With cyber risks looming ever larger, CFOs must avoid "starving" information technology security budgets, the author of a recently released survey concerning cybersecurity and corporate governance warns.

When President Barack Obama said last September that he would get tough on companies that avoid tax through "inversions" - merging with or buying foreign firms so as to shift their domicile abroad - some wondered if this would end a wave of corporate emigration.

Many ERP customers, with their installations getting long in the tooth, are considering canceling their vendor maintenance agreements, some of which can run into the millions or tens of millions of dollars.

The grand golden doors of 500 Pearl Street, in Manhattan, have welcomed such glamorous names as Hermès, Tiffany & Co., and Kering, a French conglomerate whose treasures include Gucci and Bottega Veneta. The building is not a posh hotel or department store. It is the federal court for the Southern District of New York, a favored battleground for the decidedly unglamorous war against counterfeit goods.

A recent favorable opinion by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy plus increased action in Congress have made it more likely than it has been in 50 years that out-of-state retailers will be forced to collect sales taxes in states where they don't have a physical presence. Half a century ago, of course, the volume generated by such sellers, who did their business via catalogs and snail mail, was tiny compared to the sales spawned by the rise of the internet.

Senior executives at businesses of all sizes understand all too well that today's global economy is still not adequately protected against cyberattacks, despite years of effort and spending in the multibillion-dollar range each year. But until recently, many CFOs may not have been considered an integral part of an organization's security team or understood how to respond to security risks and the implications for their organizations. But times have changed and many CFOs are being called upon to help promote cyber security and identify threats.

Ripples of anxiety are likely to be coursing through internet retailers this month. That's because two events - the introduction of the Marketplace Fairness Act in the U.S. Senate and an opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy - made it more likely than it has been in 50 years that they will have to collect taxes in states where they don't have a physical presence. If that happens, out-of-state retailers would be compelled to collect sales and use taxes in almost 10,000 state tax jurisdictions that, according to the Tax Foundation, exist across the United States.