Finally passed the CompTIA SecAI+ (CY0-001)
- CIN Open Forums
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The CySA is running week 3 is next week Mondays and Wednesday great series and worth watching
congratulations!I passed CompTIA SecAI+ with a perfect score. The exam shows you the score right after you finish, but the official report only says “Pass.” My previous highest CompTIA score was an 885 on Security+ back in 2014, so this one felt good. I used CertMaster through our academic partnership, which also covered the voucher. I also did the TryHackMe AI Path, and that combination made a big difference. SecAI+ is not something I would recommend approaching only through the exam outline or a few theory notes. I have seen people in the forums say they studied just from the outline, and yes, maybe you can pass that way, but you missed sooooooo much approaching the exam just as another bunch of questions you go and try to wing. In the real world that won't help, and the bigger question is: can you actually do what the certification says you should be able to do in real life?
That is where CertMaster shines. It is not just a bank of questions or a traditional PBQ-style experience. The best part of the preparation was the applied work. The 19 activities put you in scenarios where you have to compare AI types, work with prompt engineering, process data, conduct threat model analysis, build defensive policies, handle access requests, apply data masking and anonymization, audit AI behavior, analyze AI life cycle decisions, work through model inversion or theft, complete post-incident analysis, perform AI-assisted vulnerability analysis, identify deepfakes, review AI-assisted approvals, design governance structures, conduct risk assessments, create compliance reports, and analyze an organization’s AI structure. All activities are done via interaction with the CompTIA AI agents that guide you through the process like you have to do in real life. Then another AI agent corrects your work, gives you feedback and ask you if you want to try again
The 17 live labs were even more valuable because they made the material feel connected to actual security work. I worked through prompt engineering and bias detection, prompt design and optimization, RAG solutions, data integrity, AI threat analysis using public resources, AI threat modeling frameworks, Azure OpenAI deployment, structured prompt templates, securing Azure OpenAI, data sanitization for AI analysis, AI log analysis, prompt injection testing, AI-assisted attack vector identification, AI-assisted scripting, documentation transformation, and workflow automation. That is not just “study material.” That is the kind of work that helps you understand how AI systems are built, where they break, how they expose risk, and how security controls have to be applied.
The TryHackMe AI Path helped from a different angle. It gave me a more hands-on, attacker-and-defender view of AI security. You learn how AI-enabled systems behave, then you perform prompt injection, jailbreak, indirect prompt injection, make an agent leak or misuse information, poison the data of a model, perform threat modeling and get to a point where you change the application to the point where the system you are probing is no longer just deterministic code. That part matters because AI security is not only about knowing vocabulary. You have to understand behavior, context, trust boundaries, controls, and failure modes and actually perform AI pentesting.
That is the real value of SecAI+. Passing is nice. But the goal should not be just to collect another certification. Using CertMaster and THM AI Path will help you walk away with practical skills. For us; educators, this is exactly the kind of material we need to bring into the classroom. Students do not need only AI definitions. They need to understand how AI systems are designed, how they fail, how they are attacked, and how they are defended. I just received access to the Auto OPS+ Cert Master and it's the same amazing methodology with a lot of labs and AI powered activities. SecOT+ will be on the same line as informed to me by one of the SME's that also created the Cert Master and teaches OT Pentesting, OSINT and OT Fundamentals, workshops that I took. If you are looking for any of those 3 certs please, use Cert Master or take trainings, you will kill the tests.
Very happy with this one.
Any thoughts you’d like to share here?Today I passed the CompTIA SecAI+ (CY0-001). Thank you for the opportunity to learn through the CIN TTT Series and @Stephen Schneiter.
CompTIA used to offer CertMaster trial access links on some of their certification pages, but I don't see those being offered anymore. I think maybe @Stephen Schneiter can be of assistance here.Alright, this is good information. Is it possible for me to go to the on-demand TTT sessions for these and secure some codes so I can test them out?
The slides that I use for the presentation are the same instructor slides available on the reference downloads for instructors. I just modified the layout and design a little bit.Thanks, i like the Slides from the Presenter more then from CompTIA.
but i really hope that the PDF get a Chapter OVerview and numbered Moduls.
Also that CompTIA fixes some of the errors in the slides and text. Some are really wrong..
Sad that the slides have less graphics then V3 for some topics..
CompTIA exams have a combination of both PBQ (performance based questions) and multiple choice questions. By the number of questions, there are more multiple choice questions on the exam. This is the normal CompTIA exam format for exams with PBQ’s on them.Will their be more of a hands-on practical side or more of multiple choice?
Will their be more of a hands-on practical side or more of multiple choice?Security+ 801 CertMaster content is going into authoring and editing soon.
The current proposal of objectives are listed here: Exam Objectives Under Development
Thanks @Stephen Schneiter ! I really appreciate your help on this!Hi @shiftry, the emails are tied to attendance for the TTT sessions. So, an email went out after you completed viewing the first session. I am sorry it did not come through. I can send you another copy directly. You should receive an email from me today.
Alright, this is good information. Is it possible for me to go to the on-demand TTT sessions for these and secure some codes so I can test them out?This one can be confusing because CompTIA shuffled the products around in 2024 whan they bought Test Out and things got renamed. What you remember (launching actual VM lab environments right inside CertMaster Learn) was the old "Integrated Learn + Labs" product. That's now called CertMaster Perform.
If your company wants the real hands-on labs, plus text, activities, quizzes and practice exams:
- CertMaster Perform = Learn + the live VM labs in one login (easiest)
I've worked with the Cert Master Perform editions for Network+, Server+, Linux+, Cloud+, Pentest+, CySA, CASP+, Security X and SecAI+. All have labs integrated with all the material mentioned above.
Hope that helps!