Our contest for HACC Students & Employees is LIVE! Enter for a chance to win a $50 e-Gift card to the HACC Bookstore!

Enter now for a chance to win: Cybersecurity Awareness Month Contest

Cybersecurity Awareness Month Guest Presentation

You're Invited to a Special Cybersecurity Presentation

In recognition of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Office of Information Technology & Learning Experience is pleased to host a timely and informative presentation open to all members of the HACC community.

Join us as Ryan Taylor from NetStream Technology LLC and Mike Piekarski from Breach Craft Inc. share their expertise in a 30-minute presentation covering:

• The current state of cybersecurity

• Impacts and implications for higher education institutions

• Key topics and trends relevant to Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Interactive Q&A Session: Following the presentation, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and engage directly with our expert presenters to gain insights specific to your concerns.

Event Details

Date: Thursday, October 23, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Cost: Free and open to all HACC students and employees.

The presentation will be recorded if you are unable to attend.

Register here to get the Zoom information.
Students and Employees must be logged in with their HACC ID to complete the form.

Don't miss this valuable opportunity to enhance your cybersecurity awareness and learn how to better protect yourself and our institution in an increasingly digital world.

Questions? Contact the Office of Information Technology & Learning Experience.

This event is part of our October Cybersecurity Awareness Month initiatives. Stay vigilant, stay secure!

Community Games: Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025, presented by the National Cybersecurity Alliance 

We're making cybersecurity fun for the entire campus during Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October!

On October 24, the higher ed cybersecurity and privacy community will come together for an online event where seconds count and cybersecurity rules. This interactive game show is a fun cybersecurity awareness event for everyone on campus. From strong passwords to spotting scams, and multifactor authentication to software updates, our fast-paced interactive event will test your knowledge and reaction speed.

Compete for glory on our live leaderboards! Watch your name climb the individual rankings while helping your institution dominate the institutional scoreboard. Who will claim the title of Community Games Champion 2025?

October 24, 2025 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Central

Register now with National Cybersecurity Alliance and join online:

https://events.zoom.us/ev/AmUA-j3y8dAK7Abcnks15LRc-2bY0DEIYebIY5LHl3Xe3YVBDJjJ~Aku-DhAjbgSdIHCIKi6f0FSt--Yq7zTe07D3JloV9Z_ooJZ4qWLmR7V2yQ

Are you a fan of Wordle? 

If so, then try this free online game developed by the University of Illinois where you solve puzzles and learn cybersecurity and privacy best practices. In Passwordle, you are a magical ethical hacker tasked with auditing the digital security of four of the realm's most colorful characters. Your mission is to guess their five-letter password using hints from their fictional social media feeds.

Passwordle is available for anyone to play for free at https://passwordle.web.illinois.edu/

Recommended Reading

With a focus on cybersecurity this October, here is a list of recommended reading on the topic in no particular order:

Cliff Stoll, The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage (Gallery Books, 1989)

Details the story of how the author managed to discover a computer espionage ring infiltrated in the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. The operation eventually led to the involvement of the CIA, and exposed the role of the KGB in the entire operation (399 pages).

Fred Kaplan, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War (Simon & Schuster, 2017).

This book tells the history of cyberwar in a gripping, narrative-driven style (352 pages).

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30753827-dark-territory

P. W. Singer and Allan Friedman, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Written in a question-and-answer style and employing stories and anecdotes, this introduction is highly readable, but those who come with some knowledge of the internet already may find it simplistic (306 pages).

Kim Zetter, Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon (Broadway Books, 2015).

Written by a journalist, this book both tells the story of Stuxnet and examines the overall state of cyberwarfare today (448 pages).

Kevin D. Mitnick & William L. Simon, The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security (Wiley, 2003)

The world's most infamous hacker offers an insider's view of the low-tech threats to high-tech security. Focusing on the human factors involved with information security, Mitnick explains why all the firewalls and encryption protocols in the world will never be enough to stop a savvy grifter intent on rifling a corporate database or an irate employee determined to crash a system (352 pages).

Kevin Mitnick, Robert Vamosi (Co-Author), The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data (Little, Brown and Company, 2017)

Kevin Mitnick, the world's most famous hacker, teaches you easy cloaking and counter-measures for citizens and consumers in the age of Big Brother and Big Data. Mitnick provides both online and real life tactics and inexpensive methods to protect you and your family, in easy step-by-step instructions. He even talks about more advanced "elite" techniques, which, if used properly, can maximize your privacy. Invisibility isn't just for superheroes--privacy is a power you deserve and need in this modern age.

Parmy Olson, We Are Anonymous (Little, Brown and Company, 2013).

WE ARE ANONYMOUS is the first full account of how a loosely assembled group of hackers scattered across the globe formed a new kind of insurgency, seized headlines, and tortured the feds-and the ultimate betrayal that would eventually bring them down (512 pages).

Andy Greenberg, This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information (Dutton Adult, 2012)

The first full account of the cypherpunks who aim to free the world’s institutional secrets, by Forbes journalist Andy Greenberg who has traced their shadowy history from the cryptography revolution of the 1970s to Wikileaks founding hacker Julian Assange, Anonymous, and beyond (384 pages).