data breach

For the first time in seven years—and despite numerous high-profile incidents—the average cost of a data breach fell in 2011, according to new findings released by Symantec and the Ponemon Institute.

A 2009 data breach that has already cost BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee nearly $17 million got a little more expensive Tuesday.

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.