Last updated October 2026. Every certification below was checked against the issuer’s own page this month. We left out programs whose details we could not confirm there.
Which cert next
Three of the big certification bodies now run AI security exams. CompTIA launched SecAI+ on February 17, 2026 (CompTIA). ISACA’s AAISM is open to people who already hold CISM or CISSP (ISACA). GIAC lists a set of AI-focused certifications tied to SANS courses, most of them tested with hands-on CyberLive questions (GIAC). There is no single best one. The right pick depends on whether you defend AI systems, attack them, automate with them or govern them.
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- Hands-on security practitioner, vendor-neutral: CompTIA SecAI+.
- Security manager who holds CISM or CISSP: ISACA AAISM.
- Application security or AI/ML engineer securing LLM apps: GIAC GAIPS.
- Red teamer or penetration tester: GIAC GOAA now; GIAC GAIPT opens for general purchase on February 9, 2027.
- SOC analyst, detection or automation engineer: GIAC GASAE, or GIAC GMLE if your work is machine learning for threat hunting.
- Governance, privacy or audit: IAPP AIGP, or ISACA AAIA if you already hold CISA.
- Cloud security: CCSP. Its exam outline effective August 1, 2026 builds AI security into all six domains.
AI security certifications compared
| Certification | Issuer | Built for | Prerequisite | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SecAI+ (CY0-001) | CompTIA | Practitioners securing AI systems and using AI in security operations | None required. CompTIA recommends 3 to 4 years in IT, 2+ years hands-on cybersecurity, and Security+, CySA+ or PenTest+ or equivalent | Up to 60 questions, 60 minutes, multiple choice and performance-based; pass at 600 on a 100 to 900 scale |
| AAISM (Advanced in AI Security Management) | ISACA | Security managers who own AI risk, policy and controls | Active CISM or CISSP | Computer-based at PSI test centers or remotely proctored; six months from registration to sit the exam |
| GAIPS (AI Platform Security) | GIAC | AppSec, AI/ML, cloud security engineers and auditors | None listed by GIAC | 54 questions, 2 hours, 65% to pass, CyberLive |
| GOAA (Offensive AI Analyst) | GIAC | Red teamers, pen testers, SOC and incident responders | None listed by GIAC | 56 questions, 2 hours, 67% to pass, CyberLive |
| GASAE (AI Security Automation Engineer) | GIAC | SOC, detection, automation and cloud security engineers | None listed by GIAC | 82 questions, 3 hours, 70% to pass, CyberLive |
| GAIPT (AI Penetration Tester) | GIAC | Pen testers who test LLM apps, RAG pipelines and agents | Presale only with an affiliated SANS course; general purchase from February 9, 2027 | Format not yet posted on GIAC’s page |
| GMLE (Machine Learning Engineer) | GIAC | Analysts using machine learning for threat hunting and monitoring | None listed by GIAC | 82 questions, 3 hours, 65% to pass, CyberLive |
| AIGP (AI Governance Professional) | IAPP | Governance, privacy, legal and risk staff | None listed on IAPP’s AIGP page | Four domains in Body of Knowledge v2.1, effective February 2, 2026 |
| AAIA (Advanced in AI Audit) | ISACA | IT auditors and advisors | CISA, or one of the listed designations such as CIA or US CPA held with an IT audit or advisory focus | Three domains: AI governance and risk, AI operations, AI auditing tools and techniques |
Sources: CompTIA, ISACA AAISM, ISACA AAIA, GIAC pages for GAIPS, GOAA, GASAE, GAIPT and GMLE, and IAPP (checked October 2026). GIAC passing scores apply to specific exam versions; GIAC tells candidates to confirm theirs in their GIAC account. Fees are on each issuer’s page; we don’t list them because they change.
CompTIA SecAI+: the vendor-neutral practitioner exam
SecAI+ is the first certification in CompTIA’s new expansion series. The exam (CY0-001) launched on February 17, 2026, is offered in English and Japanese, and CompTIA estimates it will retire about three years after launch (CompTIA). It is not an entry-level exam. CompTIA recommends three to four years in IT and at least two years of hands-on security work, with Security+, CySA+ or PenTest+ or equivalent knowledge behind you.
The four domains and their weights:
- Securing AI systems (40%): security controls for AI systems, data and models; on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployments; attacks on models, data pipelines and inference.
- AI-assisted security (24%): AI-driven detection and response, triage and alert correlation, AI in threat modeling and monitoring.
- AI governance, risk and compliance (19%): regulatory frameworks, GRC across the AI lifecycle, GDPR and the NIST AI RMF.
