We’re writing to you from the cybersecurity focused RSA Conference in San Francisco. Although we have two days left, we’ve already attended a lot of sessions and seen a lot of presentations you’ll want to know about. Next week we’ll do a full break down, including our key takeaways, for you. For now, here are a few links to articles summarizing interesting points made during the first couple days.

In this edition: Red Hat’s Big Data Strategy; NetApp’s FlashRay to Disrupt Enterprise Storage; Federal IT at “High Risk”; Open Data Success Requires Streamlining and Standardization; The Case for Paying for Open Source.

SolarWinds, a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, recently released the results of their 2013 SolarWinds Security and Compliance Survey. Over 160 IT professionals were polled and their answers revealed fears about the present and future, on both cybersecurity and the influx of new technology.

Over the past few months our “situational awareness” with respect to cybersecurity has been enhanced by events including attacks on the New York Times, Twitter, and Facebook; the release of compelling evidence that much of our “CyberPain” can be traced to foreign, state-sponsored organizations; and the President’s timely Executive Order for Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. Have we reached a tipping point?

Yesterday, before his fifth State of the Union address, President Obama signed a cybersecurity executive order. This is what you need to know about "Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity."

In this edition: DLT Solutions Adds AWS GovCloud To Its Cloud Services; NIST Wants Your Advice on Cybersecurity Document; Red Hat Embraces BYOD; Steps for Protecting Your Data Center After Virtualization; State of the Union to Discuss Cybersecurity.

Yesterday, Symantec and Microsoft technicians, together with U.S. federal marshals, raided data centers in Manassas, VA and Weehawken, N.J., shutting down servers, preventing users from accessing the internet, and pushing the above message to an estimated one million infected computers. If you were one of those caught in the process, while it may have been inconvenient, you were playing a small part in taking down a very big global cyber crime operation known as the Bamital botnet.

The New York Times selected a premier vendor of security products, Symantec Corporation, to provide antivirus software. Recently, they were attacked by hackers originating in China. After the attacks, the Times’ security consultant reported that the antivirus software did not protect the company. I consult for DLT Solutions with some of the most secure government agencies in the U.S. My primary suite of products comes from Symantec. Their security solutions are among the best in the industry. If they had fully deployed and properly utilized Symantec’s anti-virus software in their enterprise, most, if not all, of the attacks could have been prevented.

In this edition: Symantec Statement Regarding New York Times Cyber Attack; Red Hat's Top 10 IT Predictions for 2013; State & Local Turn to a New CIO: Chief Innovation Officer; Pentagon Expanding Cybersecurity Force to Protect Networks Against Attacks

In 2004, Cabir became the first mobile-based worm, infecting Symbian-based devices including old Samsung and Nokia models. Although it was developed as a proof-of-concept, within a year Cabir helped spawn mobile malware including the first mobile Trojan (Qdial) and mobile application hack (Skulls). Today, explosion of smartphones and tablets has spawned an entirely new hacking industry – one that has the potential to bypass your current cybersecurity strategies if you have not included mobile protection.