Training
Featured CourseView All Courses
Get a free hour of SANS training

Experience SANS training through course previews.

Learn More
Learning Paths
FeaturedView all Focus Areas
Cloud Security Training
Can't find what you are looking for?

Let us help.

Contact us
Community Resources

SANS Community Benefits

Connect, learn, and share with other cybersecurity professionals

AI Risk & Readiness

Explore expert-driven guidance, training, and tools to help defend against AI-powered threats and adopt AI securely.

Join the SANS Community

Become a member for instant access to our free resources.

Sign Up
For Organizations

Public Sector

Mission-focused cybersecurity training for government, defense, and education

Partnerships

Explore industry-specific programming and customized training solutions

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsor a SANS event or research paper

Interested in developing a training plan to fit your organization’s needs?

We're here to help.

Contact Us
Talk With an Expert
Talk With an Expert

SEC495: Leveraging LLMs: Building & Securing RAG, Contextual RAG, and Agentic RAG

SEC495Cyber Defense
  • 7 Hours (Self-Paced)
Course authored by:
David Hoelzer
David Hoelzer
Register NowCourse Preview
SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals: Security Operations and Analysis
Course authored by:
David Hoelzer
David Hoelzer
Register NowCourse Preview
  • 7 CPEs

    Apply your credits to renew your certifications

  • Self-paced

    Train at your own pace from wherever you are

Jump to:

Learn practical skills to build secure, effective Large Language Model (LLM) solutions using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) in this fully hands-on course.

Featured Quote

Great info around building proper chunking and good info for understanding RAG overall.
Jeremiah B.Blue Cross

Course Overview

Learn to build secure, self-hosted LLM solutions using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) for tasks like knowledge retrieval and policy creation, while implementing defenses against prompt injection and enforcing information sensitivity controls—all without relying on public APIs or third-party platforms.

What You’ll Learn

  • Build an end-to-end RAG backend solution.
  • Extend a RAG to implement Contextual RAG solutions.
  • Understand and implement AI agents in an LLM context for RAG supervision.
  • Implement security controls limiting information disclosure from an LLM.
  • Prevent and defend against prompt injection attacks.

Business Takeaways

  • Work with and leverage vector databases.
  • Implement chatbot (and similar) style solutions internally.
  • Build AI/LLM solutions without disclosing sensitive internal information to a third party or using a public or commercial API.
  • Create cutting-edge contextual RAG solutions.
  • Implement agent-based AI solutions related to LLMs.

Meet Your Author

David Hoelzer
David Hoelzer

David Hoelzer

Fellow

David Hoelzer has fundamentally advanced cybersecurity by pioneering the GIAC Security Expert (GSE) certification, leading AI-driven threat detection initiatives, and developing MAVIS, an open-source ML tool enhancing code review processes.

Read more about David Hoelzer

Course Syllabus

Explore the course syllabus below to view the full range of topics covered in SEC495: Leveraging LLMs: Building & Securing RAG, Contextual RAG, and Agentic RAG.

Section 1Building Useful LLM Solutions

Build secure, locally hosted LLM solutions from the ground up, progressing from traditional RAG to advanced Contextual and Agentic RAG while learning to enforce access controls, improve response quality, and protect sensitive data without relying on third-party APIs.

Topics covered

  • Tokenization and Word Embeddings
  • Building and Hosting LLMs Locally
  • Implementing and Securing RAG
  • Reducing Hallucinations and Cost
  • Developing Agentic AI Solutions

Labs

  • Where do Embeddings Come From?
  • Exploring Ollama
  • Retrieval Augmented Generation
  • RAG: Attribution & Security
  • Agentic RAG

Things You Need To Know

Course Schedule & Pricing

Looking for Group Purchasing Options?Contact Us
Filter by:
  • Location & instructor

    Virtual (OnDemand)

    Instructed by David Hoelzer
    Date & Time
    OnDemand (Anytime)Self-Paced, 4 months access
    Course price
    $459 USD*Prices exclude applicable local taxes
    Registration Options
    Self-Paced
Showing 1 of 1

Learn Alongside Leading Cybersecurity Professionals From Around The World

  • Slide 1 of 2
    I have never dug into an LLM from this perspective, and I find I want to know more. This course will help me explain some of the ‘so what’ behind queries of LLMs.
    John C.Acadia Pharmaceuticals
  • Slide 2 of 2
    “[The Retrieval Augmented Generation] lab was great — VERY applicable and important for real-world applications.
    Emily H.XOR Security
Slide 1 of 0

Benefits of Learning with SANS

Instructor teaching to a class

Get feedback from the world’s best cybersecurity experts and instructors

OnDemand Mobile App

Choose how you want to learn - online, on demand, or at our live in-person training events

Resources

Get access to our range of industry-leading courses and resources