Whether it's Hillary Clinton, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani or Barack Obama -- or any of their competitors -- who is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009, the next president of the United States will have a list of cybersecurity recommendations on their desk.

Now that DefCon 15 has passed, I'm feeling the need to have a really good reason to dredge up people's happy, but increasingly distant memories of the industry's beloved Dionysian hacker-fest held in August.

Clothing retailer Gap Inc. revealed that a laptop containing the Social Security numbers of 800,000 job applicants was stolen from a third-party vendor. The laptop contained info of job applicants who applied to the company's Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap and Outlet stores. The vendor, not identified by Gap, contacted law enforcement authorities about the breach. The data was not encrypted.

When the likes of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney announced their intentions to run for president back in February, it seemed a bit too early to ponder the attributes of the many contenders hoping to lead the U.S. government. After all, none of us will cast votes in our primary elections or caucuses until early next year.

A legion of data exposures have occurred over the past year, with many affected companies not only being forced to address customer and investor concerns, but also pay fines and adhere to prolonged sets of requirements administered by the Federal Trade Commission. So just how is news of such breaches, exposures and possible thefts affecting the way organizations -- large and small -- focus on information security plans?

The Colorado Rockies blamed a cyberattack for knocking their World Series online ticket-sales operation out of the batter's box on Monday.

Apple's upcoming release of a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone may allow developers to write applications for the mobile device, but it could also open a Pandora's box of potential security issues.

Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge has formed his own private security consulting firm.

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A group of vendors today unveiled a consortium formed to allow first responders to easily identify themselves and their skills when entering a disaster area.