- Basic AI concepts related to cybersecurity (17%): machine learning, deep learning and NLP terms, AI use cases in security, and AI-driven threats such as automated phishing and adversarial machine learning.
ISACA AAISM: for managers who already hold CISM or CISSP
ISACA describes Advanced in AI Security Management as an AI-centric security management certification for experienced IT professionals. You must hold an active CISM or CISSP to register, and ISACA also lists proven experience in security or advisory roles and some expertise assessing, implementing and maintaining AI systems as part of the profile (ISACA).
- Practice areas: AI governance and program management, AI technologies and controls, and AI risk management.
- Testing: computer-based at authorized PSI test centers or remotely proctored. Registration is continuous, and you can book as early as 48 hours after paying.
- Eligibility window: six months from registration to take the exam.
- Remote proctoring limits: candidates in India, mainland China and Hong Kong must test at a test center.
- Study material from ISACA: an online review course, a review manual, a question database, a virtual workshop and a 12-question free practice exam.
If you are still working toward CISM or CISSP, AAISM is a later step, not a first one.
GIAC AI certifications: hands-on and tied to SANS courses
GIAC’s AI certifications are practitioner certs. GAIPS, GOAA, GASAE and GMLE use CyberLive questions in real virtual machines, and each lines up with a SANS course (GIAC). GIAC exams are web-based and proctored, either remotely through ProctorU or on site at Pearson VUE.
- GAIPS, AI Platform Security: auditing and securing generative AI applications and LLM development pipelines, including agentic systems, model tuning and alignment, AI application architecture, MLOps and MLSecOps. SANS course: SEC545, GenAI and LLM Application Security. 54 questions in 2 hours; 65% to pass for exam versions released on or after July 25, 2026 (GIAC).
- GOAA, Offensive AI Analyst: AI-powered reconnaissance and OSINT, AI-aided vulnerability discovery and exploit generation, bypassing guardrails, AI-driven phishing, and the legal and OPSEC side. SANS course: SEC535, Offensive AI. 56 questions in 2 hours; 67% to pass for versions released on or after January 24, 2026 (GIAC).
- GASAE, AI Security Automation Engineer: automation and AI across offensive, defensive and cloud operations, including LLMs, RAG and agentic AI for detection and response, infrastructure as code, SOAR workflows and Azure and AWS automation. SANS course: SEC598. 82 questions in 3 hours; 70% to pass for versions released on or after April 10, 2026 (GIAC).
- GAIPT, AI Penetration Tester: penetration testing enterprise AI deployments, including direct and indirect prompt injection, RAG exploitation, agentic systems and MCP server attacks. SANS course: SEC536. It is in presale and can only be bought with an affiliated course until general purchase opens on February 9, 2027 (GIAC).
- GMLE, Machine Learning Engineer: data science, statistics and machine learning applied to threat hunting and security monitoring, with Python. 82 questions in 3 hours; 65% to pass for versions released on or after September 18, 2023 (GIAC).
GIAC certifications renew every four years with CPE credits. For how GIAC fees and funding usually work, see our GSEC guide, which covers employer funding, SANS Work Study and the SANS academies.
AI governance and audit: IAPP AIGP and ISACA AAIA
These two are about oversight rather than security engineering. They fit people who write AI policy, assess AI risk or audit AI systems.
- IAPP AIGP: the AI Governance Professional credential covers AI concepts, how laws, standards and frameworks apply to AI, and governing AI development and deployment. The current Body of Knowledge is version 2.1, effective February 2, 2026, with four domains (IAPP, IAPP BoK). It suits privacy, legal and GRC staff more than hands-on security engineers.
- ISACA AAIA: Advanced in AI Audit is for auditors. You need CISA or one of ISACA’s listed designations, such as CIA, US CPA or ACCA, held with an IT audit or advisory focus. Its three domains are AI governance and risk, AI operations, and AI auditing tools and techniques (ISACA). Not there yet? Start with our CISA guide.
Certificates, not certifications: CSA TAISE and ISC2
Two well-known programs are course-plus-assessment certificates. They are useful for learning, but they are not proctored certifications with experience checks.
- CSA Trusted AI Safety Expert (TAISE): built by the Cloud Security Alliance with Northeastern University’s Institute for Experiential AI. A 10-module course and final exam of 60 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, with 80% needed to pass and two attempts valid for two years. It is sold only as a training and exam bundle, and CSA lists no prerequisites (CSA).
