Course Description:

Artificial Intelligence Essentials (AIE) is a foundational AI literacy certification that builds practical understanding of AI and responsible use

The Artificial Intelligence Essentials (AIE) Course is designed to prepare learners for the newly Artificial Intelligence Essentials (AIE) exam. This hands-on program introduces professionals to core AI concepts, practical tools, and safe real-world applications. It equips learners to understand AI systems, use AI responsibly, and boost productivity across roles and industries

Participants will gain knowledge in understanding how AI systems work, where they are used, how they influence decision-making, and how they should be applied responsibly in everyday, professional, and organizational contexts. The course covers what AI is and what it is not, how data and models drive AI behavior, and how modern AI systems differ from traditional software. Learners develop the ability to interact effectively with AI tools, evaluate AI outputs with informed judgment, and apply responsible practices aligned with privacy, security, and global regulatory expectations.

By the end of the course, learners will be prepared to use AI confidently, safely, and productively while recognizing limitations, ethical risks, and broader societal impacts. It serves as a universal entry point before any technical, managerial, security, or governance specialization in AI.

Course Outline: 

01. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

02. Everyday AI Tools and Use Cases

03. Building Blocks of AI

04. Prompt Crafting AI-Driven Interactions

05. AI Ethics and Responsible AI

Dates/Locations:

No Events

Welcome to TechNow! The Leader in Information Security Training & Computer Training.

The world of information security and computer training is ever changing.  The techniques and systems continue to evolve and we must stay current and diligent.  To do this, you can count on TechNow®…the leader in cybersecurity training and computer system training.

TechNow® has been training the leaders in the computer community for many years.  We provide training for students in a number of areas.  Our cybersecurity trainings include popular courses like D0D 8140, Security , CISM, CISSP, CEH,CCNA, and more.  With over 34 years of experience, we’re able to provide you with unmatched training and certification programs.

TechNow also provides a variety of other popular trainings for the computer professional including Cisco, EC-Council, CompTIA, Unix/Linux and more.

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Working with the TechNow lab for the PA-215: Palo Alto Networks Firewall Essentials FastTrack course has been nothing less than a techie's idea of fun.  When students come in we are immediatly configuring the Cisco 3750 switches for access ports, VLANS, and trunks.  We then cable the switch to the Palo Alto Networks Firewall.  Each student gets their own Palo Alto Firewall Pod of hardware and software.  What we find as fun is the VLAN environment, with an array of virtual machines hosted on an ESXi server that can really exercise the abilities of the Palo Alto Firewall.  The DMZ VLAN hosts virtual machines that support enterprise services and also potentialy vulnerable web services.  The Trust VLAN has Windows and Linux clients.  The UnTrust VLAN has Web services and a VM of Kali. The hardware Firewall is additionally connected to a Management VLAN.  All those VLANs are trunked into an ESXi server where the student also has a VM-Series Palo Alto Networks Firewall for High Availability.  

After configuring all the trunking, VLANs, and network interfaces we learn about the firewall and configure it for the lab environment.  Using Metasploitable and Kali/Metasploit nefarious penetration attempts are executed.  Using packet captures, custom APP-ID's  and custom signatures are generated.  Custom logging and reporting are created to similate and enterprise and assist the desired Incident Response.  It is always fun in a training environment to learn all about the controls available in a product, even though specific controls may not be used in the operational environment.  In the end we have a good understanding of the Palo Alto Networks Firewall.

CompTIA SecAI+ is the first certification in CompTIA’s expansion series, designed to help you secure, govern and responsibly integrate artificial intelligence into your cybersecurity operations. You’ll build the skills to defend AI systems, meet global compliance expectations and use AI to enhance threat detection, automation and innovation—so you can strengthen your expertise and help keep your organization’s systems and data secure.

SecAI+ helps you build practical AI security and automation skills on top of your existing expertise, so you can secure AI deployments, use AI‑assisted security tools with confidence, and stay ready for the next step in your cybersecurity career.

Course Objectives:

  • Apply AI concepts to strengthen your organization’s cybersecurity posture
  • Secure AI systems using advanced controls and protections to safeguard data, models, and infrastructure
  • Leverage AI technologies to automate workflows, accelerate incident response, and scale security operations
  • Navigate global GRC frameworks to ensure ethical and compliant AI adoption across industries
  • Defend against AI-driven threats like adversarial attacks, automated malware, and malicious use of generative AI
  • Integrate AI securely into DevSecOps pipelines and enterprise security strategies.

Dates/Locations:

No Events

Prerequisites: Recommended experience: 3–4 years in IT and 2+ years hands-on cybersecurity; Security+, CySA+, PenTest+, or equivalent recommended

SecAI+ (V1) exam objectives summary

     Basic AI concepts related to cybersecurity (17%)

  • Explain core AI principles and terminology: Machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and automation.
  • Identify AI applications in security: Use cases for AI in threat detection, defense, and security operations. 
  • Recognize AI-driven threats: Automated phishing, polymorphic malware, adversarial machine learning, and malicious use of generative AI.

