I Took the CompTIA SecAI+ Beta Exam: Here is What You Need to Know

The CompTIA SecAI+ certification officially launches February 17, 2026, and I wanted to share what the beta experience was actually like while it is still fresh in my head. I took the exam back in October, walked out of the testing center, grabbed a coffee, and sat in my car thinking about what just happened for a solid ten minutes. After 20 plus years helping people get certified and taking more exams than I care to count, SecAI+ genuinely surprised me. Not because it was impossibly hard, but because CompTIA is clearly trying to do something new here. Fair warning: I can not give you specific questions or reveal anything under NDA, but I can absolutely tell you what to expect and whether this thing is worth your time.

SecAI+ is CompTIA’s first certification specifically built around securing AI systems and using AI to enhance security operations. If you work in cybersecurity in 2025 and beyond, this is going to matter.

Why I Bothered Taking the Beta

Look, I take a lot of beta exams. It comes with the territory when you work for a certification training company. But SecAI+ felt different from the announcement. Every client conversation I have these days eventually circles back to AI. How do we secure our AI tools? How do we use AI in our SOC? What happens when attackers start using AI against us? These are not theoretical questions anymore. They are urgent.

CompTIA saw the same thing. Their research showed that 56% of cybersecurity professionals already use AI tools daily, but most organizations have zero formal training on how to do this securely. That is a massive gap, and SecAI+ is their attempt to fill it. When they opened beta applications in October, I signed up immediately.

The beta selection process was interesting. CompTIA specifically wanted people with 3 to 4 years of IT experience and around 2 years in cybersecurity roles. They actually rejected some applicants for having too much experience, which tells you they are targeting mid career professionals, not executives or complete beginners. I squeaked through somehow, probably because I emphasize staying hands on despite my role.

What the Exam Actually Covers

The official exam code is CY0-001, and it breaks down into four domains. The weighting tells you where to focus your energy.

That 40% on Securing AI Systems is no joke. CompTIA clearly wants certified professionals who can actually implement security controls around AI, not just talk about them theoretically. You need to understand adversarial attacks, data poisoning, model theft, and how to defend against all of it. If you have been working with AI systems in any capacity, this is where your practical experience pays off.

My Honest Experience Taking the Beta

Beta exams are always a bit weird. You do not get your score immediately because CompTIA is still validating the questions. They use your performance data to determine which questions make it into the final exam. So I walked out not knowing if I passed, which is a strange feeling after all these years.

What I can tell you is the exam mixed multiple choice questions with performance based scenarios. The PBQs felt practical and realistic, not the abstract simulations you sometimes get. CompTIA clearly wants to test whether you can actually work with AI security concepts, not just recognize vocabulary terms.

The AI fundamentals section was where I felt most comfortable. Understanding the difference between generative AI and discriminative models, knowing how transformers work, being able to explain what an LLM actually does under the hood. If you have spent any time playing with ChatGPT or building with AI APIs, you have got a head start here.

Who Should Actually Get This Certification

Let us be real about who this is for. SecAI+ is not an entry level certification. CompTIA recommends you already have Security+, CySA+, or PenTest+ before attempting it. That makes sense given the material. You need to understand security fundamentals before you can meaningfully secure AI systems.

The sweet spot is mid career cybersecurity professionals who are either already working with AI tools or will be soon. SOC analysts, security engineers, anyone doing threat detection or incident response. If your job involves evaluating or implementing AI powered security tools, this certification validates that you are doing it correctly.

It is also valuable for anyone in a governance or compliance role dealing with AI. The regulatory landscape is changing fast. The EU AI Act is already in effect. NIST keeps updating their AI frameworks. Organizations are scrambling to figure out how to deploy AI responsibly. If you are the person answering those questions internally, SecAI+ gives you credibility.

How SecAI+ Compares to Other AI Security Certs

The obvious comparison is ISACA’s AAISM certification, which launched last year. They have got similar goals but different approaches. ISACA leans heavily on their traditional governance and risk management angle. CompTIA is more hands on and technical.

If you already hold CISM or CISA, AAISM probably makes more sense as your next step. It builds on that ISACA foundation. But if you are coming from the CompTIA world, Security+ into CySA+ into SecAI+ is a natural progression. The certifications complement rather than compete.

There is also the IAPP AIGP for anyone focused specifically on AI governance and privacy. Different animal entirely. SecAI+ is broader and more technically oriented. AIGP goes deep on privacy engineering specifically.

How to Prepare Between Now and February

The exam launches February 17, 2026, which gives you a few months to prepare. Here is what I would focus on based on taking the beta. We are also building out a SecAI+ boot camp that will be ready before launch if you want structured training.

First, get hands on with AI systems if you have not already. Spin up some models, play with the APIs, understand how they actually work. Book knowledge only takes you so far. The exam tests practical understanding, and you can tell from the questions whether someone has actually worked with this stuff or just read about it.

Second, study the regulatory frameworks. I know, I know. Nobody gets excited about compliance documentation. But NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, and the EU AI Act came up repeatedly. Download the actual documents and read them. Understand the risk categories, the compliance requirements, and how different frameworks overlap.

Third, understand adversarial AI attacks inside and out. Data poisoning, model evasion, prompt injection, training data extraction. Know what these attacks look like, how they work, and how to defend against them. This is the core of the Securing AI Systems domain that makes up 40% of the exam.

Key Topics to Study

Based on the exam objectives and my beta experience, prioritize these areas.

AI fundamentals: Machine learning versus deep learning, supervised versus unsupervised learning, how neural networks function, what transformers and attention mechanisms do. You do not need to be a data scientist, but you need to understand the concepts well enough to explain them and make security decisions around them.

LLM security: Prompt injection attacks, jailbreaking techniques, data leakage from models, how to implement guardrails and content filtering. Given how many organizations are deploying LLMs right now, this is immediately practical knowledge.

MLOps security: Securing the ML pipeline from data ingestion through model deployment and monitoring. CI/CD for machine learning, securing training environments, model versioning and access controls.

AI enhanced detection: Using AI for anomaly detection, behavioral analysis, automated threat hunting. Understanding the strengths and limitations of AI in security operations so you can deploy these tools effectively.

The Market Reality for AI Security Skills

Let me level with you about why this certification matters beyond the obvious AI hype. Every organization I work with is either deploying AI tools or panicking about competitors who are. The security teams are scrambling to figure out how to evaluate, secure, and govern these systems. Most have no formal training whatsoever.

That is a massive opportunity for anyone with validated AI security skills. We are seeing job postings specifically mention AI security experience more and more. Roles like AI Security Architect and MLOps Security Engineer barely existed two years ago. Now they are commanding premium salaries.

SecAI+ will not automatically land you one of these roles, but it demonstrates that you understand the domain. Combined with hands on experience, it positions you well for the AI security market that is still in early stages. Getting in early matters.