Julie Conroy once was a financial services practitioner who subscribed to Aite Group's research. Today she is one of Aite's top fraud researchers. What was her career path, and what tips can she share?

From Neiman Marcus to P.F. Chang's, 2014 has shaped up to be the 'Year of the Data Breach.' What lessons can be gleaned from the trenches of breach investigation? Experian's Michael Bruemmer shares tips.

Many IT security practitioners see their work as a game, one in which they try to outsmart attackers, says Eric van Ommeren, co-author of the just-published book, Staying Ahead in the Cyber Security Game:

What Matters Now.

To protect their privacy, organizations should get their IT security staffs involved in vendor-requested audits conducted to verify software licensing agreement compliance, says Gartner Research Director Victoria Barber.

To help defend their organizations, security professionals should devote more attention to attack vectors rather than specific threats, says Stephen Pao of Barracuda Networks.

A common framework for communicating threats and alerts among security vendors' systems would bolster efforts to protect consumers' information, says David Duncan of Webroot.

Despite recent high-profile breaches, organizations are not buying cyber-insurance policies at explosive rates. But Gartner's cyber-insurance expert Juergen Weiss says that might not be a bad thing.

Using big data to fight fraud is a challenge for most organizations. Andreas Baumhof of ThreatMetrix explains how context-based authentication combines fraud and security to leverage the use of big data.

Not all malware strains pose equal threats to an organization. So, how does one distinguish the most dangerous forms? Through layered security controls, says Julian Waits, CEO of ThreatTrack Security.

IT and security groups may know the same technical terms, but they don't always speak the same language. Don Gray of Solutionary discusses how security leaders can help bridge the communications gap.