Welcome to the latest installment of  Press Pass, where CertMag reports new and recent certification news by blowing through as many industry press releases, blogs, dispatches, messages in a bottle, etc., as we can fit in one post. We’ve got the highlights and you can click straight to the horse’s mouth for more information.

You’re the best around: Everyone who applies for the open position of IT security manager at ABC Corporation probably has a certification or two. How many of them, on the other hand, could show off a gold medal? Some people think they’re awesome, and some people say out loud that they’re awesome, but a gold medal proves that you’re awesome. That’s why IT security pros should think seriously about competing in the Global CyberLympics, sponsored by EC-Council Foundation, an industry group that promotes cybersecurity education and training. The CyberLympics is a worldwide online competition that challenges teams of four to six cybersecurity professionals to test their mettle in a variety of challenges. EC-Council senior director Eric Lopez issued a call for competitors via the ISACA Now blog on Monday, and registration is open through July 31. More than 3,000 competitors from 72 countries participated in the 2013 event, so beating the field is no small accomplishment.

Get your head in the cloud: As personal and business computing increasingly moves away from our laptops and desktops, cloud computing companies are scouring the IT employment sector in search of talented, shall we say, rainmakers. Certification providers are scrambling to keep up.. On Monday, Red Hat announced a new Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform cloud management cert. Already a leading cloud technology facilitator through it widely used implementations of open-source Linux operating systems, Red Hat is busily integrating cloud technology into its well-established certification program. The new certification was developed with input from industry-leading companies like HP and BMC.

We’ll come to you: Certification is thriving not just in the United States and Europe, but in countries around the globe. As cert exams become increasingly popular in India, leading exam provider Pearson VUE is investigating new methods of satisfying the increasing demand for exam delivery. Testing has been slow to evolve in India, where pen-and-paper certification exams have prevailed for decades. In recent years, as tests have become frequently and widely available via computers, testing providers have greater flexibility to accommodate the demands of certification candidates in far-flung locales. Pearson BUE officials will address the topic in a webinar set for July 16. The webinar is free and open to all interested parties, but required registration by July 11 in order to participate.

Would you like SMEs and a JTA with that?: While Pearson VUE is giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how certification exams are delivered, Cisco wants to tell you more about how they’re created. In a brand-new post at Cisco Learning Network’s Certifications for Success blog, guest writers Liz Grater and Ashanti Johnson pull back the curtain on some of the elements involved in the process of creating certification exams. One major consideration of exam creation, Grater and Johnson report, is keeping the value of Cisco certifications high by ensuring that exams are appropriately challenging. If too many exam candidates can bluff or fudge their way though an exam, then employers start to get burned by making hiring decisions based on the corresponding certification. When exams can’t be passed without a strong knowledge of the subject matter, the reputation of a given cert remains strong, and everybody wins.

Cutting-edge content management: Everyone wants the best website money can buy. Whether or not your business is technology-driven, consumers expect to find you, or at least find out about you, on the web. One of the more versatile web content management systems available is the increasingly popular open-source Drupal platform. So if you’re looking for leading-edge web development cert, then head to GoCertify for an overview of the recently depolyed Acquia Certified Developer credential. Acquia, a company that offers a variety of Drupal tools and services, is leading the charge to certify the skills of Drupal developers. The Acquia certification program has two specialist credentials in development, that are planned for release later this year.