CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 Complete Guide: Retired and Replaced by CySA+ v4 CS0-004

Important update — July 2026: CompTIA CySA+ v3, identified by exam code CS0-003, has retired. The current exam is CompTIA CySA+ v4, CS0-004. New candidates should use CS0-004 exam objectives, training materials, labs, and practice assessments.

CompTIA CySA+ has long been one of the most valuable certifications for cybersecurity analysts, SOC professionals, vulnerability analysts, incident responders, and defensive security practitioners.

However, certification exams are updated regularly to reflect changes in technology, attacker behavior, cloud environments, automation, artificial intelligence, and modern security operations.

The previous CySA+ exam, CS0-003, is no longer the current version. CompTIA launched CySA+ v4, CS0-004, on June 23, 2026, with updated coverage of modern security operations, vulnerability management, cloud and hybrid environments, incident response, reporting, and AI-related security concepts.

This updated guide explains what happened to CS0-003, what has changed in CS0-004, who should take the new exam, and how to build an effective preparation plan.

Is CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 Still Available?

No. CS0-003 is now a retired exam version.

Candidates beginning their CySA+ preparation should not build a new study plan around CS0-003 objectives. Older books, video courses, labs, and practice tests may still contain useful foundational knowledge, but they were designed for the previous exam blueprint.

The active CySA+ exam is now:

• Certification: CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst

• Certification version: CySA+ v4

• Exam code: CS0-004

• Launch date: June 23, 2026

The certification name remains CompTIA CySA+. Passing either an older or newer version results in the same CySA+ certification. The exam code only identifies the version of the test that the candidate completed.

What Happens to an Existing CySA+ Certification?

If you previously passed CS0-003, your certification does not become invalid simply because the exam version has retired.

You still hold the CompTIA CySA+ certification for its normal certification period. Exam retirement affects candidates who are preparing to take the exam, not professionals who already earned the certification.

Existing CySA+ holders can maintain their certification through CompTIA’s continuing education and renewal process.

There is no requirement to take CS0-004 immediately just because you passed an earlier CySA+ version.

What Is CompTIA CySA+ v4 CS0-004?

CompTIA CySA+ is an intermediate-level cybersecurity certification focused on the practical work performed by defensive security professionals.

It validates the ability to:

• Monitor systems and networks for suspicious activity

• Analyze logs, alerts, and security telemetry

• Identify indicators of malicious activity

• Use threat intelligence during investigations

• Conduct vulnerability assessments

• Prioritize vulnerabilities based on risk

• Participate in incident response

• Recommend containment and remediation actions

• Communicate technical findings to different stakeholders

CySA+ is especially relevant to professionals working in Security Operations Centers because it emphasizes detection, analysis, vulnerability management, and response rather than focusing only on preventive controls.

The certification is commonly associated with roles such as:

• SOC analyst

• Cybersecurity analyst

• Vulnerability analyst

• Incident response analyst

• Threat intelligence analyst

• Security monitoring specialist

• Cyber defense analyst

• Security operations engineer

• Threat hunter

CySA+ CS0-004 Exam Details

The current CySA+ v4 exam follows this general format:

The exam continues to combine traditional multiple-choice questions with performance-based questions, often called PBQs. These questions may require candidates to analyze security information, interpret logs, prioritize findings, investigate an incident, or choose an appropriate response.

The current exam format provides up to 85 questions, 165 minutes, and a passing score of 750 on CompTIA’s scaled scoring system.

CySA+ CS0-004 Exam Domains

CS0-004 is organized into four major domains.

These percentages show that CySA+ remains heavily focused on day-to-day defensive security operations. At the same time, incident response now has greater emphasis than it did in the previous version.

Domain 1: Security Operations — 34%

Security Operations is the largest domain in the CS0-004 exam.

It focuses on the processes, technologies, and analytical techniques used to detect and investigate malicious activity.

