Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries, streamlining workflows, and optimizing decision-making. However, as AI adoption grows, so do the risks associated with AI-driven cyber threats. AI systems present a brand-new attack surface for attackers, who are finding novel ways to manipulate AI models, poison training data, and exploit vulnerabilities in large language models (LLMs).
To combat these evolving threats, Cisco has introduced Cisco AI Defense—a powerful, end-to-end security solution for enterprises that build, use, and innovate with AI.
AI Defense allows you to:
- Discover: Automatically surface third-party AI applications in use across your organization, including the AI workloads, models, data, and users across all environments
- Detect: Find misconfigurations, security vulnerabilities, and attacks that put AI applications at risk
- Protect: Shield AI applications against new and rapidly growing threats, including prompt injections, denial of service, and data leakage
Plus, AI security is becoming a compliance requirement, with emerging rules and regulations, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework in the U.S., demanding stricter controls. Cisco AI Defense helps align AI security policies with industry standards, ensuring businesses stay compliant.
Learn the AI skills networking professionals need
AI has therefore become THE must-have skill for network engineers today. And to effectively deploy and protect AI workloads, infrastructure professionals need to possess a foundational AI skillset.
Cisco U. offers various tech training resources, including free AI training, to equip network and security teams with the practical skills they need to effectively deploy any AI category at their company.
Comprehensive AI Learning Path
The Cisco U. Learning Path AI Solutions on Cisco Infrastructure Essentials | DCAIE contains courses, labs, and assessments designed to get you up and running on deploying AI solutions on Cisco data center infrastructure.
This comprehensive learning teaches you the skills to meet challenges like the increased compute resources needed by these workloads, as well as security considerations and real-world applications.
It takes about 34 hours to finish it all, making it similar to taking a six-credit college-level course, and also ensuring you’ll be ready to start deploying these skills at your company.
Free, short AI Learning Path with Completion Badge
This free Learning Path, Understanding AI and LLMs as a Network Engineer | AI4NE, is short (55 minutes) but sweet, earning you a completion badge you can show to your current or potential employers.
- Get a hands-on exploration of different types of AI
- Understand the application of AI and ML in network operations
- Become familiar with the Cisco suite of AI products (Cisco AIOps)
- Learn some of the foundational skills you need to pass the 200-301 CCNA exam
Free AI Tutorial
The free Cisco U. intermediate-level tutorial, Introduction to AI Vulnerabilities, will only take you 35 minutes to complete (more with the test scenarios), but it’s chock-full of info, like:
- AI Threat Vectors: Understanding prompt injections, data poisoning, adversarial attacks, and model evasion techniques.
- Security Frameworks: Learning how to apply the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs and MITRE ATLAS for AI risk mitigation.
- Hands-On AI Security Training: Engaging with real-world AI attack simulations to develop proactive security strategies.
- Proactive Defense Strategies: Implementing continuous monitoring, adversarial testing, and AI model hardening techniques.
If you complete both Learning Paths and the tutorial, you’ll be well on your way to securing AI applications against both known and emerging threats on Cisco infrastructure using Cisco AI Defense.
Next steps: Secure your network with Cisco AI Defense and Cisco U.
As AI-powered attacks become more complex, networking professionals must stay ahead of the curve. The combination of Cisco AI Defense and Cisco U.’s free AI training helps you:
- Defend against AI-driven cyber threats before they impact business operations.
- Build expertise in AI security best practices to enhance career growth.
- Help your organization deploy AI solutions with confidence and security.
Be part of the future of secure AI. Tell us where you foresee security issues in your org or others in the comments.
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