"Persistent" is the operative word about the advanced persistent threat that has struck RSA and its SecurID products. "If the bad guys out there want to get to someone ... they can," says David Navetta of the Information Law Group.

Smartphones are ubiquitous in organizations today. But how secure are these devices -- and what are the security and liability vulnerabilities associated with their use?

A roundup of this week's top news: Hackers target RSA's SecurID products. Also, Japan's nuclear crisis: What do you need to know? Plus: New Health Net breach may be biggest ever.

Global banking institutions can learn from Japan's disaster planning and response. And a sophisticated cyberattack is launched against RSA, targeting the security unit of EMC's SecurID two-factor authentication products.

When the business demands the latest tools and technologies, saying "no" is not a viable option. "Clearly, these are disruptive things, but they also are extremely valuable," says Simon Godfrey, Director, Security Solutions at CA Technologies UK.

Disaster recovery expert Regina Phelps says Japan's nuclear emergency puts local citizens at risk, but organizations globally can learn from the crisis. "I hope that all of us look at this and ask, 'What can I do to be better prepared?'"

Australia's government agencies can learn a lot from the nation's banks, when it comes to risk management and protecting privacy, says Graham Ingram, General Manager of the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team. "There are too many people in government organisations who are in denial [of risks]," he says.

Current solutions are good at authenticating users, but not the integrity of the transactions, says Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro. "We're not authenticating the right things."

Adequate funding for privacy and security measures is essential to the success of sharing electronic health records to improve the quality of care, says William Braithwaite, M.D., Ph.D.

Zayd Sukhun says global political unrest has upped regulators' expectations for banks to streamline fraud-detection tools and techniques.