Jarina D'Auria

When putting your systems in the cloud, a few options are available depending on exactly what you want to put there and for how long. Although each vendor offers essentially the same service-a place to move your computing efforts away from your own infrastructure-they break down the pricing in a number of ways. Make sure you take into account your specific needs to find which cloud suits your company best.

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When it comes to protecting data, there isn't one end-all, be-all solution. That's more true now than ever, when your most likely threat is your own employees. As more workers blur the line that surrounds the workday and bring their laptops, smartphones and other devices home, they are potentially putting their companies' data at risk. In a recent CIO survey, 34 percent of respondents had a security breach where their own current employee was the culprit. More on CIO.com Why Technology Isn't The Answer To Better Security The Rising Threat of Intellectual Property and What You Can Do About It 8 Cheap Tips for Avoiding Pesky (and Expensive) Data Breach Notifications

Data loss prevention tools provide ways to identify risky data-handling activity and enforce a remediation action, says Jonathan Penn, VP of security and risk management at Forrester Research. Currently available software to prevent data loss addresses three levels of security: protecting networks from rogue devices, protecting systems from inappropriate access and protecting the data itself. A modern strategy to keep data secure should involve a bit of each, says Penn.

Reformed hacker-turned-security-consultant Kevin Mitnick served five years in federal prison for breaking into phone and software company networks. He talks about his past hacking exploits, computer security, and how he turned an illegal hobby into a useful career.

Hacking wasn't always illegal. I started off in what they call "phone phreaking" in the late 70s. This is the same hobby Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had. At this time, 1978, there were no laws against hacking. The first law that criminalized hacking was passed in 1980 in California. I was doing this before it was illegal. And my interest was entertainment -- the pursuit of knowledge, challenge and the trophy of the stolen information. There was no motive for money or malicious intent to use, disclose or destroy the data.