During the 4th quarter of 2014, a record number of crimeware variants were detected, all designed to defeat antivirus software, according to a report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group. Meanwhile, phishers increasingly targeted retail and service sites, hoping to take advantage of the burgeoning numbers of online shoppers.

Are top executives getting a pass on cyber security responsibility? Eric Anderholm, CEO of Sergeant Laboratories, a cyber security firm, believes so. He notes that when the CIO is asked what happened after a breach, the answer is usually, "We don't know." Anderholm notes that answer is often viewed as acceptable, particularly when the CEO is loath to admit that he or she wouldn't understand the clear answer.

Most organizations are not following incident response best practices and are not properly prepared to face the challenges of modern-day cyberthreats. So says a new RSA global breach readiness survey that included respondents from 30 nations.

Supply chain risk management is a major concern for many companies today. According to a Gartner IT Risk Management Survey, 70 percent of those canvassed said that risk management data would influence board-level decisions – up from just 46 percent a year earlier.