AI in Cybersecurity: How Attackers, Defenders and You Use It

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About Course

AI is already built into the security tools you’ll use on the job, and attackers are using it too. This free course shows you how both sides use it. You’ll see how defenders use AI to sort alerts and draft queries, how attackers use it for more convincing phishing, voice impersonation and faster recon, and how AI systems are attacked directly through prompt injection and data leaks. Then you’ll practice the habits that matter most on day one: what never goes into an AI tool (CUI above all), how to sanitize before you paste, and how to check an AI answer before you act on it. You finish with a graded AI use review for a team at Odapeeka State University and a certificate with 5 CPE hours. No paid tools, sign-ups or lab required.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Tell where AI shows up in security tools, and what a person still has to decide
  • Recognize how attackers use AI, and the checks that still catch them
  • Spot a prompt injection, and say what should stop it
  • Keep CUI and other sensitive data out of the wrong AI tool
  • Check an AI answer against primary sources before you act on it

How it works

  • 8 modules, 30 short lessons and 6 hands-on activities
  • A graded capstone: a short AI use review memo, scored against a published rubric
  • A 20-question final check (70% to pass, unlimited attempts)
  • A certificate with 5 CPE hours, verifiable at cover6solutions.com/verify

An optional course on the Breaking Into Cyber track. It builds on Cybersecurity Awareness, but you can start here.

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Course Content

What AI Is (and Isn’t) in Security Work
<p>In this module you'll learn the handful of ideas that make the rest of the course make sense: what "AI" actually means in a security tool, and why a language model can sound certain and still be wrong.</p>

  • Lesson 1.1 — What this course is and how you earn the certificate
  • Lesson 1.2 — AI, machine learning, generative AI and LLMs in plain terms
  • Lesson 1.3 — How a language model produces an answer
  • Lesson 1.4 — 100 AI Security Terms (companion video)
  • Lesson 1.5 — Activity: Sort the features

How Defenders Use AI
<p>Defenders were using machine learning long before chat assistants existed. In this module you'll see where AI helps the defense today, and the check an analyst still has to make every time.</p>

How Attackers Use AI
<p>Attackers use AI the way everyone else does: to go faster and to sound better. This module shows you what's changed, what hasn't, and which checks still work.</p> <p><em>Note: this module describes attacker use only at the level a defender needs to recognize it. It contains no attack prompts, code or step-by-step misuse.</em></p>

When AI Is the Target
<p>So far AI has been a tool. In this module it's the target. Organizations are connecting AI assistants to email, documents and ticket systems, and attackers have noticed. You'll learn to recognize the main attacks at the level a new analyst needs: know it, spot it, and know what should stop it.</p>

Using AI Safely at Work
<p>This is the module that matters most on day one of any job. The rules are simple, and they're the same rules you already know, applied to a new tool.</p>

Checking AI Output
<p>Everything so far leads here. AI can make you faster only if you can tell when it's wrong. This module gives you a short, repeatable checklist.</p>

Capstone: AI Use Review (graded)
<p>This is where you put the whole course to work on one realistic request. You'll write a short memo that a real team lead could act on.</p>

Final Check and Your Next Step

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