ISC2 has begun developing a vendor-neutral AI security certification aimed at cybersecurity professionals working to secure AI systems and manage emerging AI risks.
The nonprofit organization, best known for the CISSP certification, says it is seeking volunteers worldwide to help define the knowledge and skills that will shape the new credential. While ISC2 has not finalized the certification domains, the certification is expected to address both technical AI security and governance topics, with a pilot exam planned before the end of 2026.
According to Casey Marks, ISC2 chief operating officer, feedback from cybersecurity practitioners led ISC2 to conclude that AI security had grown beyond expanding AI content within existing certifications.
“AI has reached a tipping point,” Marks says. “AI no longer is just another tool; instead, it has fundamentally changed the cybersecurity practice itself.”
ISC2 already includes AI-related content in certifications including CISSP and CCSP, but Marks says practitioners have identified new responsibilities and risks that extend beyond those programs. “Enterprise security teams are currently grappling with significant knowledge gaps, particularly around securing model architectures against new vulnerabilities like prompt injection, data poisoning, and model inversion,” Marks adds.
Organizations are working to understand emerging governance frameworks, including the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and ISO/IEC 42001, while adapting traditional application security and security operations workflows to AI systems, he says.
ISC2 has not finalized the certification domains, but Marks says the organization expects the credential to address both technical controls and governance practices for securing AI systems and managing AI risk. The certification will use ISC2’s established certification development process, which relies on cybersecurity practitioners to define job roles, develop exam content, and validate competencies.
Marks says ISC2 will continue to update the certification through ongoing input from cybersecurity professionals, in addition to its regular certification review process.
The organization is also determining which professionals the certification will target. Marks says AI security responsibilities are emerging across security architecture, risk management, security operations, software development security, governance and compliance, communication and network security, and security assessment and testing. ISC2 says the certification will reflect how those roles are evolving.
For organizations that are building AI security programs now, Marks recommends using existing AI training resources, adopting established governance frameworks, creating cross-functional AI security working groups, and participating in the certification development process. Marks says ISC2 expects AI knowledge to become part of most cybersecurity roles while a more specialized AI security discipline continues to develop. He says organizations will increasingly need professionals with foundational AI security knowledge, as well as specialists in areas such as adversarial machine learning, model architectures, and AI data pipelines.
Looking ahead, Marks says he expects AI security expertise to evolve into both a foundational skill for cybersecurity professionals and a specialized discipline of its own.
“At this time, we are seeing a hybrid evolution occurring in real time: AI security is simultaneously becoming a baseline expectation for all security roles, while also carving out a dedicated, highly specialized discipline,” Marks says.