Quick reference: Certification path
Index view. Full cert details and prep tasks live in the relevant week sections (Week 8, 12, 13, 16, 21) and in
study-checklist.md.
| Priority | Cert | Body | Milestone | Cost | Format | Why this order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SecAI+ | CompTIA | 🎯 Week 8 | $359 | MCQ + PBQ; 60 questions / 60 min; 4 domains: AI Concepts (17%), Securing AI (40%), AI-Assisted Security (24%), AI GRC (19%); launched Feb 17, 2026 | Cheapest entry; validates foundation before offensive phase; broad coverage complements OSCP/OSWE depth |
| 2 | PAPA | TCM Security | Week 12 | $249 | 4-day practical (2 testing + 2 report); free retake; never expires | Low cost, practical format, no expiry — low-risk way to validate offensive skills early |
| 3 | COAE | HackTheBox | Week 13 | $210 exam / ~$490 w/ training | 7-day practical; developed with Google/SAIF; deep adversarial ML math (FGSM, DeepFool, C&W, norm constraints) | Unique adversarial ML math coverage; Google/SAIF co-developed; cheap; fills the biggest gap in book library |
| 4 | CAISP | Practical DevSecOps | 🎯 Week 16 | $1,099 | 6hr practical + 24hr report | Gold standard practical exam; Phase 2 capstone validates offensive + defensive fundamentals |
| 5 | OSAI+ (AI-300) | OffSec | 🎯 Week 21 | $1,749 (Learn One sub) | 24hr red team engagement | OffSec brand = instant credibility; stacks with OSCP/OSWE; hardest exam validates elite skills |
| 6 | AIRTP+ | Learn Prompting | Optional after Week 10 | $150 | 24hr+ practical red-teaming | Cheap, narrow scope (prompt injection only); take opportunistically if schedule allows |
| skip | COASP | EC-Council | — | ~$1,200 | Hands-on adversarial labs | EC-Council brand weak; CAISP + OSAI+ cover the same ground with better recognition |
| skip | GOAA / GASAE | GIAC (SANS) | — | ~$979 exam / ~$5,250 w/ course | Offensive AI analyst / AI security automation | Excellent content but $5K+ with course; study the SEC535/598 syllabus, skip the cert unless employer-funded |
| skip | AAISM | ISACA | — | varies | Strategic AI security mgmt | Governance-only; not needed until pursuing CISO-level roles |
| ref | SANS SEC545 | SANS | Phase 2-3 | ~$8,260 (5-day) | GenAI & LLM App Security: LangChain agents, MCP security, RAG pipelines, vector DBs, Transformers, deployment hardening [Apr-29 verified] |
|
| ref | OCO-AI | CyberWarfare Live | Phase 2 | TBA | Offensive Cyber Ops with AI: weaponizing LLMs, MCP-integrated C2, agentic recon; launches May 30, 2026 [Apr-29] |