data breach

In acknowledging a data breach in which information related to as many as 24 million customers was stolen, online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos has taken assertive steps, including compelling customers to change passwords, plus temporarily foregoing 800-number phone service in an effort to redeploy customer-service representatives to respond to customer email.

Last year's industry-shaking RSA Security breach has resulted in customers' CEOs and CIOs engaging much more closely with the vendor to improve their organizations' security, according to the head of RSA.

Emails in which security consultancy Stratfor appears to invite customers to rate its response to a recent security breach are not actually from its CEO, the company said.

In 2011, the increasingly mobile and socially networked world of technology became more intertwined than ever with politics and the law. Patent wars shaped competition in tablets and smartphones, hacktivists attacked a widening array of political and corporate targets, repressive regimes unplugged citizens from the Internet, and the U.S. government moved to block the giant merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. With the passing of Steve Jobs, the world lost a technology icon who redefined the computer, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. These are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 technology stories of the year:

Even though it now appears there was no terrorist attack on a pump at an Illinois water utility, the SCADA infiltration scare was a reminder that data breaches can come from any number of angles.

Mistaken reports that an Illinois water utility was hacked have reduced the angst about Stuxnet-like attacks on U.S. utilities, but the risk is actually worse than ever and increasing in scope every day according to a comprehensive 2-year study of power utilities from MIT.

Security flaws in two bank sites tweeted as first wins in PoisAnon's OpRobinHood campaign, though Phantom who claimed the crack claims not stealing data was effort to protect consumers, who might be less lucky next time if they don't switch to credit unions.

On Dec. 7 Symantec will release results of a study quantifying the demographic and psychographic profile, behaviors and motivations of typical insider data thieves. The snapshot is predictable: top suspects look just like most of the people in IT.

Anti-fraud firm Trusteer warns that spear phishers have expanded their repertoire by faking IDs in phone calls to get data they need to either hook a phish, or maneuver past obstacles using malware that's already planted.

Members of hacktivist group Anonymous took center stage in the Occupy Wall Street protests this week, taking down the Oakland PD site in retaliation for Tuesday's violent anti-protest, calling for for more attacks on police sites and a citywide general strike Nov. 2.

Carelessness in concealing home IP addresses, servers and Twitter accounts puts the FBI on more hacker doorsteps than any mistake but the most obvious: don't tell people you did it.

Consumer advocates as well as many business groups have attempted to get federal laws adopted in the United States that would mandate disclosure of security breaches in which some types of private information about identifiable people are exposed. In spite of the obvious logic of having a national standard, these efforts so far have failed.