This month's most compelling news and views: top 10 government IT security stories of 2010, four components on the insider threat, pragmatic optimist Howard Schmidt and failure to enact major cybersecurity bill foreseen. And don't miss our audio week-in-review podcast by Executive Editor Eric Chabrow

Dmitri Alperovitch, McAfee Labs threat research vice president, discusses the company's annual threat predictions, saying: "We are seeing an escalating threat landscape in 2011."

2011 will be the year of more -- more sophisticated malware, more WikiLeaks-style breaches and more regulatory compliance headaches.

Devising strategies for ensuring social media are not used in ways that violate patient privacy is one of the top trends for 2011, says Lisa Gallagher, senior director of privacy and security at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

"What's interesting is that the criminals are now using cryptographic technology to protect the card information they steal, and that's posing challenges for detection and law enforcement," says Jeremy King of the PCI Security Standards Council.

NIST's Ron Ross Tackles the Risk Management Framework

"As more channels connect to ACH, it will become the preferred route for banks to process transactions," says Steve Kenneally of the American Bankers Association.

This week's top news and views: Wire fraud costs a Missouri escrow company $440K, internal auditors add risk-management value.

This week's top news and views: Wire fraud costs a Missouri escrow company $440K, internal auditors add risk-management value.