- ISC2 Building AI Strategy Certificate: six on-demand courses, about 16 hours, worth 16 CPE credits, ending in a Credly badge after you complete the courses and assessments (ISC2). Handy for CISSP or CCSP holders who need CPEs and an AI grounding.
Where CCSP and SecurityX fit
ISC2 says cloud platforms are becoming the main place LLM and ML pipelines are hosted and trained, and it rewrote the CCSP outline with that in mind. The outline effective August 1, 2026 adds objectives on comprehending AI and machine learning and on protecting AI and ML data, lists the OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications among common cloud vulnerabilities, and, according to ISC2, integrates AI security across all six domains (ISC2). CCSP still needs five years of IT experience, three of them in cybersecurity.
CompTIA’s SecurityX (CAS-005) is not an AI exam, but its objectives include evaluating the impact of emerging trends such as artificial intelligence and using generative AI in security automation (CompTIA). For a senior hands-on engineer, SecurityX plus SecAI+ or a GIAC AI cert covers both the architecture and the AI-specific work.
Which AI security certification to take first
- New to security: none of these yet. Get Security+ first; CompTIA lists it as recommended background for SecAI+. Our cybersecurity certification path shows the order.
- Two or more years in a security role: SecAI+ is the most direct vendor-neutral option. If your employer funds SANS, pick the GIAC cert that matches your job: GAIPS for builders, GOAA for attackers, GASAE for SOC automation.
- Security leader with CISM or CISSP: AAISM. Without either, earn one first; our CISSP vs CISM comparison helps you choose.
- Auditor or GRC lead: AAIA if you hold CISA, AIGP if your work is policy, privacy and regulation.
- Cloud security engineer: CCSP under the August 2026 outline, then GAIPS if you secure LLM applications directly.
For the bigger picture on how attackers and defenders are using AI right now, see AI in cybersecurity in 2026, and for the full field of certs, the best cybersecurity certifications in 2026.
AI security certification questions
What is the best AI security certification?
It depends on your role. CompTIA SecAI+ is the main vendor-neutral practitioner exam. ISACA AAISM is for security managers who hold CISM or CISSP. GIAC GAIPS, GOAA and GASAE are hands-on options for builders, attackers and SOC engineers.
Is there an entry-level AI security certification?
Not really. CompTIA recommends three to four years in IT and two years of hands-on security before SecAI+, and AAISM requires CISM or CISSP. If you are starting out, earn Security+ first.
What do I need to take the ISACA AAISM exam?
An active CISM or CISSP. After you register, you have six months to take the exam at a PSI test center or through remote proctoring.
What is on the CompTIA SecAI+ exam?
Up to 60 questions in 60 minutes across four domains: securing AI systems (40%), AI-assisted security (24%), AI governance, risk and compliance (19%) and basic AI concepts related to cybersecurity (17%). The passing score is 600 on a 100 to 900 scale.
Are the GIAC AI certifications hands-on?
GAIPS, GOAA, GASAE and GMLE use GIAC’s CyberLive format, with questions in real virtual machines. Each lines up with a SANS course. GAIPT is in presale with an affiliated course until February 9, 2027.
Is IAPP AIGP a security certification?
It is an AI governance certification. It covers AI concepts, how laws and frameworks apply to AI, and governing AI development and deployment, which suits privacy, legal and GRC roles more than security engineering.
Does CCSP cover AI security?
Yes. The CCSP exam outline effective August 1, 2026 adds objectives on AI and machine learning and on protecting AI and ML data, and ISC2 says AI security is built into all six domains.
Sources
- CompTIA, SecAI+ (CY0-001): comptia.org
- CompTIA, SecurityX (CAS-005): comptia.org
- ISACA, Advanced in AI Security Management (AAISM): isaca.org
- ISACA, Advanced in AI Audit (AAIA): isaca.org
- GIAC, Artificial Intelligence focus area: giac.org
- GIAC, AI Platform Security (GAIPS): giac.org
- GIAC, Offensive AI Analyst (GOAA): giac.org
- GIAC, AI Security Automation Engineer (GASAE): giac.org
- GIAC, AI Penetration Tester (GAIPT): giac.org
- GIAC, Machine Learning Engineer (GMLE): giac.org
- IAPP, AI Governance Professional (AIGP): iapp.org
- IAPP, AIGP Body of Knowledge v2.1 (PDF): iapp.org link
- Cloud Security Alliance, Trusted AI Safety Expert (TAISE): cloudsecurityalliance.org
- ISC2, Building AI Strategy Certificate: isc2.org
- ISC2, CCSP Certification Exam Outline (effective August 1, 2026): isc2.org
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