Get Your NCSAM On

Welcome to October! We can probably all agree that the most exciting thing about October is the prospect of eating a lot of cheap candy and staying up late to watch scary movies. There will be office Halloween parties, costumes for revelers both young and old, and pumpkins with crooked grins and glowing eyes as far as the eye can see. If Netflix were really on the ball there'd be an all new Stranger Things, like, now, instead of probably sometime in March or April.

The truly terrifying thing about October, however — aside from what dental checkups scheduled for the few days in November are certain to reveal — is that we still don't know, and probably never will, the total extent of the damage from the Equifax hack that was revealed almost exactly a year ago. That might as well be ancient history in the digital age. Cybersecurity threats and failures pile up so rapidly now that there simply no time to cry over spilled data.

If the essentially global cybersecurity crisis is ever going to get better, then we all need to be part of the solution. And, hey, what do you know, October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. (Be advised that we're only going to type it as two words in that particular reference, which is not really ours to change. Sigh.) So amid all of the festivities and celebration that are certain to occur as Oct. 31 creeps closer like a werewolf in a dark forest, take time get cybersmart.

There are lots of great places to get involved and take part in pumping up awareness of sound cybersecurity practices and principles. If you're looking for some suggestions, then the National Cyber Security Alliance website Stay Safe Online is a great place to go poking around. There's a "monstrous" list (See what we did there?) of things you can do to improve your own awareness and help others catch the "spirit" of the season as well.

It's also a fine time to add cybersecurity slings and arrows to your arsenal by studying up and passing an information security certification exam. With our top-caliber cybersecurity training, you can get both the CompTIA Security+ cert and TestOut's own Security Pro credential. We'll even let you try it out free for seven days. Think of it as a Halloween treat (from the whole TestOut CE gang) that will help you deal with hackers and their Halloween tricks.