Frequent face-to-face training on social media policies is a vital component of any risk management effort, says consultant Erika Del Giudice.

Facial recognition technology could prove to be an effective way to authenticate individuals seeking entry to secured buildings or databases storing sensitive information. But the biometric technology already is being abused, and IT security managers employing facial recognition should be careful to encrypt the biometric data, cautions a privacy rights leader.

Give a man a fish, you feed him for today, the proverb says. Teach a man to fish; and you feed him for a lifetime. That adage can be applied to information security, as well.

Yahoo's Justin Somaini believes his fellow CISOs in business and government do a good job keeping their bosses informed of proper information security practices, but could do better in educating the rank and file about them.

Performing digital forensics in the cloud isn't necessarily a new discipline, says Rob Lee of SANS Institute. But the task definitely requires a whole new mindset and some new skills from investigators.

It is no longer enough for information security professionals to secure critical information. They also need to be asking about the legitimacy of where this information comes from, says John Colley, managing director of (ISC)2 in EMEA.

Eddie Schwartz didn't shy away from the offer to become RSA's first chief security officer after the security firm experienced a sophisticated advanced-persistent-threat breach. Instead, Schwartz embraced the hack as the reason to take the job. (See RSA to Get Its First Chief Security Officer.)

Recent high-profile data breaches and heightened threats add up to one thing: a bright future for information security professionals who want to start or re-start a career in risk management.

RSA customers who feel victimized by last March's breach of the security vendor's computers have viable options that include continued use of the SecurID authentication tokens, those offered by competitors, or something entirely different: biometrics.

The Fed's ruling on interchange cuts mandated by the Durbin Amendment will aid fraud prevention and could accelerate a move to chip-based payments, says Randy Vanderhoof, director of the Smart Card Alliance.