Cybersecurity Certification Center: January 2026

Monday, January 26, 2026

The Cybersecurity Nexus - “AI” (January 2026)

Colleagues, the Cybersecurity and AI sectors are projected to experience double-digit growth rates over the next 5-10+ years. Tech professionals who want to achieve even higher career growth will focus on the nexus of these technologies. Indeed, there are significant technical challenges and opportunities at the intersection of Cybersecurity and AI.

Challenges:

Adversarial AI Attacks: AI models themselves can be a target. Adversaries can manipulate data to confuse a model, poison a training dataset, or trick a model into making a bad prediction. This is an ongoing cat-and-mouse game, as security teams must continuously develop new ways to defend against attacks that target the very systems they rely on.
Data Quality and Quantity: Effective AI models require vast amounts of high-quality, labeled data. For cybersecurity, this means collecting and labeling data on network traffic, malware, and other threats. This process is time-consuming, expensive, and often involves handling sensitive information.
Complexity and Explainability: AI models, especially deep learning models, can be "black boxes." It can be difficult for a human analyst to understand how an AI model arrived at a particular conclusion, such as why it flagged a specific file as malicious. This lack of transparency can hinder investigations and make it hard to trust the model's output.

Opportunities:

Proactive Threat Hunting: AI can automate the process of sifting through massive datasets to find subtle, emerging threats that would be impossible for humans to spot. AI-powered threat hunting platforms can analyze behavior patterns and identify anomalies, allowing security teams to find and neutralize threats before they can cause significant damage.
Automated Incident Response: When a security incident occurs, AI can automate initial response actions, such as isolating an infected device or blocking malicious IP addresses. This rapid, automated response can significantly reduce the time it takes to contain a threat, minimizing its impact.
Real-time Anomaly Detection: Instead of relying on static, signature-based detection, AI can learn what "normal" behavior looks like for a user, a network, or a system. It can then flag any deviation from this baseline in real time, enabling the detection of zero-day attacks and other novel threats that would bypass traditional security tools.

Conclusion: It is time to upskill and cross-skill your credentials to ensure your path to long-term success.

Market Assessments:

Cyber - SkyQuest: “Global Cyber Security Market size was valued at USD $187.87 Billion in 2024 and is poised to grow from USD $217.38 Billion in 2025 to USD $698.55 Billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 15.71% during the forecast period (2026–2033).”

AI - Grand View Research: “The global artificial intelligence market size was valued at USD 390.91 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 3,497.26 billion by 2033, expanding at a CAGR of 30.6% from 2026 to 2033.”

Salaries: (will vary by location & experience level)

Cybersecurity - BuiltIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, Levels.fyi, PayScale, ZipRecruiter

AI - BuiltIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, Levels.fyi, PayScale, ZipRecruiter

Career Opportunities:

Cybersecurity - Cyber Security Jobs, Dice, Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster, Simply Hired, Zip Recruiter

AI - BuiltIn, Dice, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, Simply Hired, and Zip Recruiter

Cyber Specializations, Master Classes and Certifications:

Note: For a more comprehensive roster of cyber certifications see EC Council, ISC2, ISACA, Infosec Institute, GIAC, Google, Microsoft, Cisco and IBM.

Enroll today (teams & execs are welcome).

Ethical Hacking - Career Paths & Certifications (2026)

Colleagues, implementing a well-defined, forward-thinking career development plan can boost your career and income growth over a 30-year life cycle. The “Ethical Hacking Tool Market Global Outlook, Country Deep-Dives & Strategic Opportunities (2024-2033)Market size (2024): USD 1.2 billion · Forecast (2033): 3.55 Billion USD · CAGR: 14.5%” according to LinkedIn. And the EC-Council projects the average annual base salary for an Ethical Hacker in 2026 at $112,137. ” By making modest investments in your professional training and certification will reward you with greatly enhanced income potential.

Junior Level (5 years of experience):

Title(s): Junior Ethical Hacking Specialist, Security Analyst, Junior Penetration Tester, Vulnerability Analyst, Cybersecurity Intern
Sample Certs: Certified in Ethical Hacking (ISC2), CompTIA PenTest+, EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH):

Intermediate (10 years of experience):

Title(s): Penetration Tester, Ethical Hacker, Incident Response Analyst, Security Consultant
Sample Certs: Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), GIAC Certified Penetration Tester (GPEN)

Advanced (15 years of experience):

Title(s): Senior Penetration Tester, Cybersecurity Architect, Red Team Lead, Threat Hunter
Sample Certs: Offensive Security Web Expert (OSWE), GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester (GXPN), Offensive Security Exploit Developer (OSED)

Expert (Executive-Refresher) (20 years of experience):

Title(s): Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Distinguished Security Engineer, Security Research Scientist, Director of Cybersecurity
Sample Certs: GIAC Security Expert (GSE), Offensive Security Certified Expert³ (OSCE³)

Note: For a more comprehensive roster of cyber certifications see CIAT, Cisco, EC-Council, Infosec Institute, NICCS along with Coursera, edX, (Pearson), Udacity, and Udemy.

Ethical Hacking Specializations, Master Classes and Certifications:

Get started today (teams & execs are welcome).

Monday, January 26, 2026

The Cybersecurity Nexus - “AI” (January 2026)

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Ethical Hacking - Career Paths & Certifications (2026)