Despite the fact that cyber-attacks occur with greater frequency and intensity around the world, many either go unreported or are under-reported, leaving the public with a false sense of security about the threat they pose and the lives and property they impact.

It was not very long ago that information shared with your doctor was sacrosanct, at the same remove from exposure as utterances made under the protection of an attorney-client relationship or pillow talk in a spousal bed. That may no longer be the case -- and the fallout could be life-threatening.

With more than a billion personal records "out there," identity theft has become the third certainty in life, right behind death and the topic at hand.

In September, the IRS proposed giving nonprofits the option of providing more information about people who contribute $250 or more. What kind of information you ask?

It would have been so easy for the OPM to have made at least a simple reference to the generations of LGBT employees and others who were branded "immoral" and "unsuitable" for federal employment. There has never been an apology for them.