Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday October 31, 2025 - “Halloween Hopes” Ed.

Highlights for the week

Halloween week kicks off with an amazing assortment of treats and scaries. Still, it's been a productive week.
Treat: Oreos w. Reese's Peanut Butter is a great treat.
Trick: the layoffs haven't stopped ...

1. GM - 1,700
2. Meta - 9,000
3. Target - 1,000
4. Paramount - 2,000
5. Amazon - 30,000
6. Microsoft - 6,000 (on top of the 9,000 from earlier in the year)
7. UPS - 4,800
8. Nestle - 16,000
9. Lufthansa - 4,000
10. Intel - 4,000
I have to wonder if I'm ever going to land a job considering most companies are going through hiring freezes. The longer I'm out of work, the worse it looks.

What We’re Grateful For

1. Fun halloween spirit and an awesome family to share it with.
2. I get to wake up and enjoy good health and good food.
3. I get to look forward to a fun weekend and a good student.

What We Loved

1. CELEBRATED ANOTHER YEAR OF MARRIAGE - Forgot how long it's been
2. Have I mentioned the fun Halloween vibes .. always the best precursor to the holiday stretch.

What We Learned

1. Gandalf AI - [Status: Paused!] .. bumping this to next week as part of an AI learning initiative.
2. Picked up U-Test work (Tue. 10/28)
3. New Lesson: Getting Started in iOS Mobile Application Testing (Wed. 10/29 12 - 1) [Status: Done!] Cool things learned, but no real demo.
4. New Lesson: AI Agents and MCP Security Risks (Thr. 10/30 1 - 2) [Status: Done!]
5. Mentor/Mentee w. LUNA happening (Thr. 10/30 3pm) [Status: Done!]
6. Mentor/Mentee w. IMANI happening (Sun. 11/1 2pm) [Status: Done!]
7. Reading: WAHH Chapter 13 - [Status: Done!] .. applied the HTTP header lessons. Should revisit the labs a.s.a.p
8. Hacking: TCM - [Status: Done!]
9. Pen Testing: Five9 Pen Testing [Status: Done!]
10. Writing: Chapter "War Council" [Status: To Do!] .. been a hectic week.
11. Burp Suite: HTTP Header Labs [Status: To Do!]
12. QA Day: Need to get started on APIs.

What We Longed For

1. As always, a good job doing cool shit with amazing people, making great money ... and this time not to f** it up!!

What We Loathed

1. The 2025 Job Market
2. Miami Dolphins in 2025 .. worst I've seen in a long time