuration files, which is a violation of integrity, not availability. Availability ensures systems are accessible and operational, which is not directly addressed by hash monitoring.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question asking about a control that ensures configuration files are accessible and not deleted or corrupted, such as redundant backups or failover systems, would make availability the correct answer.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse integrity with availability because both are part of the CIA triad, and they might think that detecting changes helps prevent system downtime, but the primary goal is data accuracy, not uptime.
✗AuthenticationWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Authentication verifies identity (e.g., who made a change), but the script detects unauthorized changes to file content, which is an integrity concern, not authentication.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question asking which security goal is primarily protected by requiring a username and password (or biometric) before allowing changes to configuration files would have authentication as the correct answer.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse integrity (data unchanged) with authentication (verifying source), thinking that detecting changes also verifies the source of the change.
Analysis generated from the official SY0-701blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Security Controls
Key term
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means keeping sensitive information secret and accessible only to authorized people or systems.
Key term
Availability
Availability is the measure of how often a system or service is operational and accessible when needed, typically expressed as a percentage of uptime.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SY0-701 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SY0-701 exam.