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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
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  • 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

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