Securing AI systems (40%)

  • Implement security controls: Protect AI systems, data, and models using robust technical safeguards. 
  • Secure AI deployment environments: Apply best practices across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures. 
  • Mitigate adversarial risks: Defend against attacks targeting AI models, data pipelines, and inference layers. 

AI-assisted security (24%)

  • Enhance detection and response: Use AI-driven tools to identify anomalies, detect threats, and accelerate incident remediation. 
  • Automate security workflows: Integrate AI for event triage, alert correlation, and response orchestration. 
  • Apply AI techniques in operations: Incorporate AI into threat modeling, behavior analysis, and continuous monitoring. 

AI governance, risk, and compliance (19%)

  • Understand regulatory frameworks: Identify global governance requirements and their implications for AI adoption. 
  • Integrate GRC into AI projects: Incorporate governance, risk management, and compliance practices throughout the AI lifecycle. 
  • Ensure responsible AI use: Apply ethical guidelines, legal standards, and industry frameworks such as GDPR and NIST AI RMF.

Course Overview:

This course is very hands-on with respect to SP 800-53 controls as related to ICD-503, leveraging experience with DCD 6/3, and incorporating a broad array of technologies found in the field.  Assessors and Auditors have to face many technologies that are not part of the main stream.  TechNow has gone to great efforts to build a very broad, comprehensive, and complex lab to simulate many scenarios and architectures.  Technologies such as a network appliance that is not a typical infrastructure product, a radio/satellite communications device, or many other technologies that build up a weapon system.  Students learn how controls are integrated into many different devices and how they fit in the overall security architecture of monitoring, reporting, and compliance testing.

Directly discussed are overlays for different requirements i.e.: tactical, medical, network type: JWICS, SIPR; IC or AF.  TechNow has developed a funnel concept to overlays to exemplify the encapsulation of a control within different requirements.  TechNow has over 15 years experience in Trusted Solaris/Trusted Extensions and labeled security.  Cross Domain overlays are presented that fits the work flow of an assesor.  PII overlays and any overlays that an organization uses and can be made available are also presented.  

This course allows the student to leverage years of experience in DoD DCD 6/34 for transition to the Risk Management Framework (RMF) applied to the Intelligence Community as mandated by ICD 503.  Utilizing NIST SP 800-37 to establish a baseline of RMF knowledge, the student learns how to integrate the NIST pubs to provide cohesive information assurance architectures and compliance.  ICD 503 scorecard evaluations are integral in demonstrating a successful ICD 503 compliance program.  TechNow's ICD 503 course provides students with the skill to assess security programs and evaluate ICD 503 compliance to build an improvement and sustainable program for score consistency.  TechNow's instructors have unparralleled expertise in federal compliance initiatives, and we bring this expertise instructing students on the complete life cycle of RMF.

More than a simple checklist, we instruct students not only how to validate essential security controls, programs, and metrics, but that they are operating effectively.  The student leaves the course knowing how to: identify gaps where controls, programs, or metrics are incomplete, missing or ineffective, and provide actionable findings and recommend remediation strategies.  Students learn to internalize NIST pubs to meaningul and effective IA guidelines and work with the Body of Evidence templates which include: Risk Assessment Report (RAR), Systems Security Plan (SSP), Security Assessment Report (SAR), and Plans of Action and Milestone (POAM).

TechNow training materials are aligned with the most recent set of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS), and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) policies standards, processes, policies and instructions to be addressed/explained include ICD 503, ICS 503-1, ICS 500-16, ICS 500-18, ICS 500-27, ICD 502, NIST SP 800-37, NIST SP 800-30, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-53A, NIST SP 800-137, NIST SP 800-47, CNSSP 22, CNSSI 1253, and CNSSI 4009.

A majority of time is spent on in-depth compliance review of NIST SP 800-53 controls.  Instruction discusses which method should be used to test and validate each security control and what evidence should be gathered.  This course is not theory or death by power point.  Real scenarios are presented as exercises.  A complete live cyber range simulating the IC is utilized for hands-on labs for techniques of validating and documenting compliance of NIST SP 800-53 controls as related to ICD 503.

Date/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 days

Course Objectives:

  • Establish a baseline of RMF knowledge
  • Validate essential security controls, programs, and metrics
  • DoD DCD 6/3 to ICD 503 Transition
  • Lab Environtment and the Cyber Range
  • Overlays: Tactical, Medical, Network type(JWICS, SIPR; IC or AF), Cross Domain, PII
  • Risk Assessment Report (RAR)
  • Systems Security Plan (SSP)
  • Security Assessment Report (SAR)
  • Plans of Action and Milestone (POAM)

Prerequisites:

Experience in the field of auditing and assesments.

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