EC-Council Expands AI Certification Portfolio to Support India's AI Workforce Readiness and Secure Adoption

NewsVoir
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], February 11: EC-Council, creator of the world-renowned Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) credential and a global leader in applied cybersecurity education, today launched its Enterprise AI Credential Suite, with four new role-based AI certifications debuting alongside Certified CISO v4, an overhauled executive cyber leadership program. The dual launch is the largest single expansion of EC-Council's portfolio in its 25-year history, built for one clear reality: AI is scaling faster than the workforce trained to run, secure, and govern it.
The launch aligns with India's national direction on capability-building through the Rs. 10,371 crore India AI Mission, including its FutureSkills pillar, alongside the wider goals of Viksit Bharat 2047 and NITI Aayog's focus on inclusive development. As initiatives such as BharatGen, Bhashini, and AIKosh expand, and programs like the CyberGuard AI Hackathon build applied AI momentum, demand is rising for role-ready professionals who can move beyond tool usage and support responsible, secure AI adoption at scale.
India's AI momentum is already visible in workforce demand and adoption behaviour. Industry projections point to 2.3 million AI-related job openings and a reskilling gap exceeding 1 million professionals, while 33 percent of companies are actively hiring for AI roles and 62 percent of professionals report using generative AI tools at work. As GenAI becomes part of daily workflows, the need grows for structured skills that address adoption, security, governance, and accountability.
"India's AI story is moving quickly from ambition to execution," said Jay Bavisi, Group President, EC-Council. "What matters now is readiness at scale. This portfolio is built to help people work with AI responsibly, secure it effectively, and manage it with clear accountability as adoption accelerates."
Role-Aligned Certifications
The Enterprise AI Credential Suite is structured to mirror how AI capability is developed in practice. Artificial Intelligence Essentials (AIE) serves as the baseline, building practical AI fluency and responsible usage across roles, and it is supported by EC-Council's proprietary Adopt. Defend. Govern. (ADG) framework, which defines how AI should be operationalized at scale in real environments.
Adopt: Prepare teams to deploy AI deliberately, with readiness and safeguards
Defend: Secure AI systems against emerging risks, including prompt injection, data poisoning, model exploitation, and AI supply-chain compromise
Govern: Embed accountability, oversight, and risk management into AI systems from the outset
Within this structure, the four new certifications align directly to specific workforce needs across the AI lifecycle.
- Artificial Intelligence Essentials (AIE) builds foundational AI literacy.
- Certified AI Program Manager (CAIPM) equips to translate AI strategy into execution, aligning teams, governance, and delivery to drive measurable ROI and enterprise-scale intelligence.
- Certified Offensive AI Security Professional (COASP) Builds elite capabilities to test vulnerabilities in LLMs, simulate exploits, and secure AI infrastructure hardening enterprises against emerging threats.
- Certified Responsible AI Governance & Ethics Professional (CRAGE) Focuses on Responsible AI, Governance and Ethics at enterprise scale with NIST/ISO compliance.
Alongside the new AI certifications, Certified CISO v4 updates executive cyber leadership education for AI-driven risk environments, strengthening leadership readiness as intelligent systems become part of core business operations and security decision-making.
"Security leaders are now accountable for systems that learn, adapt, and influence outcomes at speed," Bavisi added. "Certified CISO v4 prepares leaders to manage AI-driven risk with clarity, strengthen governance, and make informed decisions when responsibility is on the line."
The portfolio also builds on EC-Council's long-standing work with government and defense organizations, including its existing DoD 8140 baseline certification recognition, as AI security and workforce readiness take on greater national importance.
To explore the full range of training and certification opportunities, visit the EC-Council AI Courses library.
About EC-Council
EC-Council is the creator of the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) program and a leader in cybersecurity education. Founded in 2001, EC-Council's mission is to provide high-quality training and certifications for cybersecurity professionals to keep organizations safe from cyber threats. EC-Council offers over 200 certifications and degrees in various cybersecurity domains, including forensics, security analysis, threat intelligence, and information security.
An ISO/IEC 17024 accredited organization, EC-Council has certified over 350,000 professionals worldwide, with clients ranging from government agencies to Fortune 100 companies. EC-Council is the gold standard in cybersecurity certification, trusted by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and leading global corporations.
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