Candidates should be comfortable with topics such as:

• Security monitoring

• Log and event analysis

• Indicators of compromise

• Network and endpoint telemetry

• SIEM platforms

• Endpoint detection and response

• Threat intelligence

• Threat hunting

• Email and web security analysis

• Cloud security monitoring

• Authentication and identity-related events

• Malware behavior

• Common attacker techniques

• Security automation

• Artificial intelligence in security operations

You should be able to examine data from several sources and determine whether the activity represents normal behavior, a configuration issue, a policy violation, or an actual attack.

The exam may provide firewall logs, authentication events, endpoint alerts, packet information, email headers, command-line activity, or SIEM events and ask you to identify the most important evidence.

Domain 2: Vulnerability Management — 26%

Vulnerability Management covers the full lifecycle of finding, analyzing, prioritizing, communicating, and remediating security weaknesses.

Important areas include:

• Asset discovery

• Vulnerability scanning

• Credentialed and non-credentialed scans

• Application security testing

• Cloud and container assessments

• Scan configuration

• Vulnerability validation

• False-positive analysis

• Risk-based prioritization

• CVSS and other risk information

• Patch and remediation planning

• Compensating controls

• Vulnerability reporting

• Continuous vulnerability management

A cybersecurity analyst must do more than run a scanner and export a report.

The analyst must understand which assets are critical, whether a vulnerability is actually exploitable, whether an exploit is being used in the wild, what compensating controls are present, and how quickly the organization should respond.

CS0-004 places greater attention on modern environments and risk-based prioritization rather than treating every vulnerability as equally urgent.

Domain 3: Incident Response and Management — 24%

Incident Response and Management now represents nearly one-quarter of the exam.

Candidates should understand how organizations prepare for, identify, contain, investigate, eradicate, and recover from cybersecurity incidents.

This domain includes topics such as:

• Incident response plans

• Preparation and readiness

• Detection and analysis

• Triage

• Escalation

• Containment

• Evidence preservation

• Eradication

• Recovery

• Root-cause analysis

• Post-incident activities

• Lessons learned

• Digital forensics concepts

• Attack methodology frameworks

• Incident response tools

• Coordination between technical and business teams

CySA+ does not expect candidates to be full-time digital forensics specialists. However, candidates should understand how evidence must be handled and how careless actions can destroy valuable information.

You may also need to select an appropriate containment strategy while considering business impact.

For example, disconnecting a critical production server could stop an attack, but it could also interrupt an essential service. A cybersecurity analyst must balance security, availability, evidence preservation, and operational requirements.

Domain 4: Reporting and Communication — 16%

Technical skills are not enough if an analyst cannot explain the results of an investigation.

Reporting and Communication covers the ability to communicate vulnerabilities, incidents, risks, and recommended actions to different audiences.

Topics include:

• Vulnerability reports

• Incident reports

• Executive summaries

• Technical findings

• Root-cause analysis

• Security metrics

• Dashboards

• Risk communication

• Escalation procedures

• Compliance-related reporting

• Remediation status

• Stakeholder communication

• Lessons-learned documentation

A SOC analyst may need to provide technical evidence to another security engineer while giving management a concise explanation of business impact.

Those reports should not be identical.

Technical teams may need IP addresses, timestamps, file hashes, commands, affected processes, and log evidence. Executives usually need a clear summary of impact, risk, required decisions, and remediation status.

Reporting and Communication accounts for 16% of the CS0-004 objectives.

What Changed from CS0-003 to CS0-004?

Many core defensive security skills remain relevant, but CS0-004 updates the exam for modern enterprise environments.

Greater Emphasis on Incident Response

Incident Response and Management increased in importance compared with the previous exam.

Candidates should expect more attention to:

• Incident preparation

• Investigation workflows

• Containment decisions

• Evidence handling

• Recovery activities

• Root-cause analysis

• Post-incident improvement

This reflects the reality that analysts are increasingly expected to participate in the complete incident lifecycle rather than only monitor alerts.

AI in Security Operations

CS0-004 introduces more direct coverage of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity operations.

