In his annual keynote kickoff address at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Art Coviello, executive vice president at EMC Corp. and Executive Chairman of RSA, chose as his topic “Sustaining Trust in a Hyperconnected World.”

Nobody can say Google didn't warn us: Notifications of changes to its privacy policies have been impossible for its users to miss over recent weeks. Come March 1, Google's privacy policies and the data gained from its more than 60 products and services all become one.

Imagine a vulnerability that would allow malware to take over your mobile device; turn on the microphone, camera and GPS; and transmit everything it hears, while simultaneously sending copies of e-mail and text messages to a remote server. Sounds like a nightmare, right? Unfortunately, it exists. Worse, your security software can’t stop it.

Godspeed, Barack Obama! Your new Internet Bill of Rights may be consumers' best hope for maintaining a shred of privacy against the strong winds of capitalism run amok.

As IT organizations confront the imminent prospect of a network upgrade to deal with the demand for increased bandwidth being created by everything from mobile to cloud computing and back again, Cisco Systems is making a case for increased security being thrown in as part of the bargain.