Careers in IT security remain hot, says David Foote, noted researcher and analyst of IT workforce trends. But there's a disconnect between current job opportunities and the talent pool looking to fill them.

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.

In many states, the top information security officer champions IT security rather than dictates it, as the decisions of specific steps to take to safeguard digital assets are left to departments, agencies and commissions.

Fraud is a global concern, and an area regulators and financial institutions the world-over are watching closely, says Bill Isaac. Whether a cyberthreat or mortgage fraud, investments in fraud prevention will continue, despite the state of the international economy.

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.

Bob Russo says the long-awaited PCI guidance on tokenization should provide merchants with a baseline for standardization and best practices, and serve as a roadmap for how tokenization can complement compliance with the PCI-DSS.

As far as Dr. Giles Hogben of ENISA is concerned, now might be the golden opportunity for information security experts to influence the security and privacy measures that may help define Internet safety for the next decade or beyond.

Eugene Spafford thinks America needs the cybersecurity equivalent of an agriculture extension service to help educate citizens on IT security.

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.

ISACA's Marc Vael says differences in cloud computing environments and cloud providers can pose security risks. But well thought-out contracts and risk-management plans can fill potential security gaps and ensure business continuity during outages and disasters.