Candidates should understand how AI may support:

• Alert enrichment

• Pattern identification

• Threat detection

• Large-scale data analysis

• Automated investigation

• Security orchestration

They should also recognize limitations and risks, including:

• Incorrect or misleading output

• Data exposure

• Model manipulation

• Overreliance on automated decisions

• Governance and compliance requirements

AI should be treated as an analyst-assistance capability rather than an unquestionable source of truth.

Modern Cloud and Hybrid Environments

Modern security analysts rarely monitor only traditional on-premises servers.

CS0-004 reflects environments containing:

• Cloud workloads

• Hybrid infrastructure

• Containers

• APIs

• Identity services

• Software-as-a-service platforms

• Infrastructure as code

• Remote endpoints

Candidates should understand that logs, vulnerabilities, attack surfaces, and response options can differ across traditional, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Improved Vulnerability Prioritization

CS0-004 continues to test vulnerability scanning but places greater attention on what happens after vulnerabilities are discovered.

Analysts must consider:

• Asset importance

• Exploit availability

• Threat intelligence

• Business impact

• Exposure

• Existing controls

• Patch availability

• Operational limitations

• Regulatory requirements

A critical scanner rating does not automatically mean that a vulnerability is the organization’s highest-priority risk.

Security Automation and Operational Efficiency

Modern SOC teams frequently handle more alerts than analysts can investigate manually.

CS0-004 reflects the growing use of:

• SOAR platforms

• Automated enrichment

• Detection engineering

• Repeatable playbooks

• Case management

• Threat intelligence integration

• Automated response actions

Candidates should understand where automation improves consistency and speed, as well as where human review remains necessary.

Can CS0-003 Study Materials Still Be Used?

Older CS0-003 materials can still help with foundational concepts such as:

• Log analysis

• SIEM operations

• Threat intelligence

• Vulnerability scanning

• Incident response

• Security monitoring

• Reporting

However, they should not be your only preparation resource.

CS0-003 materials may not fully cover the updated CS0-004 objectives, domain weightings, cloud-native technologies, AI-related concepts, modern vulnerability prioritization, and expanded incident-response coverage.

A practical transition strategy is:

1. Download or review the CS0-004 exam objectives.

2. Compare them with your existing CS0-003 course or book.

3. Mark any objectives that are new or significantly expanded.

4. Add CS0-004-specific training for those areas.

5. Use practice questions written specifically for CS0-004.

6. Complete hands-on exercises involving logs, alerts, vulnerabilities, and incident-response scenarios.

Do not assume that a high score on a CS0-003 practice exam means you are ready for CS0-004.

Should You Buy CS0-003 CertMaster Products?

Candidates beginning their preparation should purchase CS0-004-aligned products, not CS0-003 versions.

This applies to:

• CertMaster Learn

• CertMaster Perform

• CertMaster Labs

• CertMaster Practice

• Official CompTIA study guides

• Practice tests

• PBQ preparation

• Instructor-led courseware

A CS0-003 product may still open and function if its license remains active, but it was designed for a retired exam blueprint.

Product access and exam relevance are two different things.

Always verify the exam code before purchasing any CySA+ learning product. The product title or description should clearly state CS0-004 or CySA+ v4.

CySA+ v4 vs. Security+ and SecurityX

CySA+ sits between Security+ and SecurityX within CompTIA’s cybersecurity certification pathway.

Security+

Security+ establishes broad cybersecurity fundamentals, including threats, architecture, operations, governance, identity, risk, and cryptography.

It is appropriate for candidates building their initial cybersecurity foundation.

CySA+

CySA+ focuses more deeply on defensive analysis.

It expects candidates to interpret security data, investigate suspicious activity, manage vulnerabilities, participate in incident response, and communicate findings.

SecurityX

SecurityX is an advanced certification covering enterprise security architecture, security engineering, governance, risk, and complex technical decision-making.

A common progression is:

Security+ → CySA+ → SecurityX

However, professionals focused on penetration testing may choose PenTest+ before or alongside CySA+.

How to Prepare for CompTIA CySA+ CS0-004

Reading alone is unlikely to be enough for this exam.

CySA+ questions frequently require candidates to examine evidence, identify the most important finding, and choose the best action in a realistic scenario.

A strong study plan should combine four components.

Learn the Concepts

Use a structured CS0-004 course or official study guide to cover every exam objective.

Avoid studying only your favorite topics. Candidates with strong SIEM knowledge may still struggle with vulnerability reporting, incident documentation, cloud environments, or communication requirements.

Practice with Security Tools

Become familiar with tools and platforms used for:

• Packet analysis

• Log analysis

• SIEM

• Network intrusion detection

• Endpoint detection

• Vulnerability scanning

• Threat intelligence

• Malware analysis

• Security automation

• Data transformation

Security365 has also published a dedicated guide to the tools candidates should understand:

CySA+ CS0-004 Tools You Must Know

Complete Hands-On Labs

Hands-on practice helps connect individual concepts into a complete analyst workflow.

Useful exercises include:

• Investigating failed login events

• Analyzing suspicious PowerShell activity

• Reviewing firewall and proxy logs

• Examining packet captures

• Validating vulnerability findings

• Prioritizing remediation

• Creating incident timelines

• Mapping activity to MITRE ATT&CK

• Writing technical and executive summaries

• Developing basic incident-response playbooks

Use CS0-004 Practice Assessments

Practice questions should test analytical reasoning, not only definitions.

When reviewing an incorrect answer, determine:

• Why the correct answer is best

• Why each alternative is less appropriate

• Which evidence in the scenario matters

• What exam objective is being tested

• Whether the question asks for the first, best, or most effective action

Understanding the decision process is more valuable than memorizing an answer.

Is CompTIA CySA+ Worth It?

CySA+ can be valuable for professionals building a career in blue-team security, cybersecurity monitoring, vulnerability management, and incident response.

Its strongest feature is the emphasis on practical analysis.

The certification does not only ask whether you recognize a security term. It expects you to interpret evidence, evaluate risk, select a response, and communicate the result.

CySA+ is especially relevant for candidates who already understand basic networking and cybersecurity concepts and want to progress toward roles involving:

• SOC operations

• Threat detection

• Vulnerability analysis

• Incident investigation

• Security monitoring

• Defensive security engineering

The certification alone does not replace practical experience, but it can provide a structured roadmap for developing those skills.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CS0-003 still valid?

The CS0-003 exam version has retired. However, certifications earned by passing CS0-003 remain valid for their normal certification period.

What is the current CySA+ exam code?

The current exam code is CS0-004, also known as CompTIA CySA+ v4.

When was CS0-004 released?

CySA+ v4 CS0-004 launched on June 23, 2026.

Should a new candidate study CS0-003?

No. New candidates should use CS0-004 objectives and CS0-004-aligned learning materials.

Can an old CS0-003 book still help?

Yes, it may help with shared foundational topics. However, it should be supplemented with current CS0-004 material.

Is CySA+ more difficult than Security+?

CySA+ is generally more analytical and operational. Security+ covers broad cybersecurity foundations, while CySA+ expects candidates to interpret logs, alerts, vulnerabilities, and incident scenarios.

Does CySA+ include performance-based questions?

Yes. The exam includes multiple-choice and performance-based questions.

How many questions are on the CS0-004 exam?

The exam contains a maximum of 85 questions.

What score is required to pass?

The passing score is 750 on a scale of 100–900.

Final Recommendation

CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 played an important role in preparing cybersecurity analysts, but it is now a retired exam version.

Candidates starting today should focus entirely on:

• CySA+ v4

• Exam code CS0-004

• Current exam objectives

• CS0-004 hands-on labs

• CS0-004 practice questions

• Modern cloud, AI, automation, vulnerability, and incident-response topics

Older CS0-003 material can support your preparation, but it should not define your study plan.

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