We all know that relying on a simple user ID and password combination is fraught with peril. One alternative is to use one of the single sign-on solutions we reviewed last year, but there are less expensive options that could also be easier to install.

When the moderator of a panel discussion at the recent RSA conference asked the audience how many thought their risk management programs were successful, only a handful raised their hands. So Network World Editor in Chief John Dix asked two of the experts on that panel to hash out in an email exchange why these programs don't tend to work.

Can the old guard in business continuity and disaster-recovery services thrive in an era when the companies are looking at new ways to process business data? SunGard Data Systems, with decades of experience in availability services, is feeling the pinch as some business clientele move data to the cloud. But SunGard says it's pushing forward with innovations that are making it a public cloud provider as well with the kind of application availability it says will be hard to match elsewhere.

McAfee, part of Intel, today announced a profound shift in how it distributes and prices its consumer security products by introducing LiveSafe, a service that combines anti-malware plus a score of other capabilities, such as anti-theft protection and a so-called "safety deposit box" in the cloud that can only be accessed by means of the user's face or voice biometric.

The network at one of the biggest annual networking shows is being subject to a series of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) creating the equivalent of 90 million sessions attempting to use the network at the same time, all as part of a controlled test of the Interop network.

They're security myths, oft-repeated and generally accepted notions about IT security that ... simply aren't true. As we did a year ago, we've asked security professionals to share their favorite "security myths" with us. Here are 13 of them.