Cybersecurity is such a pressing issue that the U.S. government will be dedicating a good chunk of its annual information technology budget to protecting data systems from breaches, hackers and other threats. Tthe number of cybersecurity incidents reported by federal agencies has increased from 5,503 in 2006 to 41,776 incidents in 2010, according to the GAO

Cloud computing represents a powerful shift in how your company deploys applications, stores data, implements security and adheres to industry regulations. Cloud architectures can give your company the flexibility to scale resources as the business requires. And you can do so without incurring unnecessary capital expenses.

Say this about 2011 -- along with any number of natural and unnatural disasters, the year featured more than its fair share of technology industry melodrama from the highly public wrangling between Oracle and HP to the passing of singular characters, including Apple's Steve Jobs. Both of these events also highlighted the importance of a topic mainly of interest to financial analysts and institutional investors: executive succession.

Research In Motion is apparently moving toward a change in corporate leadership that could have Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie giving up their titles as co-chairmen of the board. Barbara Stymiest, an independent director who joined RIM's board in 2007, is said to be most likely to replace the co-chairs.

Apple will hold an event in New York at the end of the month at which it will make some sort of media-related announcement, according to a recent report. Whatever news Apple shares at the event, it may relate heavily with advertising or publishing, because Eddy Cue is said to be involved. Cue's in charge of several of Apple's media units, including the iTunes Store, iBookstore and the company's iAds platform.

Google has become the subject of a series of withering articles calling it out for violating its own advertising policies. The company reportedly has run sponsored marketing ads for its Chrome browser using techniques that last year's Panda algorithm change was designed to prohibit. The paid sponsorships apparently resulted from a misunderstanding between Google and its marketing company, Unruly Media.

Restaurant owners, dentists, doctors, graphic designers, realtors and everyday people are all doing it: bartering. Though it's an old concept, it's getting a new twist in the world of e-commerce. "This is the new method for an old practice, with e-commerce," said Paul Bocheck, CEO of BarterQuest. What's changed is that many barter agreements now take place via the Web.

Daily deal industry leader Groupon dropped some 8.9 percent in stock value on Tuesday, following the release of a report that surveyed some 400 merchants about their experiences with several providers in this space. A healthy majority liked their experiences working with daily deal companies, but more than half said they wouldn't be running another deal within the next six months.

Welcome back to the discussion. At the top of my list is the idea of resiliency, which I consider a more practical form of sustainability for business. We are now encountering a wave of sustainability-oriented ideas in the popular culture. Forty miles per gallon is the new 30, someone said, and I have seen or heard the word "sustainable" used tentatively more than once in advertising.

Despite the loss of its Cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs, 2011 was a kind year to Apple financially. Over the past 12 months, the company enjoyed record iPhone sales, kept the iPad in the top spot in the tablet market, continued to win new patents while bitterly fighting for its existing ones, and logged record Mac sales.