SEC536: Adversarial AI - Penetration Testing AI Systems


Leadership decides whether a cyber programme succeeds or stalls. Your position on the org chart has nothing to do with whether you are the leader.
This is a discussion, not a lecture. We will talk about how to lead from any seat: looking after your teammates, mentoring the people around you, and becoming the person everyone on the team wants to work beside. The kind of influence that does not wait for a promotion.
Ideal for analysts, engineers, team leads, and managers who want to build real influence in their security team, whatever their title says.
In-Person & Virtual
In today's information environment, manipulation isn't an anomaly—it's a strategy. Individuals, media organizations, and foreign governments all shape information to influence what people believe, how they behave, and where their attention goes. Some do it for profit, some for power, and others simply to push a narrative that benefits their interests.
For investigators, this creates a landscape where truth competes with tailored falsehoods, emotional triggers, and engineered narratives designed to bypass critical thinking. Misinformation, disinformation, and narratives created for psychological operations thrive and spread rapidly because they exploit the cognitive shortcuts we all rely on.
This talk breaks down why actors manipulate information, the incentives that drive them, and the tactics they use to distort perception at scale. More importantly, it highlights the awareness and analytical discipline investigators need to recognize these influence efforts before they shape conclusions, contaminate evidence, or derail an inquiry. Modern influence operations aren't just about lying—they're about steering. Investigators who understand the playbook are far better equipped to stay ahead of it.
In-Person & Virtual
Registration:
About Core NetWars: The most comprehensive and AI-forward cyber range in the NetWars portfolio. Designed for practitioners across multiple disciplines, Core NetWars combines emerging AI security challenges with real-world cyber scenarios to strengthen the technical skills most needed for today's threats. It is the only range that qualifies for the annual Core NetWars Tournament of Champions!
Computer Requirements: Internet-based
Recommended For: All infosec practitioners of any level. It is recommended, but not required, that students have a basic or foundational knowledge of information technology and technical topics.
Disciplines: Cybersecurity 101, Cyber Defense, Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Incident Response, Cloud Computing, and AI.
Example Topics:
Interactive Scenario: SANS students are deployed to BLOCCORP, a global media giant built on toys, streaming, gaming, and AI. As strange activity spreads across its infrastructure, they uncover compromised systems, vulnerable AI models, rogue IoT devices, and reckless automation. Can they expose BLOCCORP’s hidden agenda and stop its AI-driven ambitions before the damage is done?
In-Person & Virtual
Registration:
About Core NetWars: The most comprehensive and AI-forward cyber range in the NetWars portfolio. Designed for practitioners across multiple disciplines, Core NetWars combines emerging AI security challenges with real-world cyber scenarios to strengthen the technical skills most needed for today's threats. It is the only range that qualifies for the annual Core NetWars Tournament of Champions!
Computer Requirements: Internet-based
Recommended For: All infosec practitioners of any level. It is recommended, but not required, that students have a basic or foundational knowledge of information technology and technical topics.
Disciplines: Cybersecurity 101, Cyber Defense, Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Incident Response, Cloud Computing, and AI.
Example Topics:
Interactive Scenario: SANS students are deployed to BLOCCORP, a global media giant built on toys, streaming, gaming, and AI. As strange activity spreads across its infrastructure, they uncover compromised systems, vulnerable AI models, rogue IoT devices, and reckless automation. Can they expose BLOCCORP’s hidden agenda and stop its AI-driven ambitions before the damage is done?
In-Person & Virtual
What if you could learn five times as much every week? Compound that across a career and the gap becomes enormous.
This practical session lays out an AI-driven workflow: spot the topics worth your attention in seconds and skip the noise, capture and transcribe online media using Dev Tools and speech-to-text, then summarise down to the essentials. You will expand passive learning through Deep Research, NotebookLM, Pocket Casts, and speed-listening, then lock the insights in with AI-generated Anki decks and interactive quizzes. Commutes, chores, and idle moments become learning time.
Ideal for practitioners at any level who want a repeatable system for staying current, and for leaders who want their teams learning faster.
In-Person & Virtual
Artificial intelligence and large language models are changing how cybersecurity work gets done, and there is no opting out of the pace of that change.
This session tracks the trends taking us from "traditional" security to what teams will actually need for 2027 and beyond, and what it means for protecting data when incidents move faster than the playbooks written for them.
Ideal for incident responders, SOC and DFIR teams, and security leaders planning capability for the next few years.
In-Person & Virtual
Registration:
About Core NetWars: The most comprehensive and AI-forward cyber range in the NetWars portfolio. Designed for practitioners across multiple disciplines, Core NetWars combines emerging AI security challenges with real-world cyber scenarios to strengthen the technical skills most needed for today's threats. It is the only range that qualifies for the annual Core NetWars Tournament of Champions!
Computer Requirements: Internet-based
Recommended For: All infosec practitioners of any level. It is recommended, but not required, that students have a basic or foundational knowledge of information technology and technical topics.
Disciplines: Cybersecurity 101, Cyber Defense, Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Incident Response, Cloud Computing, and AI.
Example Topics:
Interactive Scenario: SANS students are deployed to BLOCCORP, a global media giant built on toys, streaming, gaming, and AI. As strange activity spreads across its infrastructure, they uncover compromised systems, vulnerable AI models, rogue IoT devices, and reckless automation. Can they expose BLOCCORP’s hidden agenda and stop its AI-driven ambitions before the damage is done?
In-Person & Virtual
Registration:
About Core NetWars: The most comprehensive and AI-forward cyber range in the NetWars portfolio. Designed for practitioners across multiple disciplines, Core NetWars combines emerging AI security challenges with real-world cyber scenarios to strengthen the technical skills most needed for today's threats. It is the only range that qualifies for the annual Core NetWars Tournament of Champions!
Computer Requirements: Internet-based
Recommended For: All infosec practitioners of any level. It is recommended, but not required, that students have a basic or foundational knowledge of information technology and technical topics.
Disciplines: Cybersecurity 101, Cyber Defense, Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Incident Response, Cloud Computing, and AI.
Example Topics:
Interactive Scenario: SANS students are deployed to BLOCCORP, a global media giant built on toys, streaming, gaming, and AI. As strange activity spreads across its infrastructure, they uncover compromised systems, vulnerable AI models, rogue IoT devices, and reckless automation. Can they expose BLOCCORP’s hidden agenda and stop its AI-driven ambitions before the damage is done?
In-Person & Virtual