Ashley Madison is old news. That is to say, the hack of the world's most notorious black market for marriage cheaters - an incident that exposed the (presumed) identities of more than 30 million site users and cost CEO Noel Biderman his livelihood - is filtering out of the public consciousness and, for many, likely to be forgotten before Halloween. Six weeks after a shadowy group calling itself The Impact Team more or less pulled the old junior high school trick of yanking Ashley Madison's pants down to its ankles in the harsh light of day, the chortling and pointing has faded from sight.

In another sense, however, the company itself may soon be old news. You can't create a business model that depends, absolutely, on ensuring the utmost secrecy and privacy of your customers, and expect to just shrug off a little incident that leaves your entire client list exposed to the casual scrutiny of everyone on the internet.

Some data breaches are more than just bad for business, and any enterprise that stores sensitive information about its customers or partners now has one more big reason to continuously live in fear of becoming the next big name on a growing list that ranges from Target to Jimmy John's to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

The saying goes that it's an ill wind that blows good to no man, however, and the swirling cybersecurity storm is great news for skilled security professionals. Organizations large and small are eager to line your wallet in exchange for you protecting them from baddest bogeyman on the block. And a high-profile security certification is an excellent way to convince potential employers that you have the knowledge and abilities needed to keep their data safe.

How much can you add to your income with a security certification? There are several factors that determine salary, of course, but a good certification can be a strong argument for someone seeking a raise or bonus. And certain high-paying jobs may require certification as a prerequisite to being hired. We'd like to help you join the cybersecurity gold rush.

Welcome to the sixth in our new series of surveys, begun last year, that are aimed at smaller targets. We'll still bring out the big bullseye at the end of each year for our annual Salary Survey. In between, however, we'll take a more focused look at organizations and companies that offer certifications, or at certain types of certifications.

For the upcoming Fall Edition of Certification Magazine, we're taking a look at security certifications. All of them. Security is a thriving field with numerous certification organizations the offer nothing but security certs, and many more that have a strong security offering in their overall certification portfolio. Our survey features more than 160 certifications in all. If you hold one or more of those credentials, then please pull up a chair. This will only take a minute.

BIG THANKS to everyone who participated in our Security certification survey. Watch for the results to appear the forthcoming 2015 Fall Edition of Certification Magazine.