Author(s): Mike Chung

Originally published on Towards AI.

5 AI Security Certifications Available in 2026

As AI is becoming more integrated in our workflows, it’s only a matter of time before AI Security also becomes mainstream. With the recent incident where a rogue agent from Open AI hacked into Hugging Face’s systems, the importance of AI security has only become more and more apparent.

To get a head start and position yourself for future AI Security roles, here are 5 certifications that you can consider.

TryHackMe AI1

Link: https://tryhackme.com/certification/ai-security?vccr=1

TryHackMe is a cybersecurity learning platform that focuses on hands-on exercises and labs. The AI1 certification follows the AI Security learning path in TryHackMe, which consists of 5 modules:

• AI Fundamentals
• Secure AI Systems
• Prompt Security
• AI Supply Chain Security
• Data Poisoning

The exam is 48 hours long and you will be expected to go through 13 hands-on scenarios involving both attacking and defending AI systems during this time. This is different from traditional certification exams that are usually just multiple-choice questions and answers. TryHackMe has LLMs and AI agents hosted on their platform that you can interact with to get hands-on experience with techniques like prompt injection. The key advantages of the AI1 is that it follows industry standards and mirrors real-world situations. Learning through TryHackMe is also convenient since it is self-paced and flexible so you can learn anywhere, anytime.

Price-wise, it is $399 to take the AI1 certification exam, and the price includes one free re-take and 3 months of the Premium subscription for TryHackMe.

Hack The Box COAE

Link: https://academy.hackthebox.com/preview/certifications/htb-certified-offensive-ai-expert

Hack The Box (HTB) has a hands-on certification called the Certified Offensive AI Expert (COAE). Similar to TryHackMe, HTB is a platform for learning hacking and cybersecurity. To be eligible to take the exam for COAE, the AI Red Teamer job-role path in HTB must first be completed. The curriculum is comprised of 12 modules covering various topics such as adversarial ML, AI data attacks, LLM prompt injection and jailbreaking, evasion techniques and more. The exam itself is a 7-day endeavor where you conduct an AI red team assessment on a simulated enterprise environment hosted on HTB’s infrastructure, culminating in a final report that is submitted for evaluation.

Since you need to complete the AI Red Teamer job-role path first, you will need to purchase a subscription. The most cost-effective way to get the COAE certification is to get an annual Silver subscription for $490 which includes an exam voucher that is valid for two tries.

CompTIA SecAI+

Link: https://www.comptia.org/en/certifications/secai/

CompTIA is one of the big players in cybersecurity certifications and recently expanded their offerings to include the SecAI+ certifation. The purpose of the SecAI+ is for practitioners to demonstrate the ability to secure, govern, and integrate AI into cybersecurity operations. According to their exam objective summary, the exam consists of basic AI concepts related to cybersecurity (17%), securing AI systems (40%), AI-assisted security (24%), and AI governance, risk, and compliance (19%). The exam is 60 minutes long and has a maximum of 60 multiple-choice or performance-based questions. The pros of the certification is that is offered by a well-established organization respected by the industry with structured objectives and an organized rubric. To study for the exam, CompTIA has a CertMaster platform that teaches you in digestible videos, readings, and quizzes.

The current cost for a voucher to take the SecAI+ exam is $298. If you want to bundle it with CertMaster and an exam re-take, it will set you back $628.

EC-Council COASP

Link: https://www.eccouncil.org/ai-courses/certified-offensive-ai-security-professional-coasp-north-america/

EC-Council is another big player in the cybersecurity certification space and offers a Certified Offensive AI Security Professional (COASP) certification. This certification is composed of 10 modules:

• Offensive AI and AI System Hacking Methodology
• AI Reconnaissance and Attack Surface Mapping
• AI Vulnerability Scanning and Fuzzing
• Prompt Injection and LLM Application Attacks
• Adversarial Machine Learning and Model Privacy Attacks
• Data and Training Pipeline Attacks
• Agentic AI and Model-to-Model Attacks
• AI Infrastructure and Supply Chain Attacks
• AI Security Testing, Evaluation, and Hardening
• AI Incident Response and Forensics

The COASP exam is a 6-hour, live-proctored exam with 70 questions total, 65 multiple-choice questions and 5 practical challenges.

The standalone exam voucher for COASP is $650. For bundles that include the exam voucher with training options, you are looking at $1,699 to $3,499 depending on whether you opt for the on-demand, live online, or in-person course.

GIAC Certifications

Link: https://www.giac.org/focus-areas/artificial-intelligence

GIAC develops and administers professional information security certifications, and is the credential and certification affiliate of SANS Institute. It offers the widest range of specialized AI Security certifications, including:

• GIAC AI Penetration Tester (GAIPT)
• GIAC AI Platform Security (GAIPS)
• GIAC AI Security Automation Engineer (GASAE)
• GIAC Offensive AI Analyst (GOAA)

The assessment is delivered through CyberLive, a hands-on format that uses performance-based challenges in realistic lab environments. CyberLive utilizes virtual machines, real security tools, and authentic code to evaluate real-world capability.

A standalone exam attempt for GIAC costs $999 and the corresponding course from SANS institute can cost $5,000 — $10,000.

Honorable Mentions

There are two certifications that deserve an honorable mention. First, is the ISACA Advanced in AI Security Management (AAISM). This certification is an AI-centric security management credential designed to manage AI risks and implement policies. The AAISM is more geared towards information security managers and less technical than the 5 certifications mentioned. The second is Microsoft’s Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate. This is a vendor-specific certification targeting those who work with Microsoft’s products such as Azure and Defender. Both these certifications are also valid options if you are in information security management or work mostly in Microsoft’s ecosystem of products.

As AI technology becomes more mature, AI Security will also advance, and certifications and training will also catch up to the current state of the technology. As of the writing of this article, ISC2 is also in development of a AI Security certification that is scheduled to be released in late 2026.

Which certification should you get?

It depends. If you are just starting out in AI Security and want to gain hands-on experience, the TryHackMe AI1 and Hack The Box COAE are your best bet. They are both hands-on assessments that cost less than $500. If you prefer a more knowledge-based and traditional testing format to build up your theoretical foundation, go with CompTIA SecAI+.

If you are already working in the field of cybersecurity and want to expand to AI Security roles, EC-Council COASP and GIAC certification could also be an option. Since they are significantly more expensive, it would be more worthwhile to have your employer support you during the certification process.

Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming a sponsor.

Published via Towards AI