If you’re reading this, you’re probably staring at the same question I was: the AI security space is exploding, every vendor is shipping an “AI security” course, and you want to know which credential — if any — actually teaches you something. This is my honest review of the Certified AI Security Professional (CAISP) from Practical DevSecOps.

I’ll cover what it is, what it tests, how I prepared, what the exam was actually like, and — the part you came for — whether it was worth it.

What Is CAISP?

CAISP is an AI security certification from Practical DevSecOps. The thing that sets it apart from most security certs is right there in the format: it’s not multiple choice. There’s no 90-minute test bank you can brain-dump. Instead, you sit a hands-on practical lab exam — you have to actually break and secure AI systems to pass.

That alone made it interesting to me. Most certifications in this space test whether you can recognize the right answer. CAISP tests whether you can do the work.

Quick note on the name: CAISP (Certified AI Security Professional) is not CASP+ (CompTIA’s Advanced Security Practitioner). Completely different certifications from completely different bodies. If you landed here by accident, that’s probably why.

What the Curriculum Covers

The syllabus maps closely to the real frameworks the industry is converging on, which is a big part of why I rated it. The core domains:

  • OWASP LLM Top 10 — the canonical catalogue of LLM vulnerabilities (prompt injection, insecure output handling, training data poisoning, and the rest).
  • MITRE ATLAS — the ATT&CK-style adversarial ML threat framework. If you already think in ATT&CK terms, this is the AI-native equivalent.
  • Threat modeling AI systems with STRIDE — applying classic threat modeling to a probabilistic attack surface.
  • AI supply chain security — model signing, SBOMs for ML, and the provenance problems that come with pulling models and datasets you didn’t build.
  • AI governance — NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, and the EU AI Act. The compliance layer that’s about to land on everyone.

What I appreciated is that none of this is vendor-flavored marketing material. It’s the actual standards bodies and frameworks, which means the knowledge transfers regardless of which stack you end up defending.

The Exam Format

This is where CAISP earns its “practical” label:

  • 5 practical challenges you have to solve hands-on
  • 6 hours to complete them
  • A 24-hour window afterward to write up and submit your report

So it’s not just “can you exploit it” — it’s “can you exploit it, understand it, and communicate it like a professional.” The report requirement is the part a lot of people underestimate. Doing the work is half the exam; documenting it credibly is the other half.

[Placeholder: Add your own one-line reaction to the format here — e.g. whether the 6-hour window felt tight, and how the report requirement compared to other practical exams you’ve taken like OSCP.]

How I Prepared

[Placeholder: This is the section readers want most — your actual prep. Cover:

  • Your starting point (what AI security background you had going in)
  • How long you studied and over what period
  • The materials you used (course content, labs, external resources, OWASP/ATLAS docs, hands-on practice environments)
  • What you’d do differently if you started over
  • Any prerequisite knowledge you wish you’d had]

The Exam Experience

[Placeholder: Walk readers through exam day (without breaking any exam confidentiality / NDA terms). Useful angles:

  • How the lab environment felt to work in
  • Time management across the 5 challenges
  • Which domains the challenges leaned on most
  • How you approached the 24-hour report
  • The hardest moment and how you worked through it]

Was It Worth It?

[Placeholder: Your verdict on usefulness. This is the core of the review. Speak to:

  • Did it teach you skills you actually use, or was it credential-collecting?
  • Has it had any career / credibility impact?
  • Value relative to price and time invested
  • How it compares to other certs you hold]

Here’s the framing I keep coming back to: most security certifications are theory, and the industry’s biggest open problem right now — securing AI systems in production — is exactly the gap that theory doesn’t close. A six-hour practical lab that forces you to operate in that gap is a fundamentally different proposition from memorizing a glossary.

Who Should Take CAISP (and Who Shouldn’t)

If you’re deciding between AI security certs in general, here’s how I’d think about fit:

CAISP is a strong fit if you:

  • Already work in security and want to specialize toward AI/ML systems
  • Learn by doing and dread multiple-choice exams
  • Want a credential backed by real frameworks (OWASP, MITRE ATLAS, NIST) rather than vendor marketing
  • Need to demonstrate applied skill, not just awareness

It’s probably not the right starting point if you:

  • Are brand new to security with no offensive or defensive foundation
  • [Placeholder: Add any other “not for you if…” criteria based on your experience — e.g. specific prerequisites you found essential]

Final Verdict

[Placeholder: Close with a clear, scannable verdict — a rating or a one-paragraph bottom line a reader can quote. State plainly whether you’d recommend it and to whom.]

If you’re weighing AI security certifications more broadly, I’ve also written about threat modeling AI systems and why purple teaming is the future of cybersecurity in the